One helluva game for Philly!

Cliff Lee threw one of the most domineering games I've seen a long time! Sabathia threw a decent game himself; it's just that Utley Chased him.

I know the Phils are high on Martinez pitching tomorrow, but I just don't see him being effective against the Yankees anymore. We shall see.

i can see magic happening with pedro...

You think so?

lets see now...curt schilling with his bloody sock giving it all, and pitched a great game against the yankees in the ALCS in '04. people didn't think he could be as effective, but he got the win and pedro could do the something like that in game two.

Nah... his effective years are behind him. He should get quite a reception from the Yankee fans, though.

I think Pedro should get out the ketchup packets and squirt his ankles for good luck tomorrow.

I'm so happy the Phils took game one! I feel bad rooting against the good people here on the board who are Yankee fans, but I hope you all understand that if you are not a Yankee fan you hope they lose! That's the ultimate compliment in a way. I wish everyone in the world hated the Gigantes for being the best team in the world. But as it is, go Phillies!

I think this has the makings of one the most evenly matched World Series in a long time. I can see it going six or seven games.

Lee sure as hell pitched a great game. He was incredible. And then that top of the 9th!! The horror! Oy!

The opening pitch was very moving. And damn Michelle Obama for getting a kiss from Derek Jeter!!!

I realize now why the Yankees lost. Fans were encouraged to wear Yankees gear yesterday to show our support. I had a business meeting yesterday morning and felt funny wearing a baseball jersey, so I didn't wear any.

My apologies, Yankees. I will correct the error today.

Oh, and Pedro?? Who's you Daddy??

I think the pitching matchup for Game 2 is dreadful. Pedro is a shell of himself and Burnett is one of the most erratic starters. There is no in-between for Burnett - he is either very good or very bad. I think the Phils accomplished exactly what they needed to start the Series: no worse than a split in NY with Hamels and Lee to pitch back in the home park.

While Sabathia has had a better postseason this year than at any other point of his career, I was very happy to see him lose last night. On the other hand, I was pleased to see Lee succeed in the spotlight. What a dominating performance and some very sure hands when he fielded the ball.

OK, the popup to Lee (that he caught so glibly) was almost funny, but the bounceback to him that he fielded behind his back was hilarious. Of course it was all luck (that Lee had his glove there) but you couldn't have scripted that play.

I agree it was Lee's glove in the right place at the right time on the sharply hit ball. Like the old saying, sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Actually, Lee was both yesterday.

Don't discount Pedro. He doesn't have the velocity he once did, but he has been very effective for the Phillies, going 5-1 and making Manny Ramirez look foolish while pitching 2-hit ball over 8 innings against the Dodgers. The Yankees have the potential of lighting it up against anyone (not named Lee), but Pedro gets ahead of hitters and hasn't forgotten how to pitch. There'll be some runs scored by both teams tonight.

There was one key reason why the pop out looked so casual. Pitchers normally don't catch pop ups, even when on the mound, but this ball wasn't hit high enough to allow an infielder to get there. Lee didn't want to move his feet and risk losing his balance on the slope of the mound, so he reached out casually for it.

He certainly outpitched the Yankee ace, who had problems with command and locating his pitches much of the night. Sabathia, I thought, was luckier than Lee because CC got away with several mistakes. He could just as easily given up 4-5 runs.

My favorite play had to be Rollins' decoy on Matsui. I'm glad the umpires got it right.

I know who the Yankees' Daddy is. I guess that would make Cliff Lee Pedro's Grandpa.

I think the 2nd base ump was all set to blow the call. He signaled "Out" towards second base (after Rollins touched the base). That indicated, to me, he thought the runner (Matsui) was forced out.

lol

Phillies in 5.

Double insurance. Wearing my "Bronx Bombers" T-Shirt (Godfather logo design) AND my Jeter jersey over it like a jacket. That's TWICE the luck for my boys tonight.

Apparently, my jersey and T-Shirt worked (has nothing to do with the skills of either team).

Really great game last night. Both Burnett and Pedro pitched very well. Looking forward to Saturday's game. I hear that the cast of "Glee" is singing the national anthem!

I fell asleep during the 7th inning (the Yanks were up 2-1). Didn't make it back up until after the game was finished. Doesn't look like I missed much.

Is it just me, or was last night's game boring?

Nah SC, you're not boring. I agree it was a snorefest last night. Looking forward to 3 games in Philly.

Go Yankees! 8 down, 3 to go!!

My wife wore her Jeter shirt too, but fell asleep early. Earlier (because it was trick or treat night here last night) she and someother ladies gathered at a friend's house while I passed the candy out. The kids, who were dressed as Phillies, got extra candy for me. If you're doubling up on the Jeter jerseys, SB, I'm going to double up on the pork Saturday night.

A very nice outing by Burnett, who was a bit better than Pedro. I loved Pedro's smile as he walked off the mound. The dream of every aspiring player is to play in the world series so you might as well enjoy it.

The Phillies just don't win Game 2s. It's good to bring the action back to Philly if for no other reason than America doesn't have to watch Rudy mugging it up behind the on deck circle. But, if you look behind homeplate in Philly, you can see an acquaintance of mine in the front row with gray hair and mustache, probably wearing a Phillies varsity jacket with tan sleeves.

The Philly and NY papers have been flinging insults at each other. This ditty was in the Philadelphia Inqirer yesterday:

New York fans, they thionk they're above it.
They're smug and they're rude, and they love it.
So how 'bout it if Philly
Knocks their Yanks silly
And, like Tug, we tell them to shove it!

(And I thought Keats had talent).

The funniest I've seen is the local news channel. The "Good Day NY" and the "Good Day Philadelphia" folks have been having a great time. The anchor from Philly (his name escapes me) used to be in NY, so the anchors here had great fun pretending that he was actually a big Yankee fan and showing his old office with tons of Yankee stuff on the walls, and boxes that he left behind with all sorts of Yankee gear in it.

Then, the Philly anchors made a Yankee display for their "friends" in NY. They had a black drape on the ground with pictures of the Yankees on it and tons of apples. They then ran it over with a steamroller so that the apples were all squashed all over the Yankee players. It was really funny.

There's a lot of material to go back and forth.

At the end of Phillie postseason games I tune into the Phillies' sports channels where they interview some of the rowdy fans from the local sports bars, and professional actors and writers couldn't be funnier.

And here I thought it was my 1998 WS Champions sweat shirt!


I'll have to DVR it since I'll be in Maryland and may otherwise miss it. Cool, thanks.

JG - it wasn't your Yankees thong??

I heard a Pedro Martinez interview. He said there was a man in the field level seats who was sitting with his daughter, drinking beer and shouting some very nasty things to the Phillies. Pedro apparently went up to him and told him that he was a disgrace for acting that way in front of his child. You have to love a guy who takes the time from pitching in a World Series game to do that.

who wants replay in baseball?

I'm a traditionalist, ESPECIALLY when it comes to baseball, but I think it's time for the replay rule to come to the game.

Final decision would still sit with the umpires and perhaps a team should be limited to the number of questioned calls they can make (say, two per game).

With the technology of today, unfortunately certain plays have to be reviewed: home runs, fair/foul, catches - definetly not balls and strikes or force plays. The controversies have become bigger than the game. That's not good.