Pettitte strong through 5.2 as Matsui wins MVP

On a 3-2 pitch to Shane Victorino, Joe Buck kept the theatrics to a minimum. “To the second baseman, Cano,” he said. “The Yankees are back on top. World Champions for the 27th time.”

At Blondie’s on the Upper West Side, where Chris Meloni had joined us a few innings into the game, we were less composed. As Victorino’s ground ball bounced toward Robinson Cano, we leaped, we high-fived and we hugged as Cano fielded and flipped to Mark Teixeira for the 27th out of the New York Yankees’ 27th World Championship.

For Yankee fans, it was, in Yankee years, a long time coming. The Yanks last won the World Series in 2000 when Bill Clinton was the president, when Michael Bloomberg was just some rich guy, when the St. Louis Rams were the Super Bowl Champions, when Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia were both in the minors, when Derek Jeter was 26 years old.

From the second inning on, this was the Yanks’ game. More specifically, it was Hideki Matsui’s. After a quick first inning from the Yanks and two strong innings from Andy Pettitte, A-Rod walked, and Matsui came to the plate. The soon-to-be free agent worked the count full against Pedro Martinez and then launched a shot into the right field seats for his third home run of the World Series. The Yanks had a 2-0 lead, and they wouldn’t look back.

A Carlos Ruiz triple with one out and a Jimmy Rollins sac fly would cut the Yanks’ lead to one, but the Yanks would go back at it. After a Derek Jeter single, a Johnny Damon walk and a Mark Teixeira hit-by-pitch would load the bases, Alex Rodriguez struck out looking on a pitch in the left-handed batter’s box. Then, Matsui would again be the hero. He drove a two-run single into center field, and the Yanks had their 4-1 lead.

Two innings later, with Chad Durbin in for Pedro Martinez, the Yanks struck again. Mark Teixeira singled home Derek Jeter, and against lefty J.A. Happ, Matsui drove in both Teixeira and A-Rod. It was 7-1 Yanks, and Hideki had six RBis.

In the sixth, Pettite ran into a spot of trouble. He walked Chase Utley — one of five base on balls for the evening — and Ryan Howard broke out of his World Series slump for one at bat to power the ball just over Jerry Hairston into the left field seats. The Phillies had cut the Yanks’ lead to 7-3, but that would be all the baseball gods wrote for the scoring.

Joba Chamberlain replaced Andy Pettitte with two outs in the 6th and got Pedro Feliz to ground out. Joba would give up two base runners in the 7th but got two outs. With two on and two out in the 7th, Damaso Marte got the ball and was flat-out masterful. He struck out Chase Utley on a check swing to end the inning. In the 8th, Marte struck out Ryan Howard for Howard’s World Series record setting K, and it became Mariano time.

Last night, Mariano needed to get five outs with a four-run lead. He had to nail down out 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27, and although we waited for him to do so in 2001, eight years later, he did. Jayson Werth struck out for out 23, and although Raul Ibañez doubled, Pedro Feliz fouled out to Jorge for 24.

In the 9th, we stood up and cheered. Matt Stairs lined out to Derek for out 25. Carlos Ruiz, that pain in the neck all series, walked, and Jimmy Rollins — the same Jimmy Rollins who predicted a five-game Phillies win — flew out to Nick Swisher for number 26. Victorino grounded out, and the Yankees were World Series champions once again.

For the old guard, for Jorge and Derek and Andy and Mariano, this was ring number five. Pettitte completed his superfecta with a win in the AL East clincher, the ALDS clincher, the ALCS clincher and the World Series clincher. Mariano ended another title, and Derek got a hit in his final at-bat. Jorge called a great game, coaxing 5.2 innings out of Pettitte. The Yankees were on top once again.

The parade is tomorrow at 11 a.m., and for now, we’ll bask in that glow of World Series Championship Number 27. How sweet it is.

With two on and out, with the top of the order up and the Yanks facing just a three-run deficit, we wanted to believe that the World Series would end on Monday night. But while the Yanks whittled away the Phillies’ six-run lead to just a two-run gap, they couldn’t overcome those final two runs.

And so as the World Series heads back to New York for a Game 6 match-up against two unannounced pitchers probably named Andy Pettitte and Pedro Martinez, let’s play the blame game.

