Danny Knobler

I would have voted for Chris Carpenter, but I can't say Tim Lincecum doesn't deserve the National League Cy Young Award.

I can say I can't believe two voters didn't even put Carpenter on the three-man ballot. Thirty of the 32 voters had the same three names, in some order (Carpenter, Lincecum and Adam Wainwright). Two had both Lincecum and Wainwright, but not Carpenter. One of those, ESPN.com's Keith Law, said that he turned in a ballot with Lincecum, Javier Vazquez and Wainwright, and called his pick of Lincecum a "no-brainer." The other non-Carpenter voter was Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus, who put Wainwright first, Lincecum second and Dan Haren third. Carroll wrote that he discounted Carpenter for the same reason.

Law and Carroll rely heavily on statistics, so I'm not surprised by their choices. Law said he discounted Carpenter because he threw fewer innings than the other two pitchers.

It's true, Lincecum led Carpenter in innings, 225 1/3 to 192 2/3, a difference that was entirely a result of Carpenter's early-season injury. Lincecum made four more starts, and both pitchers averaged about the same number of innings per start (6.9 for Carpenter, 7.0 for Lincecum). It's also true that while Carpenter's ERA was considerably lower (2.24 vs. 2.48), Lincecum led in Zack Greinke's favorite stat, FIP, or fielding-independent pitching (2.37 vs. 2.81).

Fine. If you want to take Lincecum over Carpenter, I understand. If you want to take Lincecum and Wainwright over Carpenter, I sort of understand.

If you want to leave Carpenter off the ballot completely, you've lost me.

Was Carpenter helped by the Cardinals' superior defense? Probably, but Lincecum was helped by pitching at AT&T Park, where his ERA (1.88) was significantly lower than his ERA on the road (3.21).

Carpenter was the league's dominant pitcher in the second half of the season, going 10-1 with a 2.06 ERA. And while the Cardinals were a much better offensive team than the Giants, Carpenter's run support was almost identical to Lincecum's (5.84 vs. 5.83).

The two voters who saw Lincecum the most, the voters from Nothern California, both put Carpenter first on their ballot.

But my point isn't that Lincecum isn't deserving. He is.

There were three deserving candidates in this race. Any of the three could have won.

Law and Carroll didn't necessarily cost Carpenter the Cy Young. Even if both had listed Carpenter third, Lincecum still would have had enough votes to win. But it is in interesting that they were the two voters that helped turn the race.

In the past, there would have been two voters (normally newspaper beat writers) from each National League city. As newspapers have gone out of business, stopped covering baseball or prohibited their writers from voting, there weren't enough qualified voters in some cities. The BBWAA, which gives out the awards, has given some of those votes to writers like Law and Carroll, and like Scott Miller and me. Scott had an NL Cy Young vote, and I had a National League MVP vote this year.

In interests of full disclosure, Scott's Cy Young ballot had Lincecum first, Carpenter second and Wainwright third.

You'll read in some places that the selections of Greinke and Lincecum as Cy Young winners are an indication that baseball writers are more reliant on new statistics, since neither one led his league in wins. To some extent, that may be true, but in this case, it's more a case of traditional baseball writers handing two votes to the guys who always preferrred the stats.

The system still needs changing.

I have absolutely no problem with the two Manager of the Year winners this year. In fact, my votes would have gone to the two winners, Mike Scioscia in the American League and Jim Tracy in the National League.

But the system needs changing, as I wrote at this time last year . Alone among the four major awards voted on by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, the Manager of the Year is the one that needs to be decided after the postseason ends, and not before it begins.

In the modern-baseball world, with a three-tiered playoff system, a manager's job doesn't end on Oct. 1. And in a modern world, Charlie Manuel deserves credit for getting the Phillies to back-to-back World Series for the first time in franchise history.

Had the voting been held after the postseason in 2008, Manuel no doubt would have won over Lou Piniella, whose Cubs crashed out of the playoffs in three games. Instead, Manuel finished second.

Even with a post-postseason vote this year, Tracy might have beaten Manuel (and in my mind, rightfully so). But you can be sure Manuel would have finished higher than sixth.

