World Series Game 6: Pedro vs. Pettitte
The Phillies live to fight another day, thanks to Cliff Lee and Chase Utley. Monday night’s 8-6 win over the Yanks in Philly sends the World Series back to New York for an intriguing Game 6 matchup of mound veterans.
Now this should be fun.
Cliff Lee wasn’t overpowering as he had been in his previous four postseason starts, but the lefthander was good enough to help Philadelphia to an 8-6 win in Game 5 on Monday and force the World Series back to New York.
The bulk of Lee’s offensive support in the game came from Chase Utley who homered twice and drove in four runs. The Phillies infielder now has five home runs in the Series, giving him seven for his career, most ever for a second baseman in World Series play. He’ll try to add to that record at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night in Game 6.
The Yankees opened as -185, -190 favorites for the game, odds that are now scratching at -200 at most offshore shops. The total is sitting on 9.
Headlining Game 6 is the starting pitching matchup with Pedro Martinez taking the ball for Charlie Manuel’s troops while Joe Girardi sends Andy Pettitte to the mound, the third-straight New York hurler to be working on short rest.
The meeting between Pedro and Andy no doubt conjures up images of a Sox-Yankees contest. The two veterans faced each other six times while Martinez was with Boston, all in the regular season from 1998 to 2003 before Pettitte departed for a few seasons in Houston and Martinez toiled in Queens for the Mets.
In the six prior meetings between the two, the Yankees won three and the Red Sox won the other three. Hmm, not really much to go on there. But wait! What’s this I see?
The three games Pettitte started and New York came out on top were all at Boston’s Fenway Park while the three Martinez started with the Sox coming out on top were played in ‘old’ Yankee Stadium. If the same trend holds true in this one, it means we’re heading towards a Game 7 showdown on Thursday in what would be another interesting pitching matchup. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet.
While there is no question about Manuel sending Martinez to the mound for Wednesday’s game, Girardi’s decision to use a three-man rotation this Series, and push the 37-year old Pettitte to the mound on short rest, has drawn a lot of fire. Throwing A.J. Burnett with one less day of rest didn’t turn out like the Yankees skipper hoped on Monday, though both Girardi and Burnett insisted after the game it had nothing to do with the increased workload.
Burnett walked four in the game, and hit another batter, with three of those runners coming home before the New York righthander saw his night come to an early close in the third inning.
Pettitte has started five postseason games on three days rest, pitching well with a 2.88 ERA to show in those assignments. But the last time he did it in the playoffs was the 2003 World Series, coincidentally the last season he and Martinez went head-to-head against one another.
To his credit, Pettitte has had just one bad inning in the postseason so far, that coming in the second frame of Game 3 last Saturday when the Phillies plated three to take the lead. Pettitte then settled down and let his offense play catch-up in what would be an 8-5 New York win.
Likewise, Martinez has pitched very well in the postseason, albeit in just two starts. Pedro blanked the Dodgers for seven innings of Game 2 of their NLDS in LA before making the Game 2 start in New York last Thursday. The Dominican righthander made two mistakes to Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui, and both took him yard for solo shots to turn a 1-0 Philadelphia lead into a 2-1 Yanks advantage.
Since Martinez last pitched the two offenses have caught fire, scoring 13, 11 and 14 runs in the Games 3, 4 and 5 respectively. That is more in line with what we expected in this World Series with the top scoring team from the AL vs. the top scoring squad from the NL. Now both offenses get the added luxury of the designated hitter at Yankee Stadium.
The fan in me will be rooting for Philadelphia to take Game 6, not because I’m a Pedro or Phillies fan or a Yankee hater. No, I’ll be cheering the Phils because I’m selfish and want to see the baseball season extend to a Game 7 on Thursday. The bettor in me will instead just count on the offenses to take this final over the nine-run mark.
STARTING PITCHERS
Game 6, Thu, Nov 4, 7:57 p.m. (ET): Pedro Martinez (8-1, 3.63 regular season / 1-1, 2.07 postseason) vs. Andy Pettitte (21-11, 4.16 regular season / 3-1, 3.24 postseason)
UMPIRE
It’s been over 33 years since Joe West first saw action as a big league umpire. Since that day in September 1976, the rotund one has worked over 4,100 big league games, including 82 in the postseason.
West headed up the crew that worked the Angels, Red Sox ALDS in early October, calling the pitches in Game 1 of that series that went to the Halos by a five-zip score in Anaheim. His last World Series game behind the plate was the opener of the 2005 Fall Classic between the Astros and White Sox in Chicago with the Pale hose taking a 5-3 win.
For the 2009 regular season, West was a 21-14 lean on Home/Visitors and sported a 15-18-2 O/U record (10-13-2 in the 8½-10 range).
WEATHER
The forecast for Game 6 looks good currently; the same can’t be said for the weather on Thursday should there be a Game 7.
Things could certainly change between now and Wednesday, but the present forecast is showing mostly sunny skies in the New York City area for the day with just a 10% chance of any rain. It will be on the chilly side, with the thermometer likely in the mid-to-upper 40s for the first pitch. Winds are listed at 5-10 MPH out of the WNW (3B bag out to the RF corner).