A.J. Burnett
Staked to a 1-0 lead in the first, A.J. Burnett could not hold the Phillies. Pitching on short rest, he had no command early, and Bad A.J. reared his heard. He gave up a hit to Jimmy Rollins, and then he hit Shane Victorino with a fastball flush on the right index finger. The next pitch was a fastball, 94 miles per hour and right down the middle of the plate. The ultra-hot Chase Utley deposited it into the right field seats, and the Phillies had a 3-1 lead.

“It was supposed to be a sinker away,” Burnett later said of this key pitch, “but it ran right back over the middle.”

Not only did it not sink, but it wasn’t close to being outside of the strike zone. Burnett settled down for six outs, but in the third, he fell apart. Walk, walk, single, single. The Yanks found themselves down 5-1, and Burnett found himself on the bench. After just 53 pitches, Burnett’s Game 5 was over. Because he threw so few pitches, he could be available for bullpen work on Wednesday or Thursday. Whether the Yanks would go to him is another question altogether.

After the game, Burnett talked about the Yanks’ braintrust’s decision to start him on three days’ rest. The short rest, he said, had no bearing on his stuff. “I felt strong,” he said. “It’s just a matter of locating pitches. I didn’t throw strikes, there really isn’t much else to say.”

The results bore him out. His velocity was there; his break was there; the results were not. On a night when Cliff Lee didn’t have his best stuff, when the Yanks tagged him for five runs and ten baserunners, A.J. could not get the job done. Goat Number One.

Phil Coke
We didn’t know the Yanks would mount a last-gasp rally in the 8th and 9th. We didn’t know the Yanks would twice send the tying run to the plate in the 9th. And so, down by six runs, Joe Girardi did during Game 5 what he almost did during Game 4: He gave the ball to Phil Coke.

Coke was flat out awful. Chase Utley hit a 3-2 fastball — another 94-mph job right down the middle — over the fence in right-center field for his Reggie Jackson-tying fifth home run of the World Series. After retiring Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth, Coke faced Raul Ibañez. Although Ibañez hits lefties better than righties, although Joe Girardi manages by his ever-important Book, Coke stayed in the game. Ibañez, a non-factor so far this series, belted a 420-foot home run deep into the night. It was an 8-2 game, and Coke was gone.

Later, Coke would seemingly shake it off. “I want the ball again tomorrow,” he said. “That’s all I’m thinking about.”

He can have the ball tomorrow for the Yankees do not play tomorrow. On Wednesday, though, if the Yanks have a lead or are within striking distance of the Phillies, you can bet that Damaso Marte, Joba Chamberlain or the seemingly redeemed Phil Hughes will be handed that baseball.

We could argue the fallacy of the predetermined outcome all night long. If the Yanks mount their comeback and if Phil Coke gets the job done, then the Yankees tie the game on Derek Jeter’s ill-timed double play. Instead, Phil Coke struck back. Goat Number Two.

Derek Jeter
Dare I suggest that Derek Jeter deserves some criticism for his play tonight? Dare I throw the Captain under the Game 5 bus?

As a leadoff hitter, Jeter went 1 for 5 and saw just 16 pitches. With two on and no out in the top of the 9th, he was the tying run. He got ahead of Ryan Madson 2-0 and then took a pitch he should have shellacked. On the next ball, he bounced into a tailor-made 6-4-3 double play. Although a run would score, the Yanks could not overcome that failure. We saw “past a diving Jeter” twice on key plays, and we saw the captain, a former Mr. November, not come through when he was needed the most. While Mark Teixeira left four runners on and struck out as the tying run to end the game, Derek deflated us when we were at our highest. For that, he gets the Goat Number Three hat.

And so here we are. The Yankees come back home for one final home stand. They were the best team at home this year, and all they have to do is win one game. Let’s put this one behind us, sit out an off-day and go get ‘em on Wednesday.

Yanks hang three on Lidge in the 9th for 7-4 Game 4 win

Revised (1:49 a.m.) with an update on the injured Melky Cabrera: The Bridge to Mariano just needs to stay together for one more victory. As it stands now, that bridge is on shaky, shaky footing, and yet, the Yanks made it work tonight. In a game that resembled a roller coaster of emotions — looking something like this — the Yanks brought us up early, down late and then bashed around Brad Lidge for a key 7-4 win in Game 4. They are but one win away from their 27th World Series title.

