what a turn around from down 0-3 in game 3 to up in the series 2-1.

daaamn

Pettitte’s intense visage belongs on Mt. Rushmore.

Phillies in 5?

Is it fitting that Rollins makes the last out that renders his “Phillies in 5” prediction impossible?

Damon had a hell of a nice swing on that double.  Very happy to see that.

BTW,  Mo usage in the last week:

10/25 - 34 pitches on 2 days rest
10/29 - 39 pitches on 3 days rest
10/31 - 5 pitches on 2 days rest

Lots of pitches, but nothing in back to back nights.  It’s tough to make the case that he’s being overused.  He probably wasn’t really needed tonight, but its not like he really worked up a sweat.

Does Alex now own the first reviewed HRs in both regular season and playoff history?

10/31 - 5 pitches on <strike>2</strike> 1 days rest

ugh.  I stand by mt argument nonetheless.

1) Is Girardi a genius or what, sitting out Swisher for a game to get his focus back?

2) & what about SG’s call that Andy hitting in the 9 slot would be the differece in the game?

3) How about Joba and Marte dressing for the night as relief pitchers?  (Hughes not so much.)

[6]: 2 days rest; after midnight.

Honestly, I want to see Mo pitch in every single game.  I know nobody wants to hear it, but Mo is getting old, and who knows when the Yankees are going to be back in the World Series.  I want him to pitch all the time now.  I really don’t know how I’m going to maintain my love for Yankee baseball if it doesn’t include Mariano Rivera.  Every game, I sez.  Every game.

The Phillies Phanatic looms.

ESPN morons are going ape-shit over the A-Rod HR.  Kruk is about to burst a blood vessel.  Sorry fellas, but the camera is not in play.

Who is Kruk and what does he matter?

Omigod.  Looks like the camera was hanging about two or three feet over the camera and down.  How else could it have stopped Dave Winfield from catching the ball, as it just did on ESPN.

And it wasn’t even John Kluck.

Yeah…you hit the camera, it’s a home run.  We’re not at the Trop here.

I think he was the villain in Star Trek VII.

Is it fitting that Rollins makes the last out that renders his “Phillies in 5” prediction impossible?

I also enjoyed it because of his comments after Game 2.

“I think we saw some things…”

“Now you have a game plan…”

That game plan?  Popping up to short.  I don’t care how many times a LH batter sees Mo’s cutter.  It’s still going to break sharply in on their hands at the last moment.

[14]  What, was he the Eater of Reason or something?

The umpires said prior to the game that a ball hit off that very camera would be a homerun.  The Phillies, ESPN, JoeBuck can complain all they want about how the camera was over the fence, but the umpire established groundrules said it would be a homerun prior to the start of the game.  Black and white…no grey at all here.

These Phillies have not trailed in a post-season series since they got swept in the LDS in 2007.  It will be interesting to see how the swagger does now, especially if CC is on his game tomorrow night.

Gammo about to chime in on the game…let’s see what he says (as if we don’t know already).

- Pettitte is “eminently beatable”, Philly licking their chops.
- AP dominated them with low-80’s pitching.
- Camera didn’t come up at all.

Rollins talked about how quiet NYS was…after the Yanks got the lead tonight, that stadium was dead.

[17] But Manuel said that the umpires didn’t tell him about the camera ground rule before the game.  Of course, he also said that he doesn’t take the lineup card out to the umps before the game, so when the hell were they supposed to have told him?

[17] But.. but… A-Rod hit it! He can’t get a home run in the WS! He doesn’t have the heart for it.

[20] Yeah, but I’m not going to call out either team’s fans.  All that stuff about feeding off the crowd is exactly backwards, and pretty much always has been.  The crowd feeds off of what happens on the field.

1) Is Girardi a genius or what, sitting out Swisher for a game to get his focus back?

Cashman is a GENIUS.

