PHILADELPHIA (AP) — By the ninth inning, Phillies fans were preparing for the worst.
The
New York Yankees were at it again, chipping away at a dwindling lead
and threatening to take away the Phils' World Series title right there
at Citizens Bank Park.
Desperate to hang on, somehow Chase Utley
and the Phillies did. Derek Jeter grounded into a double play, Mark
Teixeira struck out, and Philadelphia staved off the Yankees and
elimination with an 8-6 win in Game 5 on Monday night.
Now comes the hard part: winning twice at Yankee Stadium.
Game
6 will be played Wednesday night, with New York's Andy Pettitte going
on short rest against Pedro Martinez, not exactly a beloved figure in
the Bronx.
Utley hit two home runs to raise his Series total to a
record-tying five, Cliff Lee won again and Philadelphia cut its deficit
to 3-2.
"We didn't have a choice. It was either go home and watch
football and college basketball or extend the season," Phillies
shortstop Jimmy Rollins said.
Ahead 8-2, the Phillies watched New
York score three times in the eighth inning and put its first two
batters on in the ninth. Jeter's grounder drove in a run, but the fans
on their feet couldn't exhale until Teixeira struck out as the tying
run.
Whew!
Utley hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the
first inning off A.J. Burnett and added a solo shot in the seventh to
join Reggie Jackson as the only players to hit five home runs in a
single World Series.
"Obviously it's great company," Utley said. "It's pretty surreal."
Philadelphia
replicated its winning formula from the opener, when Utley hit two solo
homers and Lee pitched a six-hitter. Raul Ibanez set off fireworks from
the Liberty Bell one last time, adding a second solo shot in the
seventh off Phil Coke that made it 8-2.
In a matchup of starters
from Arkansas, Lee allowed five runs and seven hits in seven-plus
innings. He is 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA in five postseason starts.
"I don't think my command was as good as it has been," Lee said. "I had to battle a little bit."
Alex
Rodriguez had put the Yankees ahead with an RBI double in the first and
hit a two-run double in the eighth off Lee. He scored on Robinson
Cano's sacrifice fly against Chan Ho Park to cut the deficit to 8-5.
Jorge
Posada clanked a double against the right-field wall leading off the
ninth against Ryan Madson, and Hideki Matsui singled him to third.
Closer Brad Lidge was nowhere to be seen one night after his ninth-inning meltdown.
"I kind of wanted to just give Lidge a break tonight if I could," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.
Madson
fell behind Jeter 2-1, then induced a 6-4-3 double play as Posada
scored. After Johnny Damon singled, Teixeira struck out.
"We
definitely have the momentum," said Madson, who got the save. "I didn't
care if they scored one or two, as long as they didn't score three."
The
Yankees, who have won the Series all eight previous times they took a
3-1 lead, have two more tries to close out title No. 27.
"If we would have pitched today, we probably would have won," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "That's the bottom line."
Pitching
on short rest didn't work well for Burnett, who had been 4-0 previously
in his career on three days' off and kept the Phillies off balance in
Game 2. He kept falling behind batters and allowed six runs, four hits
and four walks in two-plus innings, his shortest start since his first
outing in 2007.
It marked the first time in 14 postseason games this year that a Yankees starter failed to pitch at least six innings.
"You
just feel like you let a bunch of guys down," Burnett said. "It's the
worst feeling in the world to have the chance to do something special
and fail like that. But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
Philadelphia
ended baseball's record streak of five straight Series that ended in
sweeps or five games, ensuring at least one more telecast in a matchup
between big-market teams that has revived baseball's ratings. The
Phillies still face a tall task: The Yankees lost three in a row just
twice after the All-Star break and dropped consecutive home games only
once after mid-June.
Just six of 43 teams facing 3-1 Series
deficits have gone on to win the title, including five in a row since
Kansas City rallied past St. Louis in 1985.
But Pettitte and CC
Sabathia, the Yankees' Game 7 starter, will be pitching on short rest —
Pettitte for the first time this year and Sabathia for the third time
in the postseason.
If the Phillies come back to become the first
NL team to win consecutive Series titles since the 1975-76 Cincinnati
Reds, Girardi will be widely second-guessed for his pitching decisions.
No Series champion has gone the entire postseason with just three
starters since the 1991 Minnesota Twins — when there were just two
rounds of playoffs.
New York will be without center fielder Melky
Cabrera for the rest of the Series. Cabrera strained his left hamstring
in Game 4 and was replaced on the roster by backup infielder Ramiro
Pena as Brett Gardner took over in center field.
Philadelphia
received a scare when center fielder Shane Victorino was hit with a
pitch while squaring to bunt in the first. X-rays were negative but the
finger swelled and he left after seven innings.
"Hitting was
difficult. I couldn't get my grip," Victorino said. "A.J. apologized
when I got to first, so it wasn't retaliation, I can tell you that.
Everything's fine. I definitely feel great."
While the Phillies
have outhomered the Yankees 10-5 in the Series, Ryan Howard is
slumping. He went 0 for 2 with two walks and two strikeouts and is
hitting .158 (3 for 19) with 12 strikeouts, tying the Series record set
by Kansas City's Willie Wilson in 1980.
NOTES: Eric Hinske, who
walked as a pinch-hitter for the Yankees in the fifth, homered for the
Rays in last year's Series. He appeared for Boston in the 2007 Series
and joined Don Baylor (1986-88) as the only players to appear in three
straight Series with three different teams.