Yankees knot it all up
Pair of homers off Martinez all New York needs
Associated Press
Friday, October 30, 2009

NEW YORK --- Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui shook the New York Yankees from their lumber slumber and sent the World Series to Philadelphia all tied up.

Teixeira and Matsui hit home runs off familiar foe Pedro Martinez, backing a sharp performance by A.J. Burnett and giving the Yankees a 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 2 on Thursday night.

A night after getting stopped by Cliff Lee in the opener 6-1, the Yanks bounced back from an early deficit and won in the Series for the first time since taking a 2-1 lead against Florida in 2003.

Light-hitting Matt Stairs put the Phillies on top with an RBI single in the second. Burnett then used a biting curveball to keep Philadelphia from advancing another runner past second base against him.

Teixeira, in an 8 for 44 (.182) postseason slump, tied the score when he led off the fourth with a drive into the Yankees bullpen in right field. Matsui then put New York ahead with two outs in the sixth, reaching down for a curveball below his knees and driving it a few rows into the seats in right.

Burnett got his first win after three postseason no-decisions for the Yankees, allowing four hits in seven innings and retiring his last eight batters. He struck out nine, -- including Ryan Howard three times -- and started his first 11 hitters with strikes, nine of them looking. Burnett kept his control, walking two, one of them intentional.

Mariano Rivera got six outs for his 38th postseason save and 10th in World Series play. After the Phillies put two on with one out in the eighth, Game 1 star Chase Utley grounded into an inning-ending double play. He fanned Howard to start the ninth -- the Philadelphia slugger's first four-strikeout game since July 21 -- then struck out Stairs with a runner at second to end it.

Philadelphia, seeking to become the NL's first repeat Series champion since the 1975-76 Reds, lost for only the fifth time in 22 postseason games. The Phillies managed three runs in 14 innings off two starters, CC Sabathia and Burnett.

New York won despite getting nothing from Alex Rodriguez. After carrying the Yankees in the playoffs against the Twins and Angels, he is 0 for 8 in his first Series appearance and struck out three times for the second consecutive night.

Twenty-eight of the 53 teams that won Game 2 to tie the Series went on to win the title -- but only one of the past six, the 2002 Angels.

There was another umpiring controversy. With two on and one out in the seventh, first base ump Brian Gorman ruled Howard reached down, caught Johnny Damon's liner and turned a double play. A slow-motion replay appeared to show the first baseman gloved the ball on a short hop.

The always entertaining Martinez, pitching four days past his 38th birthday, was nearly as effective as the 32-year-old Burnett, fooling the Yankees with breaking pitches of 70-75 mph. In his first Series start since winning Game 3 for Boston five years ago, he allowed three runs and six hits in six-plus innings, striking out eight and walking two.

WORLD SERIES

1-1

GAME 1: Phillies 6, Yankees 1

GAME 2: Yankees 3, Phillies 1

SATURDAY: Yankees (Pettite 14-8) at Phillies (Hamels 10-11), 7:57 p.m.

SUNDAY: Yankees at Phillies, 8:20 p.m.

MONDAY: Yankees at Phillies, 7:57 p.m.

NOV. 4: x-Phillies at New York, 7:57 p.m.

NOV. 5: x-Phillies at Yankees, 7:57 p.m.

x-if necessary;

games on Fox-Ch. 54

From the Friday, October 30, 2009 edition of the Augusta Chronicle
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