Can The Phillies Do It On The Road? Or As The Beatles (Paul) Wrote & Sang..."Why Don't We Do It On The Road?"

That's the big question for baseball fans the world over as game six of the 2009 World Series approaches. Tonight at Yankee Stadium, Andy Pettitte, on three days rest, will face Petey Martinez. It's "one and done" time for the team from Pennsylvania...can they pull it off? Jon Heymon from Sports Illustrated dot com poses these points. I'll give you my spin on 'em. My thanks go out to Mr. Heymon...

1. "The Phillies aren't called the Fightin' Phils for no reason."

No, they're not. They've come from behind to win games more times than I can count. If any team in baseball can come into the House that George Built and take two of two, it's Philadelphia.

2. "They are road warriors."

The Phillies had the best road record in all of major league baseball at 48-33. Obviously, that's not an easy thing to do. If they win tonight behind Petey, anything will be possible on Thursday night, including skyrocketing ratings for the Fox television network. That's a given. The Fox executives are drooling for a game seven...literally. I KID YOU NOT.

3. "Chase Utley is currently unstoppable."

Yankee pitchers will have to watch out what they throw to Utley. Chase will pounce on any little mistake in location and bash it into the seats. Yes, Ryan Howard might be in a three for nineteen slump so far but watch out for Chase Utley. CC Sabathia had this to say about the Philly slugger supreme...

"He's not missing pitches. He's tough," Sabathia said. "He's not missing, so you have to make all quality pitches."

Well said, CC. He hit three taters off you, as well you know.

4. "The vaunted, balanced Yankees lineup isn't all that balanced right now."

I don't believe this for one single second. The Yankees will find a way to win, tonight, and Petey's outing will be a short one. I also think that Andy Pettitte will be inneffective and be out of the game before he toils five innings. Those are just my early morning thoughts. They're the only things I have to go on.

5. "Cliff Lee may not quite be through."

Philadelphia's manager has not decided who will pitch Thursday night if the game is needed. But you can bet your bibby that Cliff Lee will be ready at any moment to step in and help his team accomplish something special...winning a second world championship in a row. Tomorrow night, if the series goes that far, there ARE no benches. Everyone (except for AJ Burnett, who stunk up the whole state two nights ago) will be available to toe the mound. Lee said this...

"I'm available. I think I'll be fine," Lee said. "If it's going to help the team win, I'm in."

That's team spirit and he has the "goods" to back up his words. 'Nuff said.

Again, my thanks go out to Jon Heymon from Sports Illustrated for providing the fodder for this pregame blog post blather. Well done, Jon. I hope every one of you enjoys tonight's contest which will begin at 7:57pm EST on FOX and FOX HD. Will it be the last baseball game until 2010? I'll let you know in about 18 hours. Click on the title of this post for more baseball news and as always, BE WELL. Thank you for popping in and I hope you enjoy live baseball while we can.