Annnnd Exhale. For Now.

It's nice when the gameplan actually plays out.  Burnett was able to keep it close while the Yanks waited for Pedro to tire, which he did juuust enough so they could push a few runs across.  I'm not sure how Burnett threw as many first pitch strikes as he did and still leave with a poor ball-strike ratio, but if he can get yips out of the way early without burying the team, then cruise for the next 6 innings, I guess we'll take that.  Given how many pitches he threw through 6, I was surprised he came out to pitch the 7^th.  It kind of reminded me of the Angel game when he came out to pitch the 7^th after cruising for several innings following an early shellacking.  The only difference was he did not languish for long on the bench this time around, and when he did after the bottom of the 7^th, his night was over.  Oh, there was the familiar baserunning gaffe by the opposition that helped.  Thanks Jayson Werth for keeping the streak alive!

Meanwhile, Pedro was still the same old Pedro.  He pitched a great game, but labored exactly when he should have -- at around 100 pitches.   Which is to say, he labored after he should have been lifted from the game by Charlie Manuel.  Pedro's a great pitcher, but he's not a horse.  Thanks to some goofy umpiring, the Yanks would only cash in a run after Pedro tired and left to the usual chorus.

The Evil Umpire

It's all fab that the Yanks held on to win the game, but the Yanks having the bases loaded with one out in the 8^th with Teixeira and Arod coming up while aiding a two run lead seemed like a good recipe for not requiring two innings out of Rivera.  But that didn't happen thanks to a very evidently wrong call by the first base ump.  I don't assume it was an easy call, though it was easy for Posada and even easier for Ryan Howard who played it like a grounder by throwing to 2B instead of just stepping on 1B.  Most damning: on the radio Joe Morgan said he thought it was a caught in the air and not a short-hop.  Apparently he brings the same what-game-are-you-watching perspective to radio as he does to television.  So the result of this botch is Rivera was required to labor through two innings, which can absolutely rear its head later in the series because he's more taxed and may not be as sharp on Saturday, and also it's greater exposure to the Phillies lineup.  That call may well haunt them.  But then again, Chase Utley was safe at 1B in a huge DP in the top of the 8^th, so if you screw up enough times things can even out.

DVRs Sure Are Permanent About Deleting Things

I'm having trouble pinpointing nuanced moments during the game because apparently "cancel a recording" is code for "delete a recording forever", so I ended up not seeing as much as I'd like.  This was an interesting development because A) for the first time ever I discovered and used the "keep" function, and B) any time I intentionally delete something it makes me jump through hoops and warning messages along the lines of "are you sure?" and "don't do something you'll regret".  Yet this time, without the word "delete" ever being used, it very cavalierly went VFWOOOP.  All I was trying to do was stop the recording process since it was going to record a couple more hours of Fox television and I don't want to accidentally have TMZ on my television.  Did Challenger the Eagle make an appearance and carry Arod's bat away into the night?  Did Morgana the kissing bandit make a return appearance and run out to right field to kiss Jerry Hairston just because he's not Nick Swisher?  If such moments existed, I'll never see them because my DVR went all "sorry pal, you'll have to fake your way through the water cooler conversations tomorrow". 

Picket Fence

The home runs are nice, and apparently necessary, but they are not being preceded by the single, the bloop, the walk, the catcher's interference - nothing.  It's just been the occasional solo blast and cling to the lead by the skin of your teeth.  Might have to diversify the offense a bit - and no that does not mean let Jeter bunt with two strikes on him.

Maybe the Steinbrenner Family Will Recruit Jay-Z to Play Before Every Game...

...in the same vein of the honorary batboy who followed the team around for the '98 World Series.  Keep your schedule clear Mr. Z!

Take Arod to the Video Room