I understand the voting. At the time the votes were due, all we knew about Manuel was that his Phillies had survived a worse-than-expected race in the National League East. The Phillies finished with only one more win than the Rockies, who rallied to a 92-70 finish, after Tracy took over when the team was 18-28 in late May.

The 74-42 finish made Tracy the Manager of the Year, and rightfully so. Getting to the playoffs in 2009 was a huge accomplishment by the Rockies, even though they lost to Manuel's Phillies in their first-round series.

And yet, Tracy understands that baseball in 2009 is also about October (and now, November).

"You're always going to have this empty feeling we had after Game 4, unless you play the last game, and win it," Tracy said. "To end up coming up short, that's quite a punch in the gut.

"I would trade this award to be in Charlie's shoes, I guarantee you that."

The MVP award is supposed to be the one that's tied to team performance. How valuable can you be, the argument goes, when your team isn't even in the pennant race?

The Cy Young is supposed to be more about individual achievement. It's for the best pitcher, not the most valuable pitcher.

And yet, what Zack Greinke did Tuesday, winning the Cy Young while pitching for a 97-loss team, is almost unheard of. Most Cy Young winners pitch for teams that win 90-plus games, not teams that lose 90-plus.

Part of that is just common sense. A team that includes the best pitcher in the league is less likely to finish last, and since voters often rely on wins (rightfully in most cases, I would argue), a pitcher with a bad team around him is at a disadvantage in Cy Young voting.

Some people will argue, and already have, that Greinke's selection is a sign that voters can overlook wins and focus on more important numbers. Greinke himself said yesterday that his favorite stat is FIP, which stands for fielding-independent pitching and attempts to even out the effects of playing for a good or bad defensive team (Greinke led the AL in FIP, and was second to Tim Lincecum in the majors).

I think it's more likely that voters chose Greinke because he proved himself so dominant over the course of the season, and got so much attention for pitching so well for a team that was so bad. I think many voters realized that two of Greinke's eight losses came in games where he pitched seven-plus innings while allowing just one run, that he had six no-decisions in games where he pitched at least seven innings, and that the Royals were shut out in three of his eight losses (and one of his no-decisions).

Whatever the reason, Greinke was the first pitcher from a sub-.500 team to win the AL Cy Young since Roger Clemens with the 1997 Blue Jays (Clemens went 21-7 for a team that was 76-86). The only other pitchers to win the AL Cy for losing teams were Gaylord Perry with the 1972 Indians (72-84), Clemens with the '87 Red Sox (78-84) and Pat Hentgen with the '96 Blue Jays (74-88). It's happened a little more frequently in the National League, including last year, when Lincecum won while pitching for the 72-90 Giants.

But even in the NL, pitchers for 97-loss teams barely have a chance. In fact, there's been only one other pitcher in the history of the award who won while pitching for a team that lost more than 90 gmaes.

You may have heard of him, and you may have heard of what he did that year.

It was Steve Carlton, and his 27-10 season for the 1972 Phillies (59-97) is one of the more remarkable accomplishments in history.

Greinke didn't match Carlton, who had nine wins in games where the Phils scored one or two runs, but as a great pitcher on a terrible team, there is a connection.

There’s nothing wrong with Chris Coghlan and Andrew Bailey as Rookie of the Year winners.

But in a year with so many outstanding rookies, my question was different. And, as it turns out, so was the answer.

Taking all six players who received Rookie of the Year votes in the American League and all five who received first-place votes in the National League, I polled a group of scouts who watched each league and asked them which player they would most like to have for the future. Put another way, if all these players were available in a draft today, who’s the first pick?

The answers: Tommy Hanson of the Braves in the NL, Brett Anderson of the A’s in the AL.

Neither vote was unanimous. All the voters agreed that this is the best class of rookies baseball has seen in years.

“If you had all 11, you’d have a pretty good team,” one scout said.

The choice in the NL, another said, came down to “one guy who has a chance to be a 20-game winner [Hanson], and one who has a chance to lead the league in hitting [Coghlan].”

