Game 6. Yankees try once again…this time in front of the home crowd

Pitching: LHP Andy Pettitte (3-0, 3.24 ERA in postseason)

What a difference the DH makes, huh?

Swisher stays in RF. Time to reward Girardi’s faith in him, right Swish? Not to mention Cano. It’d be nice if the bottom of the lineup (and Teixeira) woke up tonight.

Could Cano be trade bait after the Series? It’s hard to get rid of a .320 hitting 2B with 25 HR but you wonder (especially with the three man rotation) if the Yanks could use another starter in 2010—especially if Andy retires. You then would have AJ, CC, Hughes, Joba…and who? Mitre and/or Gaudin? Wang won’t be ready for a long time and he has a long comeback ahead of him. Losing Cano’s bat would be tough, and you would (as of now) have Ramiro Pena (.287-1-10 in 115 ab) and Kevin Russo .326-5-31 in 90 AAA games) as replacements. I don’t know if that’s enough. Pena is supposedly better than Russo defensively. But AJ and CC need support in 2010. Whether Andy is support remains to be seen.

Chilly for the game tonight.

Wondering why Gaudin didn’t start? Consider this. Righties hit .249 off Gaudin in his career, lefties .293. Why feed Ibanez, Utley and Howard (and Rollins and Victorino, both switch-hitters)? I know many didn’t like AJ starting Game 5, but as I’ve written, you now have two lefties (Pettitte and CC) at the Stadium for 6 and if necessary, 7.

Ibanez is 7 for 18 vs. Gaudin, 2 doubles a triple, an HR. 8 RBI. Utley 1 for 1, Howard 0 for 1. Matt Stairs (should he have PH vs. Gaudin) 3 for 6, double, HR, RBI. Rollins 0 for 1. Phils .381 off Gaudin but Ibanez had 18 of the 42 ABs.

My local paper (very pro-Phils) had a list of teams that came back from down 3-1. One problem. They forgot the 1979 Pirates.

Bottom of the 4th. All Godzilla so far. 2-run HR in the 2nd, then after the Phils got 1 back in the 3rd (Ruiz triple and Rollins SF) Matsui picks up A-Rod (who struck out with the bases loaded and one out) with a 2-run single. As I write, Matsui is 7-10 in the series with 3 HR.  4-1 Yanks, but Damon had to leave the game with a strained calf. First Melky, now JD. Hey Bud—baseball isn’t meant to be played in November cold! Hairston in LF.