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World Series Capsules: Pettitte, Yanks go for title against old foe Pedro
NEW YORK — Andy Pettitte leaned forward in his chair and recounted a recent chat he had with Derek Jeter as soon as they realized what was next in this World Series.
Pettitte vs. old foe Pedro Martinez, with the Yankees one win from ecstasy.
Still chasing that elusive 27th championship, New York turns to Pettitte once again in Game 6 on Wednesday night, hoping he can pitch his team past the Philadelphia Phillies on only three days’ rest.
"Me and Derek were talking about it in the clubhouse last night. Just, how strange is this?" Pettitte said Tuesday. "I think everybody knew it was going to be a great Series. I think everybody knew it was going to be a tough Series. And it looks like it’s living up to that."
After wasting a chance to wrap things up in Game 5 at Philadelphia, the Yankees set their sights on clinching at home. They’d love to christen their $1.5 billion ballpark with a World Series crown in its first season and give a seventh title to 79-year-old owner George Steinbrenner.
They’ve got two chances to do it. Game 7 would be Thursday night in the Bronx if necessary, with ace CC Sabathia pitching for New York — also on short rest.
"People expect us to be great all the time. We just need to be great tomorrow night," Johnny Damon said.
Coming off an 8-6 victory Monday night that trimmed their Series deficit to 3-2, the defending champion Phillies took the train to New York on Tuesday afternoon, a ride that takes a little more than an hour. They chose not to work out at Yankee Stadium, but their opponents did.
Martinez and Charlie Manuel showed up at the ballpark for news conferences. Manuel was uncertain whether All-Star center fielder Shane Victorino would be able to play in Game 6 after getting hit in the right hand with A.J. Burnett’s 95 mph fastball Monday night.
If Victorino can’t go, Ben Francisco would likely start in center.
Riding Chase Utley’s homers, the Phillies are trying to become the first team to rally from a 3-1 World Series deficit since the 1985 Kansas City Royals — and the first NL club to win consecutive championships since the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds.
To do it, Philadelphia might need Ryan Howard to break out of his untimely slump. The big slugger is batting .158 (3 for 19) with 12 strikeouts, tying the Series record set by Kansas City’s Willie Wilson in 1980.
Utley, however, is doing more than his share. His five home runs matched the mark set by Yankees Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson in 1977.
On the other side, second-year New York manager Joe Girardi confirmed that he won’t hesitate to use a well-rested Mariano Rivera for multiple innings Wednesday to try and close it out.
"The only thing I focus on is Game 6. I don’t focus on legacy, because I’m not worried about my legacy," said Girardi, trying to guide New York to its first title in nine years. "People are always going to have perceptions of you, and some of them are going to be true, and probably most of them are going to be false."
Pettitte and Martinez first squared off on the mound 11 years ago, but they’ve never done so in the postseason. Both pitchers are 3-3 in six matchups, all games between the Yankees and Red Sox from 1998-2003. The visitor has won each time and Martinez has a 3.86 ERA to Pettitte’s 5.88, according to STATS LLC.
In their first meeting, Girardi hit a three-run homer off Martinez, but Boston chased Pettitte during an 11-run third inning and won 13-7.
With so much on the line this time, it’s a delicious matchup of gritty pros in their late 30s, long past their primes.
"Two old goats out there doing the best they can and having fun with it," Martinez said. "I don’t have enough words to describe how excited I am about being here. This is just a great gift to me."
The forecast calls for temperatures in the mid-40s at game time, with no rain.
The 38-year-old Martinez pitched well in a Game 2 loss at Yankee Stadium and now gets the ball on regular rest for the first time since mid-September. He’s had several long layoffs since.
The 37-year-old Pettitte, on the other hand, will have only three days between starts for the first time since Sept. 30, 2006, with Houston. According to STATS, the savvy left-hander is 5-7 with a 4.18 ERA in 18 such outings during his career, including the postseason.
This one marks a major change, though. Pettitte has been on extra rest in his past eight starts dating to Sept. 11.
"I would think that he’s rested," Girardi said, laughing.
