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Back to the pinstripe palace on 161st Street.
Back to the great theater that is legendary hurler Pedro Martinez taking on the Bronx Bombers on baseball's biggest stage. In a Fall Classic fascinating for its plots, sub-plots and matchups, this promises to be something special. Again.
The Phillies forced Game 6 tonight here in Yankee Stadium (FOX, 7:57 p.m.) by surviving an 8-6 slugfest late Monday night. They trail in this World Series three games to two, but the reigning champs are still alive.
And, according to Phils ace Cliff Lee, more than just alive.
"Still fighting," he stated with emphasis in Tuesday's early morning hours.
At the conclusion of a pair of haunting losses on Halloween weekend, Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel met the media looking haggard, looking harried.
"We're still breathin'," he managed.
Barely.
And now?
"We're going back to Yankee Stadium," second baseman Chase Utley proclaimed.
Back to where Pedro delivered a classic nine-strikeout performance in Game 2 last Thursday night. Tonight could be another gem: Martinez, the future Hall of Famer, the most dominant hurler of his generation, versus Andy Pettitte, the winningest pitcher in postseason history, the guy with the Predator-like glare over the top of his glove.
"I feel good, I feel rested," Martinez said Tuesday at the Stadium.
"Pedro is ready to go," Manuel declared. "How much do I expect out of him? I expect something similar to what we got the other night. I think he's definitely capable of giving us six, seven innings, maybe longer. Depends on how many pitches he throws early."
Depends, too, on how Pettitte, who won Game 3 in Citizens Bank Park, fares on just three days' rest.
Pettitte promised only that, "I'll go as hard as I can for as long as I can."
Yankee boss Joe Girardi's decision to start Game 2 winner A.J. Burnett on three days' rest, rather than save him for Game 6, is being questioned here in the city. The Yankees owned a 3-1 series lead and the thought was that with a game in hand, why not start Chad Gaudin in Game 5? Burnett's more comfortable pitching in Yankee Stadium, so why not allow him an extra day's rest and start him tonight in the Bronx?
Instead, Burnett took the hill amid the howling mob in Citizens Bank Park and was promptly routed, gone from the game before the third inning was over.
Girardi dismissed the connection between Burnett's short rest and quick exit.
"No, I don't think there was any correlation," he said. "He just lacked command. He wasn't able to get it going."
If Pettitte, who will be working on the same shortened rest as Burnett did, isn't able to get it going in Game 6, the Yanks and Phils will be back here in Yankee Stadium Thursday night for Game 7.
Back in the big city, where baseball's biggest prize is on the line.