Without a clock looming over play, baseball teams get 27 outs to figure out a way to outscore their opponents. Tonight, the Yankees needed all but one of them to top the Phillies. After 26 outs, the Yanks were facing a tie game on the road. They had no one on, and Phil Coke warming up in the bullpen. But then Mystique and Aura arrived after getting stuck in traffic on the Benjamin Franklin bridge.

The rally started with Johnny Damon, playing perhaps his final few games as a Yankee. Ball 1. Strike 1. Strike 2. The 1-2 pitch was huge as Damon nicked a foul tip into the dirt and Carlos Ruiz could not hold on to it. Ball 2. Ball 3. Foul. Foul. And then, life! On the 9th pitch, Damon singled into left, and Brad Lidge’s armor showed a chink. “The key to that inning to me was the tenacious at-bat by Johnny Damon,” Alex Rodriguez, the eventual hero, said to both Mark Grace and Michael Kay after the game.

With Mark Teixeira batting, Damon hit the bases. He stole second on a pitch in the dirt and then noticed that, because Pedro Feliz was covering second due to the Mark Teixeira shift, third base was wide open. Damon won the race and found himself just 90 feet away from giving the Yanks a lead with Mariano Rivera looming.

For those of us watching at home, we had little idea what was happening. It first seemed as though Damon had thought the ball was behind Feliz, but then it dawned on all of us: Third base was unoccupied. Joba Chamberlain, though, summed up the fan reaction to this unique play. “I had a heart attack, a little one,” he said after the game. “I didn’t know what was going on.”

Damon did, though, and it paid off. The Yanks would plate Damon and more though. Teixeira was hit by a Brad Lidge fastball, and then A-Rod, with just one hit all World Series, lined an 0-1 double into the left field. Jorge Posada then lined a 2-2 pitch into the left-center field gap. Although Posada would be tagged out at second, Teixeira and Rodriguez scored.

The Yanks had a three-run lead with Mo in, and eight pitches later — one fewer than Johnny Damon’s entire AB against Lidge — the game was over. Matt Stairs grounded out to first; Jimmy Rollins popped out to first; and Shane Victorino grounded out to Mark Teixeira for the ball game. Over the last two days, Mariano Rivera has faced five batters. He has retired all five of them and has used just 13 pitches — thirteen! — to get those five outs. This is vintage Mariano for you. Appreciate it now because, as we saw just one inning earlier, that ability to control a game from the bullpen is rare indeed.

The Yanks, of course, almost didn’t need Mariano. Starting on three days’ rest, CC Sabathia wasn’t as sharp as he had been against the Angels, but he made it work. After 6.2 innings and 107 pitches, Sabathia would leave with a 4-3 lead. He allowed seven hits and three walks on six strike outs, but he wasn’t too sharp. He threw first-pitch strikes to just 17 of 30 batters faced and managed just two 1-2-3 innings.

Again, though, the real CC killer was Phillies’ second baseman Chase Utley. After homering twice against Sabathia in Game 1, Utley went 2-for-3 with a double and a home run. He drove in two games and drove CC from the game. On the series, Utley is 4 for 6 with 3 home runs and 4 RBI against Sabathia while the rest of the Phillies are just 7 for 45 with one run batted in.

With Sabathia out, Damaso Marte, enjoying a mid-contract Yankee revival, did the job. Pumping 94-mph fastballs past Ryan Howard, Marte got the Phillies’ feared first baseman to fly out to Damon. Enjoying a slim one-run lead, the Yanks handed the ball over to a new 8th Inning guy.

With Phil Hughes in the doghouse following some very rough outings, the Yanks gave Joba Chamberlain a chance to reclaim his old job, and it seemed as though Joba would deliver. He struck out Jayson Werth on a 97-mph fastball and blew away Raul Ibañez with another 97-mph fastball. But then, disaster! Ahead of Pedro Feliz 1-2, Chamberlain fell behind 3-2 and let a pitch stray. It was supposed to be a fastball on the outside corner. Instead, it was a 97-mph pitch on the fat part of the plate, and Feliz deposited it over the left field wall.

“He put on a good swing. There’s nothing you can say about it. He did what he had to do,” Chamberlain said after the game. On the mound and in the dugout, he was clearly distraught. Even after Carlos Ruiz struck out on a nasty 88-mph slider, the damage had been done, and the fans were momentarily heartbroken.