Pettitte has a knack for closing this time of year. He owns 17 postseason wins and five that clinched series — both big league records. Two of those clinchers came in the AL playoffs this year. He is 3-0 with a 3.24 ERA in four starts this postseason, including a shaky Game 3 win at Philadelphia.
No wonder the Yankees have plenty of confidence in him when it comes to big games.
"We are in a good situation," catcher Jorge Posada said.
A familiar one, too.
In the AL championship series, Burnett failed to put away the Los Angeles Angels in Game 5 on the road. Pettitte, however, won the Game 6 clincher at home.
Burnett flopped in Philadelphia on Monday night, and now the task falls again to Pettitte, looking for his fifth World Series ring with the Yankees.
"This is a veteran team. We’ve got a lot of guys who have been through this before," Sabathia said. "Hopefully, that experience will carry us through."
Martinez, who sat out the first half of the season and joined the Phillies in mid-July, will be trying to push the Series to a Game 7 for the first time since 2002.
"I think he’s ready. I think he’s kind of peaking at the right time. He didn’t have any spring training, went a half a year, didn’t pitch, and he had to work himself up," Manuel said. "He’s starting to get stretched out. The more he throws, the better he’s getting. Yeah, he’s capable of throwing a real good game."
Yanks' Teixeira remains upbeat despite slump
NEW YORK — A high-priced slugger is having a hard time in the postseason with the New York Yankees.
No, not that one. This time, it's Mark Teixeira who looks out of sorts at the plate.
While Alex Rodriguez is piling up RBIs in the cleanup spot behind him, Teixeira is searching for answers in his first postseason after signing a $180 million, eight-year contract with New York in January.
"Maybe I'm expanding the zone a little bit, I don't know," he said. "Maybe I'm trying to do too much, I don't know. The problem is that every single game's new, every pitcher's new. You're facing a righty. You're facing a lefty. So try to go out and have good at-bats."
Teixeira went 1 for 5 in the Yankees' 8-6 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday, sending the World Series back to the Bronx for Game 6 on Wednesday. He doubled and scored in New York's three-run rally in the eighth but struck out with a runner on second to end the game.
The lackluster night dropped the switch hitter's postseason average to .172 with two homers, seven RBIs and 16 strikeouts. He is 2 for 19 in his World Series debut.
"They're really pitching him really tough," catcher Jorge Posada said before the team worked out at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. "They are pitching him tough, tight on him, and then throwing breaking balls and off-speed stuff away."
Teixeira was terrific during the regular season, making a seamless transition to playing ball in the Big Apple. He hit .292 with 39 homers, tying Tampa Bay's Carlos Pena for the AL lead, and 122 RBIs. He also played stellar defense at first base, saving plenty of runs with his reliable glove work.
The All-Star slugger got off to a nice start in the playoffs, winning Game 2 of the division series against the Twins with a leadoff homer in the 11th inning. But he quickly fell off from there.
"Unfortunately during this playoffs it's been tough to get into a rhythm," Teixeira said. "When you're in a rhythm during the season, you're going to fail seven out of 10 times. When you're not in a rhythm, you're going to fail a lot more than that and unfortunately for me, that's kind of been the case right now."
Teixeira made it to the postseason for the first time last year, batting .467 (7 for 15) when the Los Angeles Angels lost to the Boston Red Sox in four games in the first round. This is his first extended run in the playoffs, and he acknowledged he's still getting used to all the extra off days.
"I'm not going to make any excuses because everyone's had to deal with it but it hasn't been easy," he said. "It definitely hasn't been."
The 29-year-old Teixeira doesn't have to look very far for consolation. Ryan Howard, Philadelphia's All-Star first baseman, has driven in just one run against the Yankees and struck out 12 times, tying Willie Wilson for the World Series record.
New York also leads the Fall Classic 3-2 and can win their 27th title with a victory against Pedro Martinez and the Phillies in Game 6. Teixeira hit a tying homer off Martinez in the fourth inning of the Yankees' 3-1 victory in Game 2.
"My teammates have been picking me up all season," Teixeira said. "I've been picking them up all season. That's just the way a team works and right now we're in a great spot. We're 3-2, have a chance to win tomorrow and I'm just going to try to go have good at-bats."
