I’m liking the Yanks in six or seven.  Cliff Lee, fully rested at home, against AJ Burnett on short rest, something that probably increases the chances of Bad AJ showing up, and a bottom third of the lineup that goes Hairston-Molina-Burnett (probably).  Sure, the Yanks have a shot, because they’re the Yanks and they always have a shot, but I’m thinking it’s not much more than a two-in-five shot on this one.  I like their chances better of getting through to either Pedro or Hamels at home with their full offense at their disposal.

I’ve been up for too long.  There’s way too many commas in that paragraph, but I’m far too tired to figure out which should go.

We were screaming “no, no, no”, assuming it was a Damon brain cramp.  He is, of course, a baseball savant.  I’ve never seen another player quite like him.  It may have been done before, but never in the 9th inning of a tied World Series game, that’s for sure.

Oh yea, and Wade Boggs riding around on a horse was spectacular.  First, there’s a World Series victory.  Second, its an indelible image of a guy you think of as a Red Sox in pinstripes on a horse celebrating a World Series.  Is Wade Boggs dead to Red Sox fans from this point forward?  Finally, a ballplayer on a horse rates very highly on the dooshiness meter.  Sorry, I digress, I’ve completely highjacked the comments and probably risked turning the comments into NBC comments . . . it was a postseason moment though.

I kinda know the mechanics of deterrmining who “wins” a game.  And I think they lead to patently stupid results. Joba WINS because he pitched so well that the tying run was hit? Guess I’ll use another stat like WAR, WHIP, ERA, SPQR or something like that.

Wade who?

Maybe sometime in the off-season we can have a deeper discussion on the merits of the overshift as I am curious if it truly make a statistical difference.  I am sure it gets some outs it would not have but how many weak left side hits get through as a result, let alone the freakish double steals that happened last night? 

What would have happened had the Phillies just shifted for Teixiera to pull but not overshifted, would Damon had never attempted to steal at all allowing Lidge to pitched his slider with confidence?  How often is the overshift a result of overthinking the situation and potentially putting the team in unusual situation where players do not respond habitually to situations? For example, who covers the steal, what side of the bag do I stand on to assure the runner does not get into a footrace to third, should the pitcher or catcher cover third? 

Did Charlie Manuel actually overthink the situation and put his team in a worse situation than if he had just let the team position itself in a more traditional alignment?  Can someone invite LaRussa to the discussion as I am sure he is the expertise on all things baseball will clear this up immediately?

Jeter did the exact play one time. I remember it, but it wasn’t in the post season and I’m not sure who it was against.

Even if you hate the Yankees, if you are a fan of the game, you have to be smiling and shaking your head and wondering how that happened and wishing that your team could do something like that. 

And if you’re the Yankees, and at any time in the past four years found yourselves wondering if Johnny Damon was really worth all that money, you aren’t wondering that anymore.  Now you’re wondering how much it will cost to bring him back.

I think the Phils should win tonight because a rested Lee will possibly provide just enough oomph to at least make sure that the Yankees don’t win it on the road.  But how often have we seen 3-1 leads become 4-1 clinches?  Either way, even with the Phils’ never say day attitude, I think this one is over.

If my memory is correct, Brandon Phillips stole 2nd and 3rd base (on one pitch) twice in 2008 when the opposing team had the Dunn/Griffey shift in place.  On one of them he didn’t slide at 2nd, he hit the 2nd base bag at full speed and just kept running.  However, doing it in a World Series game is much more impressive.

Jeter did the exact play one time. I remember it, but it wasn’t in the post season and I’m not sure who it was against.

It was opening day in ‘03 against Toronto.  [Over]shift for Giambi, Jeter took 2nd and headed for 3rd, where he was met by the catcher who slid into Jeter with both knees to block 3rd, separating Jeter’s shoulder :(