Moving down I-95 to Philadelphia brought a sense of change for the series. One that for the average sports fan would be better for their viewing pleasure. That better thing is offense. And offense there was. After two tight, well-pitched games in New York, the two teams combined for six homeruns in an 8-5 Yankees win over the Phillies. After a 1 hour, 20 minute rain delay, the two offenses jumped on the anxious pitchers in a long night full of scoring. After falling behind early, the Yankees scored in five straight innings from some quiet bats and the pitching settled down to hold on to take 2-1 lead in the series.

Swisher scores, awkwardly

The Phillies got the Bank rockin’ early on with a three run second inning. Jayson Werth picked up his first homer of the game on low slider off Pettitte and just easily knocked it over the left field wall. Then, uncharacteristically, Pettitte loaded the bases and walked in a run followed by a sac fly on an 0-2 pitch to Shane Victorino to put the Phillies up 3-0 early.

It looked like the Phillies might have a pretty easy night due to the early lead and the crispness of Cole Hamels, but the Yankees got their sleeping giant to wake up in the top of the 4th inning. With one out, Hamels could not get a called third strike on Mark Teixeira with a full count. Next batter – Alex Rodriguez. The man who was 0-8 in the series hit a line drive down the right field which hit a TV camera and bounced back on the field. The camera (seen in the picture below) is less than a foot off from the top of the wall, so the umps didn’t notice that it hit the camera. A-Rod pleaded for a review, which was granted, and the umpires came out with a changed call from a double to a homerun to narrow the deficit to 3-2.

Earlier in the game, Hamels hit A-Rod in the arm. It was that moment that I KNEW A-Rod had just been snapped out of his funk. So of course, in his next at bat, A-Rod gets a ball to hit and knocks his sixth homerun of the postseason and his first hit of the series. Previous to this game, A-Rod had this look in his face that he’s had in all previous postseasons; a look of ghost-like proportions. That look has now been replaced with his forced boyish grin to show that he is ‘doing well’.

The Yankees didn’t take very long to grab some more runs. In the top of the 5th, Andy Pettitte helped himself with an RBI single on a Hamels curve, of all pitches. Then after a Derek Jeter single, Johnny Damon served a double to the right field gap to score two runs and give the Yankees a 5-3 lead. One batter later, Hamels’ night was over. The 2008 postseason hero for the Phillies went only 4 1/3 and gave up 5 runs to earn the loss. He just didn’t have it and the Yankees were very aggressive against him as the game went on.

Pettitte rounds third and scores in 5th

The Yankees went on to score runs in the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings as well, mostly on homers. Meanwhile, the Phillies could only get one more. In the 6th, Swisher proved that the day off in Game 2 may have given him more focus as he homered to left. Although, Jayson Werth hit his second homer of the game, a Monmouth blast, to get the run back. In the 7th, Jorge Posada hit a flair RBI single for another Yankees runs. Then, in the 8th, Hideki Matsui hit a pinch-hit homerun to the opposite field to extend the NY lead to 8-4.

NY manager Joe Girardi knew he couldn’t use Mariano Rivera for two innings every game, so he had to prep his bullpen to give him a few innings to bridge to Rivera. Although, as the lead kept extending, it became apparent that Rivera may not even be needed. Although, after two great innings from Joba Chamberlain and Damaso Marte, Phil Hughes gave up a homer to Carlos Ruiz which brought Rivera into the game with one out. This was still overmanaging by Joe Girardi, but he just wanted to play it extra safe to secure the win, which he did in only five pitches.

Despite the early scoring, the Phillies were completely shut down for the rest of the game. Their offense looked a lot like the Yankees offense did in New York – tight, anxious, and weak. Their biggest weakness right now is their big man, Ryan Howard, who is 2-13 with nine strikeouts in the series. At one point in this game, Howard had six straight strikeouts. Yikes. Now, the defending champs are down 2-1 in the series.

Howard K's...again

Sunday is a big sports day in Philly, with the Giants and Eagles playing football at 1pm, followed by World Series Game 4 at 8:20. The stadium will be full of anxious phans looking to tie the series up. The pitching matchup will be CC Sabathia (on 3 days rest) and Joe Blanton. Cliff Lee will be saved for Game 5, since he has never thrown on 3 days rest in his career.