Reason(s?) Why The World Series Isn't Over

I know one reason: neither team has won four games. But if that's not a good enough reason, Jon Heyman has a few others.

1. The Phillies aren't called the Fightin' Phils for no reason.

And he can see no reasons 'cause there are no reasons. Tell me why I don't like Mondays. Brannock devices aren't called Brannock devices for "no reason" either, but it's for a better reason than a slogan shoehorned into a slug for an article. And you gotta love the Boomtown Rats.

And they aren't the defending champs for no reason, either.

My head doesn't not hurt for no reason when reading that mangled wreck of a sentence.

As Yankees GM Brian Cashman said, "We're playing the world champions, and it's going to take a world-championship effort to beat them."

The two teams playing in the world championship of baseball will need to effort like world champions to be world champions. Otherwise, the Pirates are going to sneak in the back door and swipe the whole thing when no one is looking. Got it.

Being down 3-2 isn't going to faze the Phils. They create comebacks without the fanfare and cream pies that have marked the Yankees' wonderful season,

If you are going to call AJ a jackass, call AJ a jackass and keep your hand out of your sarcastic pants' pocket.

but the Phillies did post a National League-high 43 come-from-behind wins.

But the Yankees did post a world-high 51 come-from-behind wins. Watch the Yankees and Fightin' Phils trip over each other in a foot-race to the back-of-the-line to show their come-from-behindedness.

Manager Charlie Manuel considered talking to them as a team before Game 5, but Jimmy Rollins said Manuel merely threw up his hands when it became clear the Phillies were as focused as ever.

That's world-championship-caliber managing. Or he had a stroke.

According to Rollins, the only major change they made going into Game 5 was to remove Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind from their pregame clubhouse soundtrack. (Not sure if Elton John's Philadelphia Freedom is a worthy replacement, but New York-based songs are definitely not the way to go.)

"According to Rollins" has a great ring as a cutaway feature for Baseball Tonight. J-Roll drools diamond-quality diamond quotes. We know now the Phillies are so dialed that the only thing worth efforting is the iPod in the Phillies locker room.

2. They are road warriors. The Phillies were a baseball-best 48-33 on the road this year.

The Yankees were a known-universe-best 103-59 at the game of baseball. Which means nothing right now.

3. Chase Utley is currently unstoppable.

That is true. I was sincerely hoping that AJ would drill Utley in the numbers in his first plate appearance. Or at least buzz him. The guy is in the groove, and needs to be disrupted.

Reggie Jackson couldn't be found for the first time this Series on Monday,

If you are going to call Reggie a jackass, call Reggie a jackass and keep your hand out of your jealous pants' pocket.

but it would have been interesting to see what he would have had to say about Utley tying Jackson's World Series record with five home runs. Utley's five have come in one less game (five to six) and mostly against left-handers (four of five were vs. lefties, three vs. CC Sabathia). "He's not missing pitches. He's tough," Sabathia said. "He's not missing, so you have to make (all) quality pitches."

Utley is a scary monster right now, and his hair was perfect. I'd like to meet his tailor.

4. The vaunted, balanced Yankees lineup isn't all that balanced right now. Back home they'll get the benefit of a hot Hideki Matsui (.556, two homers) in the lineup, and with A.J. Burnett done now, Jose Molina is through hitting, so that's another plus. Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, Jorge Posada and Alex Rodriguez are at the top of their game now, but two Yankee stars -- Mark Teixeira (2 for 19) and Robinson Cano (3 for 18) -- currently look slightly lost at the plate. They're so cold even Nick Swisher looks hot compared to them.

The Philadelphia Phillies have some great pitchers. It's almost ilke the Yankees batsmen are playing in the World Championship against the defending World Champions or something. And if you are going to call Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano a couple of jackasses, you had better get both hands out of your conveniently placed cargo pockets and acknowledge the phenomenal defense those two players have put up. Not that it makes for good copy.

5. Cliff Lee may not quite be through.

Did the editor tell Jon he had to have five reasons? One wasn't good enough? Four felt light? Six was too many?

Philly has some issues of its own, what with their own pitching miracles needed the next two games.

Lazy, self-defeating. Stop now. And if you are going to call Pedro a jackass…

After Pedro Martinez tries to beat his "daddy" in Game 6 (I wouldn't put it past him),

There you go.

the Phillies have posted a TBA for Game 7 if it's needed because no perfect choice exists for them.

If there is a game seven, the Phillies will announce their decision when necessary who will be the so-called "Miracle" worker.

