World Series: Two 'old goats' get their shots at glory
NEW YORK — The New York Yankees' first attempt at clinching the World Series relied on the scattershot arm of A.J. Burnett and it went badly Monday night in Philadelphia.
So tonight in the Bronx, they try to really christen the new Yankee Stadium with their first title clinching at home since 1999. And to do it, they're turning to an old reliable: Andy Pettitte.
The left-hander is the all-time leader in postseason wins (17) and series-clinching wins (5). He's wrapped up the first two rounds of this postseason and won Game Three of this series Saturday night in Citizens Bank Park. He also was a winner in the 1998 Series clincher at San Diego.
"What an opportunity," Pettitte said here Tuesday following the Yankees' workout. "That's really the only way you can look at it, to be able to hopefully pitch the game that will bring a 27th world championship to this organization, to this city. It's what we set out to do."
In the 37-year-old Pettitte's way is 38-year-old Phillies right-hander Pedro Martinez, the Yankees' longtime nemesis from his days in Boston.
"Me and Derek [Jeter] were talking about it in the clubhouse [Monday], just how strange this is after all the battles with him being in Boston," Pettitte said. "... To come full circle, this many years have passed, him with the Phillies and me back over here [after three years in Houston], it's going to be neat."
Martinez, who pitched six strong innings in Game Two but lost to Burnett, agreed it will be fun to turn back the clock against a pitcher he first met back in 1998.
"Just to see two old goats out there doing the best they can and having fun with it," a smiling Martinez said when asked what he's looking forward to about the matchup. "If you consider the fact that two months back I was sitting at home not doing anything. None of you were thinking of me whatsoever. None of you were asking questions and today I am here, probably pitching one of the biggest games ever in the World Series with two great teams with a whole bunch of legendary players
"I don't have enough words to describe how excited I am to be here. This is a great gift, a great blessing."
Pettitte has 229 career wins while Martinez has 219. they are Nos. 4-5 on the active list. Martinez has 3,154 strikeouts, second on the active list to Randy Johnson's 4,875.
The Yankees have a 3-2 lead in the series but teams with that advantage historically don't have a lot of success in Game Six. Overall, the team leading the series is just 23-37 in those situations — including 5-8 since 1982.
"When you get to this point, there's two very good teams and one is going to be extremely excited at the end of it," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "One team is going to be disappointed. I know that."
The Yankees can move on into history tonight but Girardi is riding a slippery slope pushing all of his starters on three days rest over the final four games of the series.
CC Sabathia was fine in Game Four but Burnett was a two-inning disaster in Game Five, allowing six runs. Sabathia would come back again on short rest in Game Seven if necessary. The Phillies, meanwhile, are working all of their pitchers on regular rest.
"Mentally people make such a big deal about it because it's just not done very often anymore," Pettitte said. "The biggest thing is I think [is] just our routines."
"It was something we talked about that we could do in the first two rounds," Girardi said. "It came to the third round and if you're in Philly and it's 3-0 maybe you do something different but we never got to that point so we decided to do this."
Chad Gaudin had only pitched one inning since late September and Joba Chamberlain is now working in relief and not stretched out so Girardi really had no other choice. He's going to have to watch Pettitte's velocity close tonight for any signs of trouble.
"You could talk about lack of velocity. You could talk about [bad] location. But you can have all those things on normal rest," Girardi said. "You can have lack of location on normal rest, extra rest, short rest. That's the thing and a lot of times things are overanalyzed."
Martinez, meanwhile, is pitching on normal rest for the first time since Sept. 13. He's had 16 and 13 days between his last two starts.
"I feel really good," Martinez said. "I feel like I've had enough time to rest. Plus with the previous outings and all those days, I guess this is just a makeup from all that rest."
Martinez, was his usual irreverant self during a 20-minute meeting with the media late Tuesday afternoon. Clad in a black leather jacket, he joked about what his legacy might be if he could win and how he would be pitching this game for the folks in Philly — and the fans in his old stomping ground of Boston.
"I know they don't like the Yankees to win — even in the Nintendo games," Martinez joked. "... I'm sure every Boston fan can feel proud that I'm going to try to beat the Yankees."
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