And in the AL, it came down to two potential top-of-the-rotation starters (Anderson and Detroit’s Rick Porcello), an infielder with real offensive potential (Gordon Beckham of the White Sox) and a shortstop with great defensive skills who shows signs of being able to hit (Elvis Andrus of the Rangers).

Oh, and don’t forget Bailey, the guy who actually won.

“He has a closer mentality, and closer stuff,” one scout said.

The choices here were Hanson, in a close vote over Coghlan and Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen, and Anderson, over Porcello, Andrus and Beckham.

Why Anderson, who finished fifth in the actual Rookie of the Year voting?

“This guy is a special left-handed starter, with a breaking ball like Steve Carlton,” one of the scouts said. “Every time out, he has a chance to throw a no-hitter. That’s how good his stuff is. His breaking ball is unhittable at times.”

And yet, he wasn’t even a unanimous pick.

“If Andrus learns how to hit,” one of the scouts said, “he might be better than all of them.”

NEW YORK -- A month ago today, baseball’s postseason unofficially began at the Metrodome, with that incredible play-in game between the Twins and the Tigers.

Today, the Yankees parade up Broadway, an event so big in this city that even the Mets-owned SNY network felt a need to cover it.

In between, there were 27 official playoff games, fitting for a postseason that ended with the Yankees’ 27th championship.

A quick look back:

Best game: The first one, the one that baseball counted as the 163rd regular-season game, rather than the first playoff game. “The greatest game ever,” Twins outfielder Denard Span said. Maybe not, but it was the greatest game we saw this year.

Best team: Pretty obvious, isn’t it? Apparently it wasn’t to me, since I picked the Angels in the ALCS and the Phillies in the World Series.

Best player: Alex Rodriguez. Two game-saving home runs (ninth inning against the Twins, 11th inning against the Angels). A .365 batting average, 1.308 OPS and 18 RBIs in 15 games. Again, pretty obvious.

Best moment: Jimmy Rollins’ two-run, ninth inning, game-winning double off Jonathan Broxton in Game 4 against the Dodgers. Citizens Bank Park shook. The Phillies toasted Rollins with Don Julio tequila. And Manny Ramirez took a shower.

Best taunt: As the Phillies took control of Game 5 against the Dodgers, 50,000 Phillies fans reminded Manny to “Take a shower!”
 
Biggest difference-maker: Mariano Rivera. He shocked us by allowing a run to the Angels. One run. In 16 innings, over 12 appearances. He came into 2009 with a 0.77 postseason ERA, and lowered it to 0.74. No other team has a closer like him. No one else is even close.

Worst prediction: Besides mine? How about Rollins saying, "Phillies in 5"? Which, after the Yankees went up two games to one, he changed to, "Phillies in 6."

Five who helped themselves: 1. Alex Rodriguez. So what was that about him not being able to perform in October?

2. Hideki Matsui. He’ll now be a Yankee forever. But did six RBIs in the clincher make him a Yankee next year?

3. Cliff Lee. A Cy Young winner last year, but it wasn’t until now that we considered him one of the best pitchers in the game.

4. Chase Utley. He’s never won an MVP award, but he’ll be some people’s preseason pick in 2010.

5. CC Sabathia. Already the most expensive pitcher in the game, now he has to be considered the best.

Five who hurt themselves: 1. Cole Hamels. No matter how he meant it, “I can’t wait for it to end” will stick with him for a long time.

2. Matt Holliday. He’ll still make a ton of money on the free-agent market, but how much more could it have been with a great October?

3. Chone Figgins. He’ll make a ton of money, too, but 3 for 35 was a missed opportunity -- for him and for the Angels.

4. Jonathan Papelbon. Every closer this side of Mariano Rivera struggled in this postseason, but Papelbon’s Game 3 meltdown in Fenway was one of the worst.

5. Mark Teixeira. His team won, which makes the .180 postseason batting average easier to take. But the guy often slighted as a robot didn’t seem to handle postseason pressure well.

Four who were the same as ever: Colleague Scott Miller wrote yesterday about Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada, but it’s hard to talk about this postseason without mentioning them. Since Rivera said during the celebration that he wants to pitch for another five years, we may have many more chances to mention them again.