The most likely option to start a Game seven may be 2008 hero/2009 goat Cole Hamels, who seemed to suggest he wished the season was over in quotes a couple days ago

Way too much is made of Cole Hamels' goated-ness, as long as you want to call Cole Hamels a jackass.

(the humorous Hamels told Manuel on Monday he didn't mean it, then admitted to writers he is sometimes prone to putting his foot in his mouth -- "It's hard to talk and play baseball at the same time," he said with a smile).


That is a funny line. Lead with that gold, don't bury it in the bottom of a pointless article.

Hamels has yet to post a good start in four tries this postseason. But Lee isn't counting himself out of the mix. Thursday is his throw day, so perhaps he can put in a few more innings. "I'm available. I think I'll be fine," Lee said. "If it's going to help the team win, I'm in."

Charlie Manuel will effort to wave his hands if need be so that Lee will start game seven, Citizens Bank it.

As usual, the Phillies are in it to win it. The odds are against them, but this resilient bunch can never be counted out.

Until you can count to four. I think I read that Stan Usual had exactly the same number of hits from each side of the plate. Or something.

Comments

[Lar]

It took them until game 5 to take Empire State of Mind out of their rotation?

[krueg]

I cannot wait for tomorrow night.

[AlexDYF]

If you guys don't mind the opinions of a new guy, I'd like to say this. Girardi should have started Gaudin or Chamberlain in Game 5 (after all, they were up 3-1). They lost it anyway and now he would have had a better rested Burnette AND Pettite for games 6 & 7.

[AndrewYF]

So maybe AJ Burnett would have been better rested for Game 6 and thus performed better. Well, that's a silly thing to say, because it's well known that short rest affects how long you can go, not the quality of your stuff. So your plan would have given away Game 5, and then Burnett would have given away Game 6.

Girardi absolutely made the right call. Maybe if Joba didn't suck in the second half and Wang were healthy, they could have done it differently. But the way things were, Joe did it right.

Honestly, Joe has done most things right this postseason. The one indefensible move he made was taking out Robertson for Aceves in that ALCS game, but that was way, way, way down on the list on why the Yankees lost that game.

[dc]

i agree andrew...that whole short rest argument is moot if andy has a good game tonight...there's no reason to believe that the extra day gives him much more than the ability to go deeper into the game...or, that burnett would have fared better with an extra day...i don't think he was tired as much as he put pitches in bad places to good hitters...of course, if andy stinks up the place tonight, we'll be having the same conversation tomorrow, along with the whole choke theme and all...i understand the whole rest thing, but pitching on 3 days rest is not new, and probably not something you'd want to try over the course of a season, but a couple of times in the playoffs should not be a big deal for most of these guys...i can't help thinking that if joe started gaudin, and he sucked, the second-guessers would be chirping a different song...

[sam-YF]

I agree with you guys...plus Joe wanted CC for a potential game 7 not andy.

[Atheose - SF]

Well, that's a silly thing to say, because it's well known that short rest affects how long you can go, not the quality of your stuff.

Woah, I strongly disagree with this... pitching on short rest is different for every player. It's not as if it universally allows every pitcher to throw his normal stuff for a shorter period of time.

I'm not saying it was a bad decision, I'm just saying it's unpredictable.

[AndrewYF]

Ath - I guess I shouldn't have generalized. But in Burnett's case, it didn't affect his stuff. That he couldn't control it wasn't because of short rest.

[Paul SF]

That he couldn't control it wasn't because of short rest.

It's a generally approved-of axiom that the first thing to go when a pitcher is tired isn't his velocity, or "stuff," but his command, is it not?

Like Ath, I'm not really second-guessing Girardi, but poor command with great stuff is not necessarily an indication that a pitcher is not tired (crap. Now I sound like Jon Heyman).

[AndrewYF]

Paul, I guess it's hard to tell, since Burnett can simply not have it on any day of the week. But looking at comments made, his demeanor on the mound, he didn't look tired at all. He just looked like that nefarious evil twin of Good A.J. I think the safer assumption is that he simply didn't have it - and thank god that it was in Game 5 instead of Game 6.

[Paul SF]

I guess it's hard to tell, since Burnett can simply not have it on any day of the week.

That's a good point. Burnett is kind of a unique pitcher in that sense.

[AlexDYF]

Well, I guess I was wrong, but, in this case, I'm glad I was. Congrats to the champs! (P.S. I've been a Yankee fan since 1955 - I saw the great NY teams of the 1950s. This team, along with the '98 team, ranks right up there with those teams in my opinion.)