New York Yankees

In the 8th inning of last night's New York Yankee victory, manager Joe Girardi summoned left handed reliever Damaso Marte to begin the frame. At the time, the Yankees led 8-4, so the game was still within reach of Philadelphia, especially with the middle, power-part of the Phillies hitters due up.

It was a good move by Girardi (one of many he has made this post season), getting the lefty Marte to face Phillies slugger Ryan Howard leading off the inning.

He was dominant in game one at Yankee Stadium, shutting down the vaunted New York Yankee lineup in a complete game victory. In going the distance, Cliff Lee struck out 10 hitters (including Alex Rodriguez three times), allowing only six hits and a single unearned run.

He is in his prime and is basically a win waiting to happen every time he takes the mound. The best bet for Philadelphia in winning this World Series is to have Lee pitch as often as he can.

Although the Yankees may be leading the World Series 2-1, Phillies fans have completely dominated Yankees fans in terms of the noise and energy exuded so far.

Yankee Stadium sounded more like a wake during the first two games of the series when compared to the pure madness seen last night at Citizens Bank Park.

And I’m not talking about an Irish wake either.

The first thing I noticed when flipping on the television to watch Game One at Yankee Stadium was all of the empty seats.

Before Game Three of the 2009 World Series could be played between the Yankees and the Phillies, the fans at Citizens Bank Park experienced an 80 minute rain delay to start the night.

After the delay was over and the tarps were pulled off the field, the Fall Classic was on.

After the first two games of the World Series were in New York, the series shifted to Philadelphia where both teams were tied 1-1 and looking to take an advantage.

Alex Rodriguez broke out of his World Series slump with a two-run home run, and Andy Pettitte picked up his 17th career playoff win as the Yankees won Game Three in Philadelphia. 

The 2009 New York Yankees are a scary team to face. Just ask any team that was included in their 103 wins. Now imagine the New York Yankees as horror movie villains. It is a scary thought but this presentation will give you a better idea who best resembles who.

Plus there is a surprise at the end!

Trick or Treat?

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Hideki Matsui has absolutely crushed the ball all season long for the Yankees, and he has continued to do that in the postseason.

So far, he has produced a line of .278/.422/.472 with two home runs and six runs batted in. He also put together a regular season that exceeded all expectations.

Game Three of the 2009 World series shifts today to the new launching pad in the National League, Citizens Bank Park. It's a bit ironic that the Philadelphia "Mashers" at one point in time had a far better record on the road than they did at home. They righted that situation in the second half of the season to finish nine games over .500 at home.

The post-season is a completely different story as the Phillies have lost a grand total of three games over the past three post seasons. They've won 12 games and the only team to beat them at home was the Colorado Rockies.

Perhaps it's fitting that Game Three of the World Series will be played on the night of Halloween.

Some strange, downright scary, developments played out in the first two games of the series, developments that make this matchup nearly impossible to predict going forward.

I wouldn't be surprised if the ghost of Rod Serling introduced the starting lineups at this point.