One who deserves credit and doesn't always get it: Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has more money to spend than anyone, but his negotiating strategy last winter with Sabathia and Teixeira was perfect. And even that $12 million he seemed to have wasted on Damaso Marte seemed like money better spent when Marte became a key (and unsung) middle reliever in the World Series.

NEW YORK -- Nobody writes books about Game 5.

Nobody even remembers Game 5.

So what is it about Game 6?

Or Game Six , as Mark Frost titled his fine book about the sixth game of the 1975 World Series. The Carlton Fisk game.

As opposed to Game 6 in 1991, the Kirby Puckett game. Or Game 6 in 1986, the Bill Buckner game. Or Game 6 in 1985, the Don Denkinger game. Or even Game 6 in 2002, the Russ Ortiz game.

We remember every one of those, and there’s no need to even remind you why those players were associated with those games.

We remember Joe Carter and Mitch Williams (Game 6, 1993). We remember Josh Beckett (Game 6, 2003). We remember David Justice and Tom Glavine (Game 6, 1995), and Dave Winfield (Game 6, 1992).

That's nine truly memorable Game 6's, and that's just in the last 35 years.

Heck, if we were all old enough -- or if we had all read Mike Vaccaro’s excellent book, The First Fall Classic -- we’d remember Game 6 of the 1912 World Series. That was the one where the owner of the Red Sox demanded that manager Jake Stahl not start ace Smoky Joe Wood, and instead start Buck O’Brien, who had been drinking all night the night before.

It’s been a great month for baseball books, with Vaccaro, Frost and Joe Posnanski (The Machine ) carrying us through this long postseason.

And Game 6 figures prominently in all of them.

It’s always Game 6, just as it was when Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera (and Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Joe Girardi) won their first World Series in 1996. That night at Yankee Stadium, Jimmy Key beat Greg Maddux, with Girardi driving in the game’s first run with a third-inning triple.

The game itself wasn’t memorable that night, nothing that would cause anyone to write a book.

Maybe this Game 6 will live up to the name.

PHILADELPHIA -- Just to make things clear, Cole Hamels said Monday that he can wait for the season to end.

He told Phillies manager Charlie Manuel. He told the rest of us, too.

He wants the World Series to go seven games. He wants to start Game 7.

“Of course,” Hamels said, after the Phillies forced Game 6 with an 8-6 win over the Yankees. “Who wouldn’t want the ball in Game 7?”

The Phillies had to have questions about how much Hamels wanted it, first because he fell apart in the fifth inning of Game 3, and then because his comments after the game included the seven words he now regrets:

“I can’t wait for it to end,” Hamels said then, in response to my question about how he would feel if Game 3 was the final start of his disappointing season.

I wrote that night that I didn’t believe Hamels meant those words literally, that he didn’t mean them to sound the way they did. But over the last two days, plenty of people in Philadelphia took those seven words at face value, and took Hamels to task for saying them.

“I wasn’t able to sleep the last couple of nights because of that,” Hamels said. “I didn’t know what I said until I read it -- well, I didn’t read it, but I was told about it.”

Right after Monday’s game, Hamels went to speak to Manuel. The Phillies manager still hasn’t committed to a Game 7 starter, but if Hamels’ mental state weren’t in question, he would be the obvious candidate.

“I just wanted to tell him my true thoughts, that I’ll never quit,” Hamels said. “I think Charlie knows me. I think the only doubt it left was with the fans, and that hurts. I love the city of Philadelphia.”

And, he said again, he’d love to have a chance to start Game 7, a chance to pitch the Phillies to a second straight World Series title.

First, he got a chance to try again to say what he means.

“It’s hard,” Hamels said. “It’s hard to play baseball and talk at the same time.”

PHILADELPHIA -- And so the postseason comes full circle.

When it began, we were just getting over the allegation that the Twins' Joe Mauer was stealing signs while on second base, and relaying them to the hitter. This afternoon, before Game 5 of the World Series, the Phillies' Shane Victorino was asked repeatedly whether sign-stealing by his team is causing so many mound visits by Yankee catchers.

It's all kind of silly, especially the latest one. Jorge Posada goes to the mound more than any other catcher in the big leagues, whether or not there's any chance of an opponent stealing signs.