Kruk: Eater of Reason
Mo: Eater of souls (sorry Hughes, you’re just not there)

[21] Umpires are supposed to discuss ground rule differences at the plate meeting.  Even though Manuel didn’t bring the lineup card to the plate, someone did (bench coach?).  It’s then when the umpires maybe/possibly told both coaches.  It’s then the bench coach’s job to relay the info to Manuel. 

If the umpires say they made their mind up on such a call prior to the start of the game, we have to take them at their word. 

I think this also explains why viewing of the replay went so fast.  Within 5 seconds they saw the ball hit off the camera and they knew there was nothing further to see.

I don’t know. When a guy like AJ says he feeds off the crowd, I believe him.

I liked how rollins made the last out on a weak ass line after saying he had rivera figured out

[23] I’m not calling them out so much as I’m agreeing with your point.  I just like when Rollins gets to eat a little crow.

This 2-1 Series lead…this is my kind of 2-1 Series lead.

Yay win. Yay you all!

Guy I share an office with is from Philly.  Says that Howard got so much better this year because he finally cut way down on his strikeouts.  Yep, all the way from 199 to 186.

OK, no biggie really; he’s just a casual baseball fan.

Guy who gets paid handsomely to give expert opinion about on TV says that Howard has been hitting lefthanded pitching all year.  He OPS’d .653 against LHP.

That one I’ve got a little bit more of a problem with.

Swisher providing offense
A-Rod back on track
Pettitte battling his way to a win

You just know that if Blanton beat the Yankees, then the Yankees will beat Lee the next night.  Because, Suzyn…..

[26] Yeah, that was my point.  Manuel shouldn’t even bring it up unless he checked with Mackinon first.  But basically what he said was, “They didn’t tell me, and I don’t know if they told him.”  Not very useful.

[27] I don’t disbelieve him either.  But if he sucks ass out of the gate, the crowd ain’t gonna give him jack to feed off of.

[29] I didn’t think you were calling them out, and I wasn’t disagreeing with you.  Just extending your point.

[32] I really need a frog suit, a boat, and a little time off: all those stats in the East River have to be worth something

Careful there, Jonathan.  Almost sounds like you’re trying to predict baseball.

Night, gentlemen.  Excellent win today.  Looking forward to CC tonight.

Hilarious quote from A-Rod regarding his home run tonight: “There’s probably 800 players in the big leagues, and the odds of me being involved were probably 2-1,” Rodriguez joked after that home run. “It’s funny. Somehow I find myself in those situations all the time. It was just nice to get the right call and get a fair ruling.”

Somehow I find myself in those situations all the time. It was just nice to get the right call and get a fair ruling.

Photo finish!

Yeah, I just read that.  I guess we’re going to have to start accepting the idea that he’s in a much better place mentally.  Either he’s found a really good therapist, or Kate Hudson is a helluva gal.

im just so happy that our offense showed up.

I think Kate Hudson is pretty cute.

She could be both, he does have a thing for therapists.

Was it just me or was Joba about a 0.4 on the soul-eater scale tonight? And Mo eating Rollins’ soul was awesome.

Also, Kate Hudson’s va-gene must be some kind of magic. It will probably be deemed a PED in the offseason by Selig.

It was hilarious how upset Kruk was about this camera deal. He even denied that he was upset as a “disgruntled Phillies fan” and insisted his near Scanners-esque head exploding anger was due to it being a disgrace for the mlb and the WS.

I’m still, still happy.
Everyone be happy!

wow. What check out this quote:

“Two pitches later, Alex Rodriguez hit a garden-variety fly ball off a camera beyond the right-field fence, and a replay review awarded him a home run.”

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs/2009/columns/story?columnist=crasnick_jerry&id=4613169

I’ve seen some terribly bias writing by ESPN in the past but that is probably the worst.

lol, a flyball beyond the fence. That’s a home run, dumbass!

I thought Girardi managed the game extremely well. There, I said it.

Why can’t A-Rod hit honorable home runs like Jayson Werth?

Huge win last night but only because everyone sees the Yankees having a big advantage in the game tonight.  It doesn’t mean anything unless the Yankees go out and take care of business today (or manage to steal game 5 tomorrow).

