NY Yankees ONE Win Away From World Championship Number Twenty Seven

It all came down to the top of the ninth inning for the NY Yankees. The score was knotted at four and Johnny Damon was at the plate with two outs. Philly closer Brad Lidge had been untouchable until that moment. After a fierce nine pitch battle, Damon slapped a single and the proceedings started to resemble a bit of the Twilight Zone. Hats off to you, Rod Serling. The infield shift was on for Teixeira and, with two outs and his team needing one run, Damon headed to second, where the third baseman was covering. This was a heads up play. Damon noticed nobody was covering third after motoring safely past second base and he just kept going! And going!! He was credited with TWO stolen bases. Teixeira was hit by a pitch and AROD, who has come to life bigtime, doubled him home easily for the go ahead run. Posada padded the lead to three with another base hit and the untouchable Mariano Rivera ended it quickly as the stunned crowd filed out of the building into the dark beyond. Johnny was asked by a member of the media after the game why he kept going to third base. He said this in response...

"Trying to keep Lidge from throwing a slider. We battle," Damon said.

That they do, Constant Readers, that they do. AROD had this to say about his huge game breaking RBI which came off a fastball, thanks to Mr. Damon...

"I've never had a bigger hit," Rodriguez would say afterward.

Ya know, he's right. The Phillies are down three games to one and have a tough battle ahead of them. Yes, their best starter and one of the best in all of Major League Baseball goes tonight. It'll be Cliff Lee facing AJ Burnett with the first pitch to be tossed at 7:57pm EST. Yes, eastern STANDARD time. Should Manuel have gone to his ace last night, a night where Sabathia was vulnerable? We'll never know. Manuel has repeatedly said he did not want to disrupt Lee's routine. But coming back from a 1-3 deficit is a tall mountain to climb. The Yankees will try to clinch tonight on FOX and FOX HD. Pregame stuff will start at 7:30pm EST. Enjoy it.

Have a great Monday as we lurch into a new week and click on this post's title for more World Series coverage from SI dot com. As always, BE WELL. Thanks. Comments anyone?