The other thing is, every team in the big leagues tries to steal signs. The Phillies were so concerned about the Dodgers stealing their signs in the National League Championship Series that for one crucial at-bat, they gave no signs at all.

It was in the fifth inning of Game 5. The Phillies led 6-3, but Manny Ramirez came to the plate representing the tying run. Rafael Furcal, who the Phillies suspected of sign-stealing, was on second base.

When reliever Chad Durbin came into the game to face Ramirez, he and catcher Carlos Ruiz scripted the entire at-bat before it began. For the entire five-pitch at-bat, which ended with Ramirez bouncing back to the mound, Ruiz never gave one sign.

"It was weird to go without a sign and just go into the stretch," Durbin said later. "It's like throwing a ball without your glove on."

PHILADELPHIA -- Johnny Damon was as heads-up as could be.

The Phillies were as heads-down as could be.

Johnny Damon was on first base with two out in the ninth. And then, as Brad Lidge said, "all of a sudden he's on third."

It was without doubt the strangest play of this World Series, maybe the strangest of any recent World Series. It was also one of the most important, since it came in the ninth inning and led to Damon scoring the tie-breaking run in what became a 7-4 Yankees Game 4 win.

And here's how it happened:

The Phillies, as they always do when Mark Teixeira is batting left-handed, had the shift on. Shortstop Jimmy Rollins was well on the right side of second base, and third baseman Pedro Felix was closer to the second-base bag than Rollins.

Lidge, notoriously bad at controlling the running game, was pitching. Damon, who stole 12 bases this year, took off for second on the first pitch to Teixeira. Catcher Carlos Ruiz threw through to second base (he probably shouldn't have, since he had no chance at Damon). Feliz took the throw, and it took him a little bit behind Damon.

Damon saw no Phillie covering third, and took off. He was easily safe.

Lidge hit Teixeira with a pitch, then gave up the tie-breaking double to Alex Rodriguez.

Damon said the Yankees talked about the possibility at various times during the year, because so many teams shift on Teixeira. He said it was more possible Sunday because Feliz isn't that fast (he said he wouldn't have done it if Chone Figgins were the third baseman), and desirable because Lidge relies on a slider that often breaks in the dirt.

Lidge insisted that Damon's presence at third didn't keep him from throwing the slider, and in fact he did throw one to Teixeira on the very next pitch. But he followed that slider with three straight fastballs, including the one A-Rod connected on for the double.

The bigger question is why third base was uncovered, and who should have been there?

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said it should have been either Lidge or Ruiz. Rollins said it was his mistake, because when he told Feliz to cover second base on a steal attempt, he should have also reminded Lidge that third base would be his responsibility.

Lidge said, "I don't really know who's supposed to cover third. That's a weird play."

Somebody should have been at third, somebody in Phillies red. Nobody was, and Damon was alert enough to notice that. And quick enough to get there.

"I felt like, man, I hope I'm Johnny Damon at 25 instead of Johnny Damon in his 30s," Damon said.

The Phillies were impressed.

"Just a heads-up play by a smart baserunner," reliever Scott Eyre said.

"Usually, we're the ones doing it to the other teams," Rollins said.

This time, they were the ones with their heads down. Damon was the one with his head up.

And now the Yankees are the ones with a three games to one advantage in the World Series

PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies tried to stop Alex Rodriguez by making him uncomfortable.

Now, thanks in large part to A-Rod, it’s the Phillies who are in the most uncomfortable position possible.

Rodriguez’s ninth-inning double put the Yankees ahead in Game 4, and their 7-4 win put them ahead three games to one in the World Series. Game 5 is Monday night, and a Yankees win would give them their 27th championship, and their first in nine years.

The defending champion Phillies are that close to seeing their season end.

Heading to the ninth inning, the Phillies seemed to be the ones who had the Game 4 momentum. Pedro Feliz tied the game with a two-out eighth-inning home run off Joba Chamberlain.

But the Phils went to closer Brad Lidge in the ninth, and with two out he allowed a Johnny Damon single. Damon was able to steal second and third on the same pitch, and after Lidge hit Mark Teixeira, A-Rod ripped a double to left to put the Yankees ahead.

