World Series Game 2: Musings on a New York night

Was lucky enough to go to Game 2, and it was quite a night in the Bronx. From Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' live pregame performance of "Empire State of Mind" to Mariano Rivera's game-ending strikeout, it felt like New York's night -- the Yankees, the city, the fans, everything.

The Yankees' 3-1 win featured a little bit of everything: great pitching, clutch hitting, key home runs, poor umpiring and a finale from the best closer in baseball history. A few thoughts:

-The "hidden play" in this was Jose Molina's snap throw from home plate to pick Jayson Werth off first base in the top of the fourth. For the first 13+ innings of the season, the Yanks were getting none of the breaks. Whether it was Hideki Matsui straying off first base in Game 1 or Alex Rodriguez letting a fairly routine ground ball get by him to give the Phils a 1-0 lead in Game 2, things just weren't going the Yankees' way. But Molina's heads-up play completely changed the momentum and gave the Yankee Stadium crowd something to cheer out. A.J. Burnett got out of the inning, and Mark Teixeira led off the bottom of the fourth with a game-tying home run off Pedro Martinez.

--The starting pitching was excellent on both sides. Despite the "Who's Your Daddy?" chants raining down from the sands, Martinez was solid in his first start at Yankee Stadium in five years. The former Red Sox's ace gave up six hits and three runs in 6+ innings, taking a hard-luck loss despite changing speeds beautifully and baffling the Bombers for much of the game. Martinez's downfall came at the hands of an old nemesis, Matsui, who added to his litany of big hits against Pedro with a go-ahead solo blast in the sixth.

Burnett was on his game, turning in his best start of the postseason in allowing just one run in seven innings. If A-Rod gets his glove down on Matt Stairs' RBI single that basically went right by him, Burnett holds the Phillies scoreless.

--Phillies' manager Charlie Manuel is one of the best in the game, yet he still victim to the Grady Little-Terry Francona Memorial Curse of keeping Pedro in too long. Manuel let Martinez come out for the seventh inning, even though he'd already thrown 99 pitches. Pedro's threshold has long been considered 105 pitches, a stat backed up by John Olerud's two-run homer off Pedro on his 105th pitch in Game 2 of the 2004 ALCS. Sure enough, Jerry Hairston tagged Pedro for a single on his 105th pitch. Two pitches later, Melky Cabrera smacked another single, and Pedro was done for the night. The Yankees went on to score a valuable insurance run in the inning and give Rivera some breathing room.

--Candidates for new Yankees' good-luck charms: Jay-Z, ignorance (the fans in the two rows in front of me spent half the game in the Jim Beam Lounge and barely paid attention when they were in their seats), my new navy Yankee hat (first time worn to a game). Heading towards a lifetime Yankee Good Luck Charm Award: Pedro Martinez.

--Derek Jeter's baseball IQ is almost unparalleled, but sometime the Yankee captain can outsmart himself. With runners on first and second and no one out in the seventh, the Bombers were looking to add to their 3-1 lead. Twice, Jeter squared to bunt, and twice he failed. With the count 0-2, everyone in the stadium, including (most likely) Joe Girardi, expected Jeter to swing away. Instead, he tried to be slick and bunted the 0-2 pitch. It went foul, Jeter was out, and the Yanks didn't score another run in the inning. The brain lock didn't end up hurting the Yankees, but Girardi should sit Jeter down before Game 3 and tell his captain he made the wrong move.

--The umpires just can't buy a break, and they keep compounding their mistakes. Johnny Damon followed Jeter in that seventh inning and hit a line drive to first. Ryan Howard appeared to catch it on the fly, and first base umpire Brian Gorman ruled Howard had indeed caught it. Howard had already fired the ball to shortstop Jimmy Rollins just in case, who tagged Jorge Posada for an inning-ending double play.

Only replays showed Howard had in fact trapped the ball. On another bang-bang play, the umps got it wrong again.

Before you get too incensed, I'd argue the call had no effect on the outcome of the play. If the play is correctly called a trap, Howard fires to Rollins anyway to start a 3-6-3 double play, ending the inning all the same.

Gorman's second missed call had a larger effect on the game and may not have been born of incompetence. With runners on first and second and one out in the top of the eighth, Rivera got the dangerous Chase Utley to ground into a 4-6-3 double play. Replays showed Utley was actually safe at first, which means the inning would have continued had the play been called correctly. The tying run would then have been on first for the red-hot Howard, who could have given the Phillies the lead with a home run. You have to wonder if Gorman knew he blew the call on Damon and gave the Yankees a break with a makeup call on Utley.

--Speaking of Rivera, bringing him in for a two-inning save was unquestionably the right move. There's an off day tomorrow, no one else in the bullpen inspires any confidence, Burnett had already thrown 108 pitches, he's the best relief pitcher in baseball history and at his best in the playoffs... how many reasons do you need? Mo clearly did not have his best stuff and struggled to locate his fastball on the outside corner. But even without his regular command, he still pitched two scoreless innings for yet another postseason save.

Let me add one thing. Two-inning saves are hard to begin with in the age of the one-inning closer, and in the postseason the pressure is greater and the opposing hitters are usually better -- it is baseball's best teams after all. So it's a pretty rare thing; since 1996, the year before Rivera became a closer, there have only been 25 two-inning saves total in the playoffs. Rivera has 14 of them.

--I'll close with the overwhelming feeling of relief you could sense in the fans as they walked out to Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York". Dating back to 2003, the Yanks had lost four World Series games in a row, including the series-ending Game 6 loss to the Marlins. In other words, another team had celebrated wildly on the Yankee Stadium field since the Bombers had last won in the Fall Classic. A loss Thursday would have put New York in a perilous 0-2 hole before three games in Philly. Instead, the Yanks head to Pennsylvania even with the defending champs. Now it's a series.