But the Comeback Kids rebounded. They scored their runs; they won the game; they stand but 27 outs away from a World Series title. The team, at least on camera, isn’t letting the weight of the moment get to them, and they know that Cliff Lee looms large on Monday night. “It’s important for us to stay focused,” A-Rod said in a post-game interview with Mark Grace.

Damon, though, the YES Network’s Chevy Player of the Game, spoke some calming words. “We’re going to try to win,” he said. Here’s to hoping.

Melky Cabrera unlikely for Game 5
Lost in the brouhaha over the Yanks’ victory was the news about Melky Cabrera. While trying to run out a ground ball in the sixth inning last night, the Yanks’ center fielder strained his left hamstring. The Yankees are calling it a minor strain, but as Mark Feinsand reported, the team does not expect Cabrera to play in Game 5. I would guess that he won’t be available for Games 6 or 7 either.

At this point, the Yankees have a few choices. They can put Brett Gardner in center field, but Joe Girardi said after the game that Jerry Hairston, Jr., remains a distinct option for the start. Girardi prefers to deploy Gardner as a late-inning pinch running. If Melky is truly hurt, I believe the Yanks can activate another player — probably either Freddy Guzman or Francisco Cervelli. For the Series, Melky was just 2 for 13 before leaving with the injury but had played a solid center field throughout the playoffs.

I watched tonight’s 8-5 from Blondie’s on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Surrounded by Yankee fans, we were dejected when the Yanks fell behind early, elated with the three-run 5th inning and generally clapped for every two-strike count and sang along with Frank Sinatra after Mariano Rivera induced a weak pop-up off the bat of Jimmy Rollins for out number 27. With that win tonight, the Yanks grabbed a 2-1 World Series win and become the first team to win two games against the Phillies in a playoff series since the 2007 NLDS.

For the Yanks, this one got off to a slow start. Cole Hamels seemed to have his fastball, change-up and control working. The Yanks went down in order in the first, and their only baserunners through three innings came through an A-Rod hit-by-pitch and a Jorge Posada fielder’s choice. Andy Pettitte meanwhile had his problems. He needed 51 pitches to get through three innings and found himself on the wrong end of a 3-0 game.

For Pettitte, the righties tonight were the problem. The lefties couldn’t touch him, but he had his fair share of problems getting the Phillies’ right-handed hitters out. Jayson Werth belted two no-doubters, and Pettitte walked Jimmy Rollins with the bases loaded to force in a run in that awful third. But Pettitte settled down, and the Yanks’ bat showed up.

The first sign of life from the Yanks’ offense came from A-Rod in the fourth. Suffering through an 0-for-8 World Series spell, A-Rod hit a screamer down the right field line. The ball stayed fair and hit off of a camera absurdly placed above the wall in fair territory. After an instant replay review, A-Rod’s shot was ruled a home run, and the Yanks had cut the Phils’ lead to just a run.

An inning later, after Pettitte pitched around an A-Rod error, the bats showed up. Nick Swisher, coming off of a mental vacation in Game 2, doubled to left, and although Melky Cabrera struck out on a nasty pitch, Andy Pettitte hit a looper to center. Swisher was running with the hit and scored the tying run. Derek Jeter singled, and then Johnny Damon lined a two-run double into right-center field. The Yanks had a lead, and they wouldn’t give it back. After a Mark Teixeira walk, Cole Hamels would exit the game. Afterward, he would say that he “can’t wait until [2009] is over. It’s been mentally draining.”

Over the next few innings, Andy persevered. He wasn’t at his best, but he made it work. He retired the Phillies in order in the 5th, and Nick Swisher homered in the 6th. Although Jayson Werth answered with his own home run in the 6th, Andy K’d Raul Ibañez and Pedro Felix. Eric Bruntlett, batting for the first time in nearly a month, flew out to end the inning.

Over the next few innings, the Yanks would add a pair. Jorge Posada blooped a single to drive home the Yanks’ 7th run. In the 7th, Joba Chamberlain looked great retiring the top third of the Phillies’ order, and Hideki Matsui launched a pinch hit home run to give the Yanks a four-run lead. In the 8th, the real Damaso Marte showed up. He fanned Howard on a 95-mph fastball, struck out Werth and retired Ibañez on a line out.