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they start games. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com and ESPN.com and of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
The Phillies live to fight another day, thanks to Cliff Lee and Chase Utley. Monday night’s 8-6 win over the Yanks in Philly sends the World Series back to New York for an intriguing Game 6 matchup of mound veterans.
Now this should be fun.
Cliff Lee wasn’t overpowering as he had been in his previous four postseason starts, but the lefthander was good enough to help Philadelphia to an 8-6 win in Game 5 on Monday and force the World Series back to New York.
The bulk of Lee’s offensive support in the game came from Chase Utley who homered twice and drove in four runs. The Phillies infielder now has five home runs in the Series, giving him seven for his career, most ever for a second baseman in World Series play. He’ll try to add to that record at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night in Game 6.
The Yankees opened as -185, -190 favorites for the game, odds that are now scratching at -200 at most offshore shops. The total is sitting on 9.
Headlining Game 6 is the starting pitching matchup with Pedro Martinez taking the ball for Charlie Manuel’s troops while Joe Girardi sends Andy Pettitte to the mound, the third-straight New York hurler to be working on short rest.
The meeting between Pedro and Andy no doubt conjures up images of a Sox-Yankees contest. The two veterans faced each other six times while Martinez was with Boston, all in the regular season from 1998 to 2003 before Pettitte departed for a few seasons in Houston and Martinez toiled in Queens for the Mets.
In the six prior meetings between the two, the Yankees won three and the Red Sox won the other three. Hmm, not really much to go on there. But wait! What’s this I see?
The three games Pettitte started and New York came out on top were all at Boston’s Fenway Park while the three Martinez started with the Sox coming out on top were played in ‘old’ Yankee Stadium. If the same trend holds true in this one, it means we’re heading towards a Game 7 showdown on Thursday in what would be another interesting pitching matchup. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet.
While there is no question about Manuel sending Martinez to the mound for Wednesday’s game, Girardi’s decision to use a three-man rotation this Series, and push the 37-year old Pettitte to the mound on short rest, has drawn a lot of fire. Throwing A.J. Burnett with one less day of rest didn’t turn out like the Yankees skipper hoped on Monday, though both Girardi and Burnett insisted after the game it had nothing to do with the increased workload.
Burnett walked four in the game, and hit another batter, with three of those runners coming home before the New York righthander saw his night come to an early close in the third inning.
Pettitte has started five postseason games on three days rest, pitching well with a 2.88 ERA to show in those assignments. But the last time he did it in the playoffs was the 2003 World Series, coincidentally the last season he and Martinez went head-to-head against one another.
To his credit, Pettitte has had just one bad inning in the postseason so far, that coming in the second frame of Game 3 last Saturday when the Phillies plated three to take the lead. Pettitte then settled down and let his offense play catch-up in what would be an 8-5 New York win.
Likewise, Martinez has pitched very well in the postseason, albeit in just two starts. Pedro blanked the Dodgers for seven innings of Game 2 of their NLDS in LA before making the Game 2 start in New York last Thursday. The Dominican righthander made two mistakes to Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui, and both took him yard for solo shots to turn a 1-0 Philadelphia lead into a 2-1 Yanks advantage.
Since Martinez last pitched the two offenses have caught fire, scoring 13, 11 and 14 runs in the Games 3, 4 and 5 respectively. That is more in line with what we expected in this World Series with the top scoring team from the AL vs. the top scoring squad from the NL. Now both offenses get the added luxury of the designated hitter at Yankee Stadium.
The fan in me will be rooting for Philadelphia to take Game 6, not because I’m a Pedro or Phillies fan or a Yankee hater. No, I’ll be cheering the Phils because I’m selfish and want to see the baseball season extend to a Game 7 on Thursday. The bettor in me will instead just count on the offenses to take this final over the nine-run mark.
STARTING PITCHERS
Game 6, Thu, Nov 4, 7:57 p.m. (ET): Pedro Martinez (8-1, 3.63 regular season / 1-1, 2.07 postseason) vs. Andy Pettitte (21-11, 4.16 regular season / 3-1, 3.24 postseason)
UMPIRE
It’s been over 33 years since Joe West first saw action as a big league umpire. Since that day in September 1976, the rotund one has worked over 4,100 big league games, including 82 in the postseason.
West headed up the crew that worked the Angels, Red Sox ALDS in early October, calling the pitches in Game 1 of that series that went to the Halos by a five-zip score in Anaheim. His last World Series game behind the plate was the opener of the 2005 Fall Classic between the Astros and White Sox in Chicago with the Pale hose taking a 5-3 win.
For the 2009 regular season, West was a 21-14 lean on Home/Visitors and sported a 15-18-2 O/U record (10-13-2 in the 8½-10 range).
WEATHER
The forecast for Game 6 looks good currently; the same can’t be said for the weather on Thursday should there be a Game 7.
Things could certainly change between now and Wednesday, but the present forecast is showing mostly sunny skies in the New York City area for the day with just a 10% chance of any rain. It will be on the chilly side, with the thermometer likely in the mid-to-upper 40s for the first pitch. Winds are listed at 5-10 MPH out of the WNW (3B bag out to the RF corner).
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they start games. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com and ESPN.com and of course, S-BEE-R-dot-com!