It’s been an interesting World Series for Rodriguez, and an interesting two nights in Philadelphia. The Phillies have hit him with three pitches, attempting to keep the hottest hitter in the playoffs from getting too comfortable at the plate.

For a while, it seemed to work. Rodriguez was 0 for 3 heading to the ninth inning, and Feliz’s home run had the Phillies thinking this was their night.

A Phillies win would have been huge, especially with Game 1 winner Cliff Lee ready to start Game 5.

But there was no Phillies win. In the ninth inning, A-Rod was plenty comfortable.

And now the Phillies aren’t.

PHILADELPHIA -- Somehow, Cliff Lee is supposed to feel bad that he isn't doing what CC Sabathia is doing.

Sabathia started Game 1 of the World Series, and he's coming back on three days' rest to start Game 4 tonight. Lee, who beat Sabathia in Game 1, is starting Game 5 on normal rest Monday night.

So it's a seeming mismatch, Sabathia vs. Joe Blanton, and with the Yankees already leading the World Series two games to one, everyone wants to blame Lee and/or Phillies manager Charlie Manuel.

"I think I could do it," Lee said. "But he makes the calls."

Here's the thing: Nearly every World Series manager in recent history has made the exact same call that Manuel did. It's Sabathia and Yankees manager Joe Girardi who are going against the trend, not Lee and Manuel.

In the last 15 World Series, only two Game 1 starters -- San Diego's Kevin Brown in 1998 and Arizona's Curt Schilling in 2001 -- have come back to start Game 4. That's two, out of a possible 30.

Put another way, 93 percent of Game 1 starters don't start Game 4.

I'm not saying Girardi is making a mistake, not at all. Sabathia is the rare pitcher who has proven he can not only pitch on three days' rest, but pitch effectively on three days.

Lee, on the other hand, has never pitched on three days' rest in his entire career.

Manuel asked him that question before the World Series began. Lee said no.

"You're asking Cliff Lee to do something that he has never done before," Manuel said. "You're also asking him to do it in a very big, important place, and that's in the World Series. I didn't have to think very long at all about that, and neither did [pitching coach Rich] Dubee."

The whole concept of a three-man postseason rotation is interesting. It made perfect sense when teams regularly used four-man rotations in the regular season. The postseason three-man rotation even outlasted the regular-season four-man rotation by about two decades. All the way through the 1970s and through much of the 1980s, teams routinely asked pitchers to work on three days' rest in October.

But it's extremely rare now. In the last 23 best-of-7 series played (every World Series and LCS since the start of 2002), only three pitchers have been asked to start Games 1 and 4.

The Red Sox had Tim Wakefield do it in the 2003 ALCS. The Dodgers had Derek Lowe do it in the 2008 NLCS. And the Yankees had Sabathia do it in this year's ALCS.

That's three out of 23, which means -- again -- that 87 percent of the Game 1 starters didn't do it.

More power to Sabathia for being able to. But let's not crush Lee and Manuel too much for not trying it.

*****

Someone asked Lee today about back-to-back starts against the same opponent, as if it was something unusual.

Actually, Lee has made back-to-back starts against the same opponent 16 times in his career, including twice in the 2009 regular season and again in the first round against the Rockies. The last five times he has done it, Lee is 3-1 in the repeat start, with a 1.55 ERA.

PHILADELPHIA -- The stat guys won't like this.

Heck, I'm not a stat guy, and I don't like it.

I don't see any reason that Derek Jeter should have been bunting with runners on first and second and nobody out in the seventh inning of Game 2 -- let alone trying to bunt with two strikes.

After the game, Jeter described the two-strike bunt attempt (his own decision, by the way) as "stupid." But today he insisted it was only stupid because he bunted foul, for a strikeout.

"It's kind of like stealing third with two out," Jeter said. "Afterwards, the idea was stupid."

But why try to bunt in the first place. Jeter is one of the great postseason players in baseball history. He's one of the hotter Yankee hitters in this postseason. The Yankees led the game 3-1 at the time. Why not give Jeter a chance to drive in the run and turn it into a big inning?