After a quick 9th, Phil Hughes came in with a four-run lead. Pedro Felix grounded out, but Hughes threw two high fastballs to Carlos Ruiz. Chooch is a high fastball hitter, and the second fastball ended up on the wrong side of the left field wall. The Phillies had cut the lead, but the Yanks brought in Mariano. It wasn’t a save, but five pitches later, the game was over. Matt Stairs grounded out, and Jimmy Rollins, the man who predicted the Phillies would win in five games, popped out to A-Rod.

With that out, the Yanks grabbed a 2-1 lead, and they guaranteed that, at worst, the World Series will return to the Bronx. CC Sabathia will face Joe Blanton tonight at 8:20 p.m., and the Yankees are feeling pretty good right now. On Halloween, I went as a Yankee fan watching Game 3 of the World Series, and I was not disappointed.

Welcome to the World Series, Good A.J.

Heading into Thursday’s Game 2, we didn’t quite know what game to expect. The Yanks had A.J. Burnett, the definition of baseball inconsistency on the mound, and the Phillies were countering with Pedro Martinez, a relic of another age who has reinvented himself Mike Mussina-style into a off-speed demon. It could have been a slugfest; it could have been a pitcher’s duel.

In compelling fashion, we enjoyed the latter. The Yankees saw Good A.J. — an outing Derek Jeter called “the best I’ve seen all year” — and beat Pedro and the Phillies 3-1 to tie up the World Series. The teams now head 99 miles south for three weekend games in the City of Brotherly Love.

In a word, Burnett was masterful tonight. He flashed his power fastball and devastating curve balls and sliders for seven innings. He allowed just a single run on four hits and only two walks while striking out nine. “Today was one of those days where he had more than extra life in his fastball, and the hook was right there,” Jose Molina, Burnett’s own catcher, said.

Burnett, though, had the final word. “It was,” he said, “the funnest I’ve ever had on the baseball field.”

Burnett set the stage early for pitching performance. He started the game out with a 95-mph first-pitch strike to Jimmy Rollins and never looked back. Burnett proceeded to throw a called first-pitch strike to the nine of the first ten Phillies he faced and didn’t throw a first-pitch ball until Chase Utley came up in the third, 12 batters into the game. “After last night, I just wanted to come out and set the tone early,” he said. “My key was strike one tonight. I threw a lot of first pitch strikes and that allowed me to expand the zone.”

The Yanks, though, found themselves on the wrong end of a 1-0 game early. With two outs, Burnett allowed a bloop double to Raul Ibañez that hit the chalk. A ground ball off the bat of Matt Stairs skipped off of A-Rod’s glove for an RBI single, and Yankee fans groaned. Little did they know it would be the only run the Phillies would plate all night.

On the other side, Pedro Martinez kept the Yankees guessing early and then late into the night. Yet, his six innings of six-hit, two-run ball wasn’t enough. Despite the eight strike outs, it wasn’t enough. With chants of “Who’s Your Daddy?” coming out from Yankee Stadium’s every nook, the Yanks used two solo home runs and a late rally to top Pedro. “I did everything I could to beat those guys,” he said.

The Yanks got on the board in the fourth when Mark Teixeira lifted an 83-mph change-up into the Yankee bullpen. It was Teixeira’s first World Series hit and his first home run since the end of Game 2 ALDS. “It was a 1-0 count, and I saw a pitch up in the zone, and I just let it fly,” he said.

Two innings later, Hideki Matsui went golfing and found a pitch he could drive. This one went 320 feet into the right field bleachers, and the Yanks had their first World Series lead since the first inning of Game 5 of the 2003 World Series.

In the 7th, umpire controversy struck. With Pedro still in the game, Jerry Hairston lined a single into right, and Melky Cabrera blooped one in front of Jayson Werth. Pinch hitter Jorge Posada singled home pinch runner Brett Gardner, and the Yanks were primed for more. But Derek Jeter, bunting on his own, struck out when his two-strike effort rolled foul, and then Johnny Damon hit a sinker liner toward first. Ryan Howard fielded the ball and threw to second, seemingly for a double play attempt, but the umpires ruled it an out in the air. Posada was doubled off the threat ended. Replays seemed to show that Howard short-hopped the ball, and the Yanks wuz robbed.

