Phillies-Yankees: Game Four Notes

> In the first, Joe Blanton had no movement on his pitches, not that he's usually drowning in it, and wound up surrendering two runs after the first two men reached base. Adding to the interest was watching A-Rod get hit, the third time that's happened in the last two games, leading to a warning to both dugouts.

That's always good fun, really, when you are rooting for the team that's been doing the plunking, but A-Rod's pointed stare into his dugout more or less gave up any chance that he was going to see vengeance. As always with The Centaur, it's all about A-Rod.

> In the bottom of the first, the home team got a break with a bloop double to left from Shane Victorino, followed by a hammered double to right for Chase Utley. Unfortunately, CC Sabathia owned Ryan Howard, getting him on nasty stuff with a full count, and Howard is on path towards a World Series record for whiffs.

Ceec then pitched around Jayson Werth, walking him intentionally, and that's not a sentence I'd ever thought I'd write. Three strikes set down Ibanez and kept the lead with New York, but at least they made the starter throw 24 pitches and gave me the hope of seeing the Yankee pen. But not getting the run home from second is kind of deadly against this offense; the Yankees are too good to leave opportunities uncashed.

> Joe Buck's a fan of the Philadelphia quarantine of sports venues, which is nice and all, but until there's actually some places to go after the game is over, the locals actually find it lacking. Supposedly, that's what is going to happen when the Spectrum is gone, but it might take some time.

> Blanton started the second with a borderline strikeout looking call on Nick Swisher, who decided to laugh it off. Realistically, kind of a better reaction than screaming, though I'm not sure it buys you a better call next time up. A semi-hard fly ball to right was followed by a called third strike on the competent with a bat Sabathia, and there's some mild encouragement.

> Pedro Feliz is an auto out these days, and someone that probably needs to be replaced next year, given his age and utter fungibility. It'll be curious to see how strongly GM Ruben Amaro goes after that. I'm unaware of any obvious farm system prospect to replace him. And now that I've insulted him, Pedro comes back with the tying RBI to score Howard in the fourth.

> The tying run in the fourth was made in large part by Howard, who rifled a single to center and then stole a base that shocked the Fox heads almost as much as it did Sabathia. The secret of Howard running well has been slowly coming out all summer, and had he not lost weight and started moving better, there's no way he would have scored on the single to left.

Also noteworthy was that the Phils ran at Johnny Damon's noodle arm, which means they've seen Damon throw before; a good and stronger throw might have had the runner. (And for the umpire baiters among us, Howard clearly didn't tag home plate.)

> The first two Yankees reached in the fourth, on a four-pitch walk and an infield single that Utley couldn't convert. Sabathia looked much less comfortable trying to bunt than trying to hit, and he wound making a gift out for Blanton's improbable sixth strikeout.

Jeter then converted on another of those bleeding little singles that the Yankees keep seeming to get, and Rollins probably keeps it in the infield had they not been playing for the double play. Damon then blooped yet another seeing-eye ball to shallow right, scoring Cabrera, and dammit, if the Yankees are going to score consistently, it'd be nice if they actually had a well-hit ball to do it. Cabrera ran through a stop sign and didn't slide, but it didn't matter; such are the blessings of speed.

> The next hitter was Teixeira, and he did the home team a favor by flying out on a 3-1 count to fairly deep left. Philly Fan gave A-Rod a quick "You Took Steroids" chant, and he responded by looking uncomfortable on an inside curveball before flying out to center. Blanton has been gutty, but he's also behind, and he's showing the world why No. 4 starters aren't usually big World Series heroes.

> A small point from the fourth: Since Feliz took second on the overthrow and the Yankees walked Ruiz to face Blanton, they started the fifth with Rollins, not Blanton. On average, that means up to a third of a run of difference on average, and Rollins made the numbers look good with a leadoff single.

Seven base runners now in four innings, and 70 pitches; some hope with that, especially with some squeezes from the home plate umpire. Victorino waited out a five-pitch walk to bring up Utley, who looked terrible on a four-pitch pop up to short, and Howard looked no better on a two-pitch pop up of his own. Fah.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?