New York papers are excited that Charlie Manuel will pitch Joe Blanton on Sunday in game four, a likely matchup with Yankees ace CC Sabathia.
Manuel’s response:
“He’s at 265 innings and he’s never pitched on three days’ rest, although I talked to him and he told me he had,” Manuel said of Lee. “I also like him in Game 5. I don’t think he is ready for [Game 4] on three days’ rest and I think you are really pushing him, and we definitely don’t want to hurt him.”
Makes sense to us. Lee would likely be available for use out of the bullpen in game seven. Blanton has an 8 ERA against the Yankees in four career starts but in one of those he gave up nine runs in just over 2 innings, skewing the numbers.
Lee did throw 120+ pitches in game one. Remember too, if you pitch Lee in game four, you have to use Blanton in game five anyway, since Pedro Martinez is not going to come back on three days rest.
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Letter to Cole Hamels, from Cole Hamels. Neat piece in today’s Philadelphia Daily News.
You probably already know what I’m getting at, since the Yankees are in town. But I’ll ask you anyway: Remember that night in spring training 5 years ago when you and I first burst on the scene? The night that you said earlier this week “put me on the map”?
A boring off day in the World Series, so let’s take a look at our great state. Where would you say the breakdown of Phillies (and Philadelphia) sports fans meets the Yankees (and New York) sports fans?
Interstate 195? Or does it stretch down into Ocean County a little bit? I would say it does dip down into Ocean County, and it’s probably a blurry line.
One other thing, often times if Fox does not have an NFL double-header, or the Eagles and Giants are playing at the same time, you can see how the media breaks it down. And two weeks ago, when the Giants played the Saints and the Eagles played the Raiders, Ocean County got the Giants game, so that provides an interesting perspective from a television standpoint.
Here’s a cool video on the subject:
When the Yankees and Phillies met in the 1950 World Series, the two teams traveled together by train from one city to the other. Bill Madden in today’s NY Daily News passes along this gem:
Whitey Ford said the 1950 Series was especially fun for him because the two teams traveled by train together from New York to Philly and he was accompanied by his pal, Toots Shor, the legendary New York saloon-keeper. “Toots brought along Dizzy Dean with him,” Ford said, “and I remember after we beat them the first two games in Philly, coming back on the train I said to Dizzy: ‘Now I know how you won all those games in the National League!’ Dizzy got real (ticked), but Toots laughed like hell.”
He might be closer to the end than the beginning, but the 38 year old Pedro Martinez showed last night that he still can put on a show, on the mound or at the microphone.
First, on the mound…he didn’t have to come out for the seventh inning, when he gave up another run. Mark Teixeira hit a hanging change-up for a home run in the 4th, and Hideki Matsui hit one off his shoe-tops for a home run in the 6th.
Look at the first inning…strikes out Jeter, strikes out Damon, and fooled Teixeira, getting him to pop-up. Like Cliff Lee the night before, you saw early he had it.
Was he as good as AJ Burnett? Nope. Burnett was brilliant. But Pedro, for a guy who wasn’t on a team until mid-July, was pretty darn good.
Post-game…This is why you have to love him. Watch his post-game press conference here…Some of our favorite Martinez quotes from his two pressers (one after the game, one the day before…
Here’s some more from his presser on Wednesday before game one.
Ultimately, he’s still Pedro. You can see what that meant to BlueClaws players when he was here in August. And if this series goes six games, and you have to figure it will, then we should see him one more time. Can’t wait.
Had a chance to chat with 2009 BlueClaws shortstop Troy Hanzawa earlier today. He’s currently out in the Arizona Fall League with Scottsdale and a number of other Phillies prospects. Hanzawa hit .267 with 2 home runs and 47 RBIs for the BlueClaws this year while playing an excellent shortstop. He played in all but 12 games as Lakewood won the 2009 SAL Championship.
Some thoughts from Hanzawa, 24, who is on the team’s taxi squad, which means he can only be active one day per week…
Some random thoughts from game one…
Phillies in six. Remember, the Phillies will not make the mental errors or the physical ones, that made the Yankees first two series seem much easier than they actually were. Figure a split here, then the Phils up 3-2 and beat Burnett in game six. Who knows? Could go either way. And we’re looking forward to a special Fall Classic.