Jeter still believes in the bunt.

"That's how you win," he said. "You win by moving guys over, and getting them in. I've always done that."

Jeter seemed amused by the number of questions about the bunt.

"Imagine if we'd lost," he said.

*****

Jeter was less amused by Jimmy Rollins' shot at the Yankee Stadium fans. The Phillies shortstop said Thursday night that the New York fans were "tame and civilized," and that the World Series would really begin when it moved to Citizens Bank Park.

"He's entitled to his opinion," Jeter said. "I enjoy the atmosphere at Yankee Stadium."

One Phillies player said Friday that many of the Phils had the same reaction as Rollins. They were looking forward to playing in a World Series at Yankee Stadium, and were underwhelmed by the atmosphere.

PHILADELPHIA -- Phillies manager Charlie Manuel has settled on Joe Blanton as his Game 4 starter.

Manuel decided against using Game 1 starter Cliff Lee on short rest, explaining that Lee has had a heavy workload this year and hasn't pitched on short rest. Lee will start Game 5, and with an off day between Games 5 and 6, Manuel said Lee could be available out of the bullpen in a possible Game 7.

The Phillies also went with a four-man rotation in the World Series last year. Blanton started and won Game 4, and also hit a home run in that game.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Thursday that he doesn't plan to name a Game 4 starter until after Game 3. The Yankees went with CC Sabathia in Games 1 and 4 in the American League Championship Series against the Angels, and it's been expected that they'll do the same in the World Series.

Unlike Sabathia, Lee has never pitched on three days' rest in his big-league career.

NEW YORK -- First he said Phillies in 5.

Now Jimmy Rollins is taking shots at the World Series atmosphere at Yankee Stadium.

Asked after the Yankees' 3-1 Game 2 win if this feels more like a World Series than last year did, Rollins responded, "When we get to Philly, it will."

Rollins said he expected more out of the Yankee fans.

"Our ballpark is so loud and rowdy, and I was really expecting some of that here," he said. "But it was tame and civilized, actually. You only heard one big cheer, on the home runs."

After Rollins' pre-Series prediction, you would have thought he'd have heard some New York venom. Instead, the fans seemed focused on Pedro Martinez, and even those "Who's your daddy?" chants sounded a little subdued.

NEW YORK -- The night seemed to be all about Pedro Martinez, from the moment he started warming up, with “Who’s your daddy?” echoing around Yankee Stadium.

Pedro against the Yankees. Pedro back at Yankee Stadium.

What about A.J. Burnett?

If not for Burnett, who pitched long enough and capably enough to hand the ball over to Mariano Rivera, the Yankees might well be down two games to none in this World Series, heading to Philadelphia for Game 3. Instead, they’re even in the series after a 3-1 Game 2 win, because Burnett quietly outpitched the guy who was getting all the attention.

While Pedro was giving up three runs in six innings -- not great, not awful -- Burnett allowed one run on four hits in his seven innings, with nine strikeouts. He kept the Yankees in the game long enough for Mark Teixeira to tie it with a fourth-inning home run, and for Hideki Matsui to put the Yankees ahead with his home run off Martinez in the sixth.

The Yankees gave Burnett $82.5 million last winter, but he inspired as much concern as confidence heading into the postseason.

What if CC Sabathia loses in Game 1? What if Burnett holds the Yankees’ season in his hands in Game 2?

Well, Sabathia did lose in Game 1 of the World Series. Burnett did hold the season in his hands.

Not only that, but the middle of the bullpen looked more vulnerable than ever. Alex Rodriguez, so hot in the first two rounds of the playoffs, was going 0 for 8 with six strikeouts in the first two games of the World Series.

There was little margin for error, and Burnett delivered.

He had help from Jose Molina, his personal catcher, who picked off Jayson Werth at a key moment of the game in the fourth inning. But Burnett retired 11 of 12 batters from that point on, and he did what any Yankee starter hopes to do -- hand the ball directly to Rivera.

The great Rivera did have an eighth-inning scare, when a walk to Jimmy Rollins and a Shane Victorino single put two runners on base with one out. But Rivera got Game 1 hero Chase Utley to ground into an inning-ending double play.