I’m surprised they let them set that camera up in fair territory. Is the shot really that much worse if the guy is 5 feet to his left?

MC- You mentioned last thread that it didn’t sound like Manuel was 100% committed to starting Blanton in Game 4, yet I don’t see anywhere that Lee is getting the ball tonight. I guess he was pretty committed.

It’s tough to make the case that he’s being overused.  He probably wasn’t really needed tonight, but its not like he really worked up a sweat.

I thought Hughes would get one more batter.  But I didn’t notice his demeanor after he let up the HR.  E.g. was he hanging his head?  If Hughes was already down, no point in making it worse AND having another runner on base before bringing Mo in.  The only downside is Mo probably won’t be available for more than 1 inning tonight.  So Yanks either need to A) have CC go 8 innings with a small lead or B) Blow Blanton out of the water so Mo isn’t needed.

take care of business today (or manage to steal game 5 tomorrow).

Why not do both?

[5] McCarver mentioned that there was a reply overturn of a call in 2008.  Of course he followed that up by saying it was 2 years ago, so I’m not sure if I trust it.  I also don’t recall if he mentioned if the overturn was to *give* the player a HR.  Too lazy (coffee hasn’t kicked in yet) to look it up.

[52] Not meant sarcastically.. I’m pretty shocked that he’d go with Blanton against CC and a team that just scored 8 runs off a superior pitcher (to Blanton) and risk going down 3-1 with 2 games remaining a YS. Just doesn’t make any sense.

[51]  That’s what I’m thinking.  Is the camera normally there during the regular season?  Not that it should be anyway, but if it is then that’s just a part of the stadium.  If they added it specifically for the WS, then I think it’s another example of MLB not being the right group to - you know - run a baseball game.

Wow, some sick numbers for Teixiera and Rodriguez vs. Blanton.

I say Gaudin gets into the game tonight.  Yanks will be up 10-0 after 6 and they’ll take CC out and try to get Gaudin through 2, w/ Aceves for the last (maybe a Coke appearance in there as well).

And if that happens I’m buying lotto tickets.

[1-58] The more ridiculous they get about the replay, etc. the sweeter it tastes.

And Matsui taught them something they should have learned long ago. You just don’t fuck with Zombies on Halloween.

I guess he was pretty committed.

Or perhaps he should be committed.

Even if they just know that Lee can’t be effective on short rest. Happ would probably be a much better choice than Blanton.

[56] I doubt that camera is a regular fixture, and I’d imagine that they put it in fair territory because the foul pole would obstruct some of the shots they want to get with it.  Still they could move it back a foot.  But it sticks out maybe six inches over the fence, not three feet.  There’s no way that ball doesn’t clear the fence if the camera isn’t there.  And it was a line drive, not a fly ball (garden or any other variety).

In hindsight, it was kind of cool to learn that the umps had decided in advance that the call was automatic, after Buck repeatedly went to such lengths to say it was a judgment call.

Tonight are we going to hear at length about how the umps gave A-Rod a hr or a passing reference to the predetermination that the camera was out of play?

Why would Manuel be bitching about not being told the camera was in HR territory?  Would that have changed the game-plan at all?

[59] Zombies OR Godzilla!

I thought John Kruk was going to cry last night complaining about the camera HR? Shouldn’t the guy recuse himself if he can’t even fake impartiality?

Is Arod a true Yankee yet?  If he goes 0fer tonight will the MSM be talking about his “failures?”

Blanton, yeah, he just looks uber-hittable out there.  If we don’t score in the first two innings, people are gonna be apoplectic with rage.  But he’s a career ERA+102 guy (how I couldn’t tell you—does he have a single plus pitch?), and we have’t been exactly nails against #3 starters this post-season.  I propose we don’t freak out until the second time through the order, just in case.

He’s close, bebop.
One, maybe two walk-off HRs in this series and he’s right there…
...well, no, he’ll never be a TRUE Yankee, but he would be a Yankee hero, I suppose.  At least until OTF pronounces him to be such.