Quick, raise your hands if any of you believe that last night’s game five loss in Philadelphia changes anything. You, in the back; put your hand down. Yes winning the World Series in five games would have been nice. Teams have come back from 3-1 deficits before and there’s always the slight twinge of anxiousness when a team doesn’t close it out; but as I said before DON’T PANIC!

Here’s the good news, while the Yankees sent perhaps their shakiest post season starter to the mound last night, the Phils sent their best. AJ Burnett has had a pretty good post season, there can’t be any real argument about that, but he’s also had some of the worst individual outings of any Yankee starting pitcher. Burnett has now had two starts this postseason in which he’s given up six earned runs. No other pitcher on either starting staff can “boast” that. (Not even Cole Hamels’ awful postseason has included two starts with six earned runs) Joe Girardi rightfully played game five as if it was a throw away game. He put a very good pitcher on the mound, but it was a pitcher who has been less than trustworthy at times this year. Now he’s out of the way and so, more importantly is the Phils best gun.

Cliff Lee was good again, even dominant until he ran out of gas in the eighth inning, turning an 8-2 laugher into an 8-5 and eventually 8-6 white knuckler. But he’s gone. Unless Charlie Manuel is certifiable, last night was the last start Cliff Lee will make this postseason. And because Girardi’s ace, C.C. Sabathia started Sunday night, he’ll be ready to go in game seven, apparently against Cole Hamels and his 10.38 earned run average.

So tomorrow, not only does one of the greatest Yankee pitchers of this generation in Andy Pettitte get to take the mound in an effort to clinch the Yankees’ 27^th World Series title, but he gets to do it in “The House that the Boss Built.” What better way could there possibly be inaugurate the new Yankee Stadium than by winning a World Championship on it’s soil, in it’s first year of existence? When you really start to look at it, you almost wonder if the Yankees didn’t plan this thing all along. Maybe they simply allowed themselves to lose Game 1 so the schedule would shake out this way. The way they’ve won games since that loss has been something out of a Hollywood script hasn’t it?

Have you ever seen a guy steal second and third, on the same play, without a throwing error? Have you ever seen a home run hit a camera, and therefore have to go into instant replay? Have you ever heard of a guy who has centaur self portraits painted on his bedroom ceiling? (Okay that last one is for a different day)

And now, almost on cue, the Phillies have started a mild implosion. Would anyone besides Brett Myers pick NOW to start a fight with a teammate? Sure the Phillies are claiming it was a joke, but walking by a teammates’ locker, and asking him why he’s still there, because you thought he quit, doesn’t sound like high humor to me. Not right after you just managed to salvage your season and avoid a sweep.

Certainly Chase Utley, Raul Ibanez, and the rest of the Phils aren’t just going to lie down and let the Yankees freight train run all over them. There might even be a chance that this thing will go seven games. But make no mistake about it. As it stands now, the Yankees are clearly in fantastic position to bring yet another trophy to Baseball’s Title Town.

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