Live from the Bank: Yanks-Phillies IV

PHILADELPHIA -- It's a crisp but clear 49-degree night in Citizens Bank Park as the Yankees look to take total command of the World Series with CC Sabathia on the mound against Joe Blanton. That's a mismatch on paper. We'll see. The lineups:

New York: Jeter, ss; Damon, lf; Teixeira, 1b; Rodriguez, 3b; Posada, c; Cano, 2b; Swisher, rf; Cabrera, cf; Sabathia, p

Philadelphia: Rollins, ss; Victorino, cf; Utley, 2b; Howard, 1b; Werth, rf; Ibanez, lf; Feliz, 3b; Ruiz, c; Blanton, p.

---Mike Harrington

Yanks win, 7-4: What a ninth. Two outs and nobody on. All the momentum in the Phillies' favor. Damon singles, steals second -- and steals third when no one covers because the shift is on. Teixeira is hit by a pitch. A-Rod doubles home Damon. Posada singles home A-Rod and Teixeira. Wow. Three runs. Mariano in. Ballgame. One win to go.

Bot-8th (4-4 Yankees): It looked like another great inning by Chamberlain would get the Yankees three Rivera outs away from a 3-1 lead. Chamberalin struck out Werth and Ibanez on 97-mph heat and was 3-2 on Feliz before the Phillies third baseman pounded a 95-mph pitch over the wall in left to tie the game. Wow. Yankees can't trust anyone out of the pen but Marte and Rivera? Trouble.

End-7th (4-3 Yankees): Sabathia got the first two outs but they were hard-hit balls. Then Utley took him deep to right for the third time in this series to cut the lead to a run. Marte in to face Howard and induces a fly to left (maybe Girardi should have had him in for Utley?). Probably see Joba in the eighth. Still, a great job by Sabathia. 107 pitches, 67 strikes. Utley, by the way, is 4 for 6 with three homers and a double off Sabathia in this series; he's 0 for 9 off everybody else. Bizarre.

End-6th (4-2 Yankees): I kid you not. Blame Howard's pop-up. It just started raining. A quick drizzle thankfully. Blanton stranded a Swisher walk in the 6th and old friend Ben Francisco, subject of today's Inside Baseball column, pinch-hit for him (line drive to center to end the inning). Brett Gardner is in center for the Yankees; looked like Cabrera has a tight hamstring from the top of the inning. Sabathia at 95 pitches through six. No one warming. Wonder if its CC through seven, then Joba or Marte, then Mariano.

End-5th (4-2, Yankees): Big inning for Sabathia as Rollins leads off with a single and Victorino follows with a walk but the Phillies don't score. Utley and Howard pop up, the latter a moon shot that was so high it should have brought more rain. Werth strikes out to end the threat. Sabathia is at 88 pitches.

Mid-5th (4-2, Yankees): Blanton had retired 11 in a row before the Yankees touched him for two runs to take the lead. Swisher opened the inning with a walk and Cabrera reached on an infield single up the middle when Utley couldn't flip to second. After Sabathia struck out trying to bunt, RBI singles by Jeter and Damon scored the runs. Teixeira and A-Rod ended the inning with fly balls. They're 1 for 13 and 1 for 12 in the series, respectively. Jeter, meanwhile, is 7 for 16. Through 3 1/2 games, there's your MVP.

End-4th (2-2): We'll keep doing our best to provides some observations. But the Internet connections, normally reliable here, are quite spotty to say the least. So no promises. The Phillies have tied the game on Feliz's two-out single that scored Howard, who singled and stole second. Howard came barrling in on Posada and the ball got away. A word on Damon: Two brutal plays in left field tonight. Bad angle on Victorino's double and he then took a camera-friendly pratfall (left), and a short hop on the Feliz hit. He's a DH at best at this point and his free agent worth is dropping based on the last six weeks or so. (Postgame second-thought: Who said Damon's value is dropping? Scott Boras will make sure to milk plenty of money out of Damon's double steal in the ninth, won't he?)

End-3rd (2-1, Yanks): All quiet after the tension-filled first. Both teams went down in order in the second and third. Blanton has retired eight straight since drilling A-Rod. Sabathia has retired seven straight since the intentional walk to Werth.

End-1st (2-1, Yanks): After some Internet trouble, we're up and running and it was a doozy of an inning. Both teams have been warned after Alex Rodriguez took Joe Blanton's first pitch in the back -- the third time he's been plunked in two days. A-Rod wasn't happy about (nor should he have been) and he was talking to both Ryan Howard at first and umpire Joe West when he got to second. It seemed clearly intentional and the entire Yankee bench popped to the top step when A-Rod got hit. Joe Girardi wasn't happy because now Sabathia can't really work inside. Hate warnings. Blanton basically got a free shot. Maybe A-Rod should have just shut up and taken his base and let CC do his dirty work.

The Yankees scored when Jeter led off with an infield single that Utley couldn't corral, Damon doubled him to third, Teixeira followed with an RBI groundout and, after the hit batsman, Posada lined a sacrifice fly to left. The Phillies got back-to-back doubles from Victorino and Utley but Howard struck out (for the 10th time in the series) and, after an intentional walk to Werth, Ibanez fanned to end the inning.

(Photos: Associated Press)