Rodriguez's clutch hit sends Lidge, Phillies to brink

Alex Rodriguez came through once more, breaking a eighth-inning tie to put his New York Yankees one win away from their first World Series title snce 2000. v" width="386">

Alex Rodriguez came through once more, breaking an eighth-inning tie to put his New York Yankees one win away from their first World Series title since 2000. (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

New York Yankees relief pitcher Joba Chamberlain’s fastball was at its best. He entered the game in the eighth inning with his team ahead by one and overpowered the first two hitters, Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez.

Against Werth, who has 7 home-runs this postseason and tagged 30 during the regular season, he set him up with a 95-miles per hour heater down the middle–a good pitch to hit, but Werth was taking all the way. He missed wildly with a slider, but painted the outside corner with a fastball, which Werth fouled off. Ahead in the count 1-2, Chamberlain reared back and challenged Werth with everything he had, firing a 97-miles per hour fastball high in the strikezone. It was a hittable pitch, even for Werth, a low-ball hitter, but he swung right through and walked back to the dugout shaking his head in dismay.

Ibanez was next, and he suffered a similar fate. Chamberlain hit the outside corner with strike-one, missed with two sliders, and then Ibanez chased a third offspeed pitch. With a 2-2 count, he went back to his fastball, blowing Ibanez away with heat rarely seen out of the big Nebraskan. Chamberlain was now one out away from handing the ball to unhittable closer Mariano Rivera with a one-run lead.

Pedro Feliz strode to the plate with one idea, to muscle a Chamberlain offering amongst the Phillie fans and tie the game. He fell behind 1-2, swinging for the fences but coming up empty. Down to his last strike, he layed off two sliders that dipped low and outside. All of Philadelphia was on the edge of their seats, and then rose out of them as one when Chamberlain tried to power in a fastball. The 24-year old righthander attempted to brush Feliz back, presumably to set up a offspeed pitch outside, but didn’t get it in far enough, instead located high and slightly inside. Feliz turned on it, crushing the mistake to deep left. Chamberlain crouched down immediately, knowing the outcome and unable to watch the damage. Citizens Bank Park erupted in joyous cheer.

The tying blast was Feliz’s third hit of the game. Philadelphia was back in the game, with a distinct chance of tying the World Series at two games apiece. Closer Brad Lidge’s job now was to keep Game 4 notched at four.

He retired the first two rather easily, getting Hideki Matsui to pop-up and then Derek Jeter to strikeout, and was ahead in the count against Johnny Damon. The Yankees left-fielder and second-place hitter took a fastball high and another outside to work the count full. He then spoiled two fastballs, fouling each back. Lidge followed with a fifth-straight fastball, a pitch Damon didn’t miss. The Yankee veteran deposited the offering into shallow left field, reaching on a single as it dropped in front of the slow-footed Ibanez.

Damon took off for second on the second pitch to Mark Teixeira. Catcher Carlos Ruiz fired to second. No one was covering third base because of the defensive alignment for Teixeira, but someone should have been. Lidge ducked and watched Ruiz’s throw sail over his head, but watched the play unfold instead of doing his job. In that instant, he should have been running to cover third base just in case Damon tried to take an extra base. But he just stood there. Damon realized this, and though Feliz had caught Ruiz’s throw, he started for third. Feliz tried to run him down, but considering he had nobody to throw to, he had no chance to get the all-important final out.

Lidge made things worse for Philadelphia, turning into the pitcher who had 11 blown saves and a 7.21 ERA during the regular season. He hit Mark Teixeira with the pitch that followed his mental lapse, which forced him into an unenviable situation. Alex Rodriguez, who has been on fire this postseason, stepped in. New York’s star third-baseman and a suddenly clutch hitter came through yet again, nailing a Lidge grooved fastball into the left-field corner. Damon scored and Teixeira hustled to third base. The Yankees had retaken the lead and silenced a once rambunctious crowd.

Lidge’s collapse wasn’t complete. The Phillies 9, 1, and 2 hitters in their lineup were due in the bottom of the frame, and though Mariano Rivera was waiting to work his magic, they would have had a good chance to climb back off the Yankees somewhat overworked closer. That chance was thrown out the window once Jorge Posada clocked a 1-2 fastball into left-field to score both Teixeira and Rodriguez. New York’s lead increased to three, and with that, the Phillies chances became zero to none.

Never in his postseason career has Rivera given up three runs in an outing. I hoped the saying “a first time for everything” would apply, but I knew deep down the game was over. It usually is once Rivera, the best closer of all-time, graces the mound on the biggest of stages. Not surprisingly, he needed just eight pitches to record the final three outs. The game was over.

The Phillies and their fans filed out of a stadium just an inning prior was rocking with jubilation. The Yankees celebrated on the field, and the thought sunk in: one win away from winning the World Series. They have had this thought run through their minds before. In 2001, they were on the brink, only to see the Arizona Diamondbacks Luis Gonzalez send them home with the sickest of feelings. In 2003, they watched Florida Marlins ace Josh Beckett toss a complete game shutout, sending them home once more with the sickest of feelings.

Philadelphia will try to extend New York’s heartbreak, but they will need three consecutive wins to accomplish their goal and repeat as World Series champions.