Look For Yanks to End it Wednesday Night

The Philadelphia Phillies have hit twice as many homers as the New York Yankees and they are still trailing 3-2. The with the help of Chase Utley, the Phillies have had a power surge hitting 10 homeruns, but only scoring 4.8 runs per game. The Yankees, who have hit five homeruns, are averaging 5.0 runs per game and hitting 14 points higher than the Phillies at .246. Both teams have identical team ERA's at 4.91 and similar K/BB. The Phillies could be without the Flyin' Hawaiian Shane Victorino, who has struggled at the plate this World Series, but led the team in hits against the Yankees during the regular season. The injury report has not listed him as out yet, but coming back from a throwing hand injury like his is difficult. It will be tough to grip a ball or bat, let alone try to throw or hit.

Let's look that the picthing matchup: Pedro Martinez v. Andy Pettitte. Pedro had some success against the Yankees in Game 2, striking out 8 and giving up 3 earned. Pettitte, who got the win in Game 3, has clinched a World Series game once before, sweeping the Padres at San Diego in the 1998 World Series. If Pettitte can't find the strike zone, the Yankees will most likely pull him and go to the pen which means we may see Mariano Rivera in the 8th inning if the Yankees are leading. For Pedro, I feel he needs to command his pitches like he did in Game 2 if he wants to win this game. With a revived A-Rod (not to be confused with my boy A-Rob, check out his blog at notyouraveragearob.blogspot.com) and a past-due Mark Teixeira, I feel the Yankees bats will get at it early and often. Look for scoring in the first 4 innings to be plentiful and set the pace for the rest of the game.

If the Yankees can throw more breaking balls to Utley, dodge Shane Victorino and hit in the early innings, this series will be over Wednesday night.