It’s Up to You, New York, New York…Yankees

I am not going to blast Brad Lidge, but he is not on the same planet as Yankees’ closer Mariano Rivera.

Then again, no one else is.

The key moment of this game is shown above.

With two outs in the ninth inning, Johnny Damon hit a bloop single to left field.

With Mark Teixeira batting, Damon took off for second. After beating the throw, he realized no one was on third (due to the Phillies using a heavy shift for Teixeira). He judged that he could beat Pedro Feliz, who’s momentum was carrying him toward first, to the bag.

Damon took off and easily took third, beating Feliz and Lidge, who seemed to be trotting over.

Now with a man on third and two outs, Lidge no longer could throw the slider for a strike, slider-in-the-dirt combo. If the ball got away, Damon scores the go-ahead run.

Lidge, limited to his fastball and change-up, hits Teixeira.

Now, here is my knock on Brad Lidge: Too bad Lidge didn’t hit A-Rod, because he would have been thrown out of the game.

Alex Rodriguez followed with a go-ahead double and Jorge Posada singled in two more runs. The score was 7-4 at that point.

Ball game. Series. Game recap.

The game had not been won yet, but in the Yankees’ mind, it was won when Rodriguez stepped up to the plate.

Before Rodriguez was introduced as the next batter and Damon was on third, Yankee closer Phil Coke sat down and Rivera got up.

The game was tied at that moment, but the Yankees knew, even with two outs, that Rodriguez would get a knock against a shaken Lidge, or that Lidge would throw a wild pitch to put the Yankees ahead.

The Phillies will get a reprieve with Cliff Lee on the hill Monday in Game Five.

The Phillies may, and should, believe that they can come all the way back. Only a few teams have come back from a 3-1 hole in the World Series. Only one against the Yankees in 14 tries.

They did a good job to tie Sunday’s game, as Pedro Feliz hit a clutch game-tying home run against Joba Chamberlain.

The Phils even got C.C. Sabathia out of the game with two outs in the seventh inning following C.C.-killer Chase Utley’s solo shot. Utley is 4 for 6 with 3 HRs against Sabathia this World Series.

Many good things can be taken from this, but here are a few things to consider:

* Brad Lidge is no longer the guy who can win you a World Series. Not this year.

* The Phillies place in history is not set unless they come back and win this World Series.

* If Cliff Lee pitches a complete-game shutout again Monday in Game 5, he could be only the third player in history to win a series MVP on a losing squad.

* Derek Jeter is the likely series MVP, he is hitting .412.

* While the Phillies have 43 come-from-behind win this season, the Yankees have 51. It is not just luck, these guys are good.

* The Phillies are not the Yankees or the Big Red Machine. They have to make their own history.

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