With the Yanks clinging to a two-run lead, Joe Girardi handed the ball over to Mariano Rivera for a two-inning save. He got Carlos Ruiz out but then ran into trouble as Jimmy Rollins walked and Shane Victorino singled. Chase Utley, though, bounced a 3-2 pitch to Robinson Cano. Brian Gorman called Utley out on the relay throw, and even though replays showed Utley safe, the Yanks were out of the inning.

In the 9th, Mariano allowed a two-out double to Raul Ibañez but Matt Stairs struck out. The Yanks nailed down a World Series win, and it felt good. “It was just business as usual,” Girardi said, later adding, I think it was extremely important [to even the series]. We’ve playing a very good baseball team, and you don’t want to spot them two runs when it’s a best of seven.”

The Yanks and Phillies head to Philadelphia tied. Andy Pettitte will face Cole Hamels on Saturday night, and we’ve got ourselves a World Series.

Above: An emphatic A.J. pumps his fist in the 7th inning. (Photo courtesy of Yahoo! Sports)

For the first time in six Octobers, a World Series game was played in the Bronx tonight. Given how things unfolded, maybe the Yankees wished it had just kept raining. That’s about the only thing that could have stopped Cliff Lee tonight.

The game started in rather ominous fashion, when CC Sabathia loaded the bases in the first on a walk, a double, and another walk with two outs, only to escape unscathed when Raul Ibanez bounced a 3-1 pitch to second for a routine groundout. It was apparent from the get-go that Sabathia was going to have to be on his game tonight to match Lee, who was dealing right from the very first pitch.

Working at a feverish pace and pounding the zone, Lee struck out seven batters through the first four innings, and needed less than three pitches per batter (2.86 to be exact) to record his first twelve outs. After dominating the Rockies twice in the NLDS and the Dodgers once in the NLCS, it didn’t look like coming back to face an AL lineup affected the southpaw from Arkansas at all.

Sabathia, on the other hand, clearly wasn’t his usual self tonight. He still gave his team seven good innings and a start that on most nights would have secured him a win, but on this particular night four hits and two runs was just too many. His two most costly pitches of the night came against the same batter, Chase Utley, who drove each pitch into the rightfield seats for a solo homer.

In the third inning, Utley fouled off five pitches as part of a nine pitch at-bat before driving a fastball that drifted too far out over the plate into the people, and in the sixth he turned around a similar fastball down 0-2 in the count for his second jack. The last time Sabathia served up two homers to a lefty batter in the same game is also the last time he gave up two homers to one batter in the same game, Opening Day 2008 when Jim Thome got him twice.

Despite Utley’s heroics, the story of the night was clearly Cliff Lee, who for nine innings kept the Yankees off balance with a hearty mix of fastballs, cutters, changeups, and curveballs. He threw first pitch strikes to just half of the 32 batters he faced, but it seemed like he was constantly ahead of the Yankee hitters all night. Only one batter reached second base prior to the ninth inning, and no batter drew a walk after the Yanks took 47 of them as a team in their first nine playoff games. Lee was dominant in every sense of the word, allowing just the one garbage time unearned run and striking out ten against just six baserunners.

In a lineup noted for it’s patience, no Yankee hitter saw more than 18 pitches in Game One. The two through four hitters went a combined 2-for-16 with seven strikeouts, three by playoff hero Alex Rodriguez. The Cap’n was the only player able to muster consistent offense, going 3-for-4 with a double from the lead off spot.

Outside of Damaso Marte, the Yankees bullpen just flat out did not get the job done. Phil Hughes walked both batters he faced – two guys with a combined .327 OBP on the year – in the eighth, and Brian Bruney was nothing short of atrocious in the ninth. The tack on runs hardly mattered in the grand scheme of things, but Joe Girardi seems to be running short on trustworthy arms out there.

The good news for the Yankees is that the Paul O’Neill theory is in effect for Game Two, and the even better news is that Cliff Lee can’t pitch every game. Old buddy Pedro Martinez will come back to the Bronx tomorrow, pitching against an AL lineup in the playoffs for the first time since 2004. He’ll be opposed by AJ Burnett, who has lost just once at home in the last two months.

The winner of Game One has won 11 of the last 12 World Series, with the lone exception being the 2002 Giants. But remember, the Yankees dropped the first two to Atlanta in 1996, including the first game by a 12-1 score. This thing is far from over.