-- Jay Cohen
Howard piling up strikeouts at record pace in WS
PHILADELPHIA — Ryan Howard’s World Series can be summed up like this: swing and miss.
Over and over, Howard has gone down swinging against the New York Yankees. Overall, the Philadelphia Phillies’ slugger has struck out 12 times in the first five games, tying Willie Wilson for most whiffs in a World Series. Wilson did it with Kansas City against the Phillies in 1980.
Howard has been prone to striking out throughout his career. The 2006 NL MVP fanned 199 times in 2007 and 2008. Only Arizona’s Mark Reynolds has K’ed more times in one season.
But Howard usually mixes in a few towering homers and other big hits to go along with all his strikeouts. Not against the Yankees. Howard is batting just .158 (3 for 19) with no homers and one RBI in the Series. Heck, he has more stolen bases (one) than long balls.
"Ryan Howard is more than just a power hitter," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said Tuesday. "When he’s really good, he’s a very good polished looking hitter. But at the same time, when he’s struggling, I think it’s a little bit of both. It’s the pitcher and the fact that he’s not following the ball. I can tell you exactly what gets Ryan in trouble. It’s kind of up to him. The pitcher doesn’t have nothing to do with it. Basically he’s just (not) completely following the ball. (When) he’s staying on the ball, following the ball, and when he does that, usually things come around for him."
Maybe the six-day layoff after the NL championship series affected Howard because he was having an incredible postseason to this point. Howard was named MVP of the NLCS after hitting .333 (5 for 15) with two homers, one double, one triple and eight RBIs against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He batted .375 (6 for 16) with three doubles and six RBIs in the division series against Colorado.
Howard had at least one RBI in eight straight postseason games, tying the major league record first set by Lou Gehrig more than seven decades ago and later tied by Alex Rodriguez this year.
Now he’s lost his stroke at the worst time. The defending champion Phillies trail New York 3-2 heading into Game 6 at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.
"I think we’ve made good pitches to him," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "I think we’ve changed speeds on him, we’ve moved the ball around him. He’s an extremely dangerous hitter, and if you don’t make pitches, you’re not going to get him out, and he proved that in the first two rounds. But our guys have done a good job of just moving the ball around on him."
Howard ripped a double off CC Sabathia his first time up and doubled off Phil Coke in his last at-bat in Philadelphia’s 6-1 win in the opener. Since then, he’s 1 for 14 with a bunch of Ks. Howard struck out six straight times in one stretch, including four in Game 2. He broke that streak by popping out with two runners on in a key spot in Game 3 and then fanned his next two trips.
The left-handed hitting Howard has faced all lefties except for A.J. Burnett and Mariano Rivera. He’s 0 for 3 with three strikeouts and two walks against Burnett, and looked at a third strike in his only at-bat facing Rivera.
Somehow Howard has been successful against Sabathia. He’s 2 for 6 with three strikeouts against the Yankees ace. Andy Pettitte, who’ll start Game 6, struck him out twice and retired him on an infield fly.
"We’re making some pretty quality pitches against him," Pettitte said. "In the first game, CC left a few balls in the heart of the plate, and he hit them hard. And I don’t think that there’s been a whole lot of balls left in the middle of the plate there for him to hit.
"When you see a guy, especially as hot as he was coming into a series, we’re just not giving him a whole lot of balls in the zone to hit. If we have left a couple in the zone, we’ve been fortunate enough to get him out. He’s missed them, popped them up or whatever."
Howard finished the regular season with a .279 average and 45 homers, and his 141 RBIs tied Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder for most in the majors. He became the fourth player to have four straight seasons with 45 homers and 130 RBIs, joining Babe Ruth (seven), Ken Griffey Jr. (four) and Sammy Sosa (four).
Can the Phillies win the next two games without a contribution from their cleanup hitter?
"Yeah. Yes, we can," Manuel said. "We can win it easier if he hits."
-- Rob Maaddi
Notebook: Philly’s Victorino day to day with injured finger
NEW YORK — Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino was examined by doctors Tuesday and manager Charlie Manuel said he isn’t sure if he’ll be able to play in Game 6 of the World Series on Wednesday night.
