Now why was A-rod hit three times by the Philly pitchers in the last two games?

Yankees are 27 outs from getting their 27th championship, kind of cool.

Hooray. Another store bought championship for the Yankees. This is unexpected. They only bought up the entire free agent market last off season.

That 2-base steal by Damon was pure magic. Could prove to be THE turning point of the series. Brilliant, head's up baseball JD.

Now why was A-rod hit three times by the Philly pitchers in the last two games?

Another store bought championship for the Yankees. This is unexpected.

The Yankees have had the highest payroll for years, bought the best players, however, this is their first trip to the WS since 2003 and if they win it all the first championship in nine years....they didn't even make the playoffs last year. It's not unexpected.

That 2-base steal by Damon was pure magic. Could prove to be THE turning point of the series. Brilliant, head's up baseball JD.

You're right, it isn't unexpected at all. It was totally EXPECTED.
The Yankees were 9/2 favourites to win the World Series in pre-season betting futures in Las Vegas in March.
Red Sox were the second-safest bet, at 11-to-2.

The Yankees are the pre-season favourites to win the World Series every year, so them winning it is never unexpected.

The only magic of that play was the incredible disappearing act of Pedro Feliz. How far out of position was he shifted that he was not even in screen shot of the third base bag? Even on the replay I couldn't find him. What the hell?

PHILADELPHIA -- As the Phillies shifted their defense with Johnny Damon on first base and lefty-swinging Mark Teixeira at the plate in the top of the ninth inning Sunday night, infield coach Sam Perlozzo wasn't comfortable with the way third baseman Pedro Feliz was positioned.
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"We've never overshifted that far," Perlozzo said Monday. "All of our shifts, Petey has been in the shortstop's area. We've never done it where the third baseman has been that far over."

But by the time Perlozzo could get Feliz's attention, it was too late.

Damon already had taken off toward second base, and Feliz had gone to cover the throw from catcher Carlos Ruiz. Nobody was covering third base, so Damon continued running. Two batters later, he scored the go-ahead run on Alex Rodriguez's double.

So, who was responsible for covering third?

Charlie Manuel said it should have been Ruiz or pitcher Brad Lidge, preferably Ruiz. Perlozzo said the pitcher must be aware of covering third, and Jimmy Rollins took the blame for not reminding Lidge to do so. After the game, Lidge still said he was unsure whose responsibility it was.

"Let me tell you something: Every year we go to spring training, and when we go over fundamentals and bunt plays, we maybe spend 10 minutes on that play," Manuel said Monday before Game 5 at Citizens Bank Park. "We might talk about it two times. That's the first time I've seen that play happen against us."

And while Manuel said Rodriguez's double was the bigger play (Damon would have scored from second base, too), Damon's presence on third left Lidge reluctant to throw his signature slider in the dirt because it could have resulted in a wild pitch. Thus, A-Rod was able to wait for a fastball.

PHILADELPHIA – Johnny Damon slid into second base, saw third was uncovered and swiped that, too. All on a single pitch.

The Philadelphia Phillies never recovered.

Damon’s daring dash at Citizens Bank Park will be remembered for a long time. He scored the tiebreaking run on Alex Rodriguez’s ninth-inning double off Brad Lidge, and the New York Yankees moved within a victory of their 27th World Series title with an unusual 7-4 victory over Philadelphia on Sunday night.

Yup, they definitely stole this one.

“It just worked out that way,” Damon said. “There was a throw, the third baseman covered, and the pitcher did not.”

Philadelphia tried to be shifty, and it backfired when Damon took advantage.

Pedro Feliz had tied the score with an eighth-inning homer off Joba Chamberlain, and Damon came to the plate with two outs and none on in the ninth.

Ball one, three fouls, two more balls and a full count. Another foul, then another. Lidge was consistently clocked in the low 90s on the radar gun and Damon was struggling to keep up.

“I kept sitting slider, and he kept throwing the fastball. They really don’t teach you to do it that way,” Damon said. “But I felt like his slider made me look silly on a couple pitches, so I kept sitting slider and just reacted to the fastball.”

Some reaction.

Damon sliced the ninth pitch of the sequence into left field – but the really hard work was just beginning.

Philadelphia went into a shift with Mark Teixeira at the plate, moving third baseman Pedro Feliz to the shortstop position, sliding shortstop Jimmy Rollins to the right side of second base and putting second baseman Chase Utley on the right-field grass, about 20 feet off the foul line.

Damon broke for second, and Feliz took a step in front of the base and slightly to the first-base side to scoop up catcher Carlos Ruiz’s one-hop throw. Damon popped up, realized that third was uncovered and kept on going, displaying the guile gained during 15 major league seasons. He started with a 5-foot lead on Feliz, who couldn’t catch up. Lidge started to sprint over from the mound, but gave up a good 25 feet from third base.

“I know that I still have some decent speed left in the tank, but I was just hoping,” said the formerly speedy Damon, who turns 36 on Thursday. “I knew Pedro’s speed, also. I mean, if it was Chone Figgins, that might have been tough. I just went off of instinct, and fortunately it worked out.”

But it’s clear the Phillies weren’t prepared. They never talked about how they would deal with Damon.

“We never got anybody to say, `OK, you’ve got to go in there; you’ve got to go here,”’ Feliz said.

With no one else close, Lidge was the most obvious candidate to cover third.

“It was kind of an unusual play. All of a sudden there’s no one at the bag,” the closer said. “He’s a very heads-up player and was able to take an extra base right there, which was obviously pretty big.”

Most runners wouldn’t have had the awareness to realize third base was open. Damon ran faster than his legs seemed capable of.

“That’s instinct. You better be sure because you’ve got Tex and A-Rod up behind, and you’d better be sure,” Yankee manager Joe Girardi said. “It was a great instinctual play by Johnny.”

Teixeira’s at-bat was cut short when he was hit with a pitch by Lidge. Damon could have walked home after Alex Rodriguez delivered the biggest hit of his life, a hard-hit double into the left-field corner. The next batter, Jorge Posada, followed with a two-run single to put the game out of reach.

Mariano Rivera closed it out with a 1-2-3 ninth.

“We’ve won three games. That’s not what we set out to do,” Damon said. “When this playoff time started, we set out to win 11 games. We’re at 10 and, hopefully, we can get No. 11 tomorrow.”

I thought I would stay away from POF for a while

his NY Donkeys are in WS and about to win it.

But he forgets that it's s WS between $208 million versus $111 million.

Donkey's not winning the WS this year is as unnatural as Donald Trump dating a 60 year old woman.

Only this year.

So i see that you've crawled outta your hole......and the first thing you do is to call me out!

Congratulations to the New York Yankees!!!!!!

Congratulations to the 2010 World Champion New York Yankees!

I hope they give the MVP to Matsui.

Congratulations to the 2010 World Champion New York Yankees!

You guys can kiss my a$$