"Anybody seen Charley?"

Yankees manager Joe Girardi has been accused of micromanaging at different points throughout the postseason. Whether that point is true or not is debatable, but it is certainly more than what Charley Manuel has done for Philadelphia. Manuel is an old school-type, letting player’s work through difficult situations, so that next time they will be better prepared having experienced the rough parts.

The problem with that mentality is it’s the World Series, Charley. The time when you play for all the marbles, you remember, you brought home the trophy last season. Since Game 2, the Phillies haven’t looked like themselves. Errors in the field, mental blunders, lack of clutch hitting and bullpen issues that just won’t go away.

In Game 4, Manuel should have come out of the dugout, after Johnny Damon ran all the way to third base on a steal and Phillies fielding miscue in the top of the ninth of a 4-4 contest. Even if he was not inclined to do so initially, it would have absolutely necessary after Brad Lidge nailed Mark Teixeira. With Lidge having not pitched in 12 days, the game on the line, a calming influence of a manager to settle everything down, discuss how to pitch to Alex Rodriquez and play ball again.

Instead nothing. Catcher Carlos Ruiz became too conservative calling for fastballs, fearing Lidge’s slider might bounce in the dirt and get away and went after A-Rod with his second best pitch. As ESPN’s Bobby Valentine correctly pointed out after the game, if a catcher, pitcher and ultimately the manager are too afraid to let a pitcher throw his best pitch in fear of the catcher might have a passed ball, maybe the wrong catcher is in the game, since those are fundamental plays worked on March.

A-Rod ripped a single to left for the lead run and Jorge Posada crushed a double to left-center to build 7-4 lead and Manuel never left his dugout post.
Now Manuel has to turn to Cliff Lee and hope he can continue torrid postseason pitching streak. Philadelphia has won all four of Lee’s playoff starts as he’s allowed two earned runs in 33.3 innings. Since the left-hander put on a Phillies uniform, his team is 12-4.
DiamondSportsbook.com has Lee and Phillies as -149 money line favorites, with total of Un8.5. Philadelphia knows their margin for error is eliminated and they’ve won 34 of last 46 home games as favorites. Like all teams that have played the Yankees in the postseason, Philly players are commenting, they aren’t playing their best. Do you think the opponent has something to do with that?

New York is going to ride this three day pitching thing until they can no longer. A.J. Burnett has talked all season long about feeding off CC Sabathia and now is his chance. Burnett can be the pitcher that closes out opponent for the Yankees 27th World Series title. The Yankees are 51-22 after two or more consecutive wins this season and Burnett is 34-15 when the total is 8.5 to 10 over the last two seasons. (Team's record)

FOX will have Game 5 at 7:57 Eastern, with Burnett 4-20 (Team’s record) as a road underdog of +125 to +150 in his career, however he’s never had a group like this to support him.

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