New York Yankees

If you love pitching, this World Series is the sort that you can only dream about.

Let’s recap what we’ve seen so far:

In Game One, Cliff Lee threw an absolute gem, allowing only one run, which was unearned, while racking up 10 strikeouts over nine innings. CC Sabathia countered with a pretty impressive performance of his own, pitching seven strong innings and allowing two earned runs, both on solo shots from Chase Utley.

While I may hate both teams involved, the World Series this year has provided some very good baseball thus far. The reality is, these teams both legitimately deserve to be there this year.

Some thoughts on the matchup so far:

To some degree, I sympathize with New York Yankee fans. Granted, my tears are largely of the crocodile variety because I readily acknowledge they bring a lot of the exploitation on themselves.

Few fan bases are so quick to turn on their players when performance dips.

In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of

There's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York

These streets will make you feel brand new

Big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York

This is the chorus (as sung by Grammy winner Alicia Keys) to Jay-Z's current hit single "Empire State of Mind."

Sometime around the sixth inning, I think it was the exact moment Ryan Howard asked home-plate umpire Jeff Nelson if he could hit off a tee, I realized who the guy pitching for the Yankees reminded me of.

The wirey build, the ink, the lizard-like features, that insane curve ball. This guy was just like A.J. Burnett, the Toronto Blue Jays star.

All anybody’s talking about in the New York area is the Islanders’ first regulation win over the Rangers (though Jimmy Rollins predicted it on Monday). You can’t walk down the street without somebody stopping you and asking all about the hockey team from Long Island.

Will they get on a roll? Is John Tavares the real deal? Islanders, Islanders, Islanders!

The Yankees had lost Game One of the World Series on Wednesday 6-1 to the Phillies.

With Game Two of the World Series on Thursday, the Yankees felt a little pressure with their backs against the wall.

The Yankees were sending up their No. 2 starter in A.J. Burnett, a guy some Yankee fans don't have complete faith in, but at times has the look of being completely dominant, while the Phillies were countering with Pedro Martinez, a pitcher who is certainly no stranger to the postseason, the World Series, or pitching in Yankee Stadium.

The strategy when facing Pedro Martinez is always to just wait him out, get his pitch count up, then pounce on the relievers who take over for him in the seventh inning.

In the fourth, everything appeared to be going as planned, as Mark Teixeira's homer tied the game and the Yankees started getting better swings against the future Hall of Famer.