Victorino was struck on his right index finger by an A.J. Burnett fastball in the first inning of Philadelphia’s 8-6 victory over the New York Yankees on Monday night. X-rays were negative but the injury appeared to bother him throughout the game.
"He’ll probably get in the ballpark early tomorrow, and when he first comes in, I’ll go talk to him and I’ll go talk to our trainer when our trainer comes in," Manuel said Tuesday. "I’ll be there when they get there. They just said he’s day to day, and they said he’s going to have some soreness in his finger. We’ll see."
Victorino said his hand was fine after Monday’s win and he expected to play when the Series shifted back to Yankee Stadium. But the All-Star switch hitter gingerly removed his batting gloves after each at-bat in Game 5 and had trouble gripping the bat and throwing the ball because his finger was swollen.
Victorino went 0 for 3 and was replaced in the eighth inning by Ben Francisco. Manuel said Francisco probably will start Game 6 if Victorino can’t go.
Victorino’s absence would be a difficult blow for Philadelphia, which needs to win the last two games of the Series to win its second consecutive title. He hit .292 this season with 10 homers, 62 RBIs and a major league-high 13 triples.
GOOD-NATURED RIBBING
Yankees center fielder Brett Gardner tweaked teammate Nick Swisher on Tuesday after the right fielder poked fun at him following his outstanding catch in Game 5.
Gardner robbed Phillies slugger Jayson Werth of extra bases in the fifth inning of New York’s 8-6 loss, making a leaping grab on the warning track. Gardner slammed his back into the wall and was down for a few minutes, but remained in the game.
After manager Joe Girardi and assistant athletic trainer Steve Donohue came out to check on Gardner, the effervescent Swisher needled Gardner, saying that he was just trying to get on television.
"Him, of all people," Gardner said, drawing laughs.
The speedy Gardner, starting in center for the injured Melky Cabrera, said he wasn’t worried about getting hurt and leaving the Yankees desperately thin at a key position.
"If it’s 15-0 right there I’m going to do the same thing. That might not be smart of me, but that’s how I play," Gardner said. "If I’m the guy on the mound, I want the guy out there to catch it."
SPIRITED DEFENSE
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel defended Cole Hamels on Tuesday, saying there was no quit in the left-hander.
After a rough outing in Game 3, Hamels caused a stir when he said he couldn’t wait for the season to end. He met with Manuel for about 15 minutes Monday night.
"I want you to listen to this," Manuel said on the Series’ last scheduled off day. "I never, ever questioned his mental toughness because he’s just as tough as anybody on our team. And I mean that. That part I’ve never, ever doubted."
"He is a gamer and he’s a fighter," the manager added. "I can’t say enough about him, really. That’s kind of how I see him."
Last year’s World Series and NLCS MVP, Hamels is 1-2 with a 7.58 ERA in four starts in the 2009 playoffs after going 10-11 in the regular season.
It would be Hamels’ turn to take the mound if a Game 7 is necessary on Thursday but Manuel wasn’t ready to commit to him Tuesday.
"Right now, we’re going to play tomorrow’s game," Manuel said. "We don’t look back and we don’t look ahead."
BOLSTERED LINEUP
The Yankees’ lineup for Game 6 should have more bite with the return of designated hitter Hideki Matsui and catcher Jorge Posada.
Matsui was limited to pinch-hitting duties in Philadelphia and Posada didn’t start Monday night’s 8-6 loss because light-hitting Jose Molina was behind the plate again for A.J. Burnett’s start.
"It really makes the lineup a lot stronger," Posada said.
Matsui is 5 for 9 with two homers and two RBIs in the Series while the switch-hitting Posada is batting .313 and has driven in five runs against the Phillies.
"Getting Matsui back is always important to our lineup," manager Joe Girardi said. "He’s been a huge hitter in our lineup ... a great RBI guy, big hits, home runs, so that’s a very good thing."
-- Jay Cohen
Commentary: Pedro's back! And he ain't afraid of no ghosts
NEW YORK — A city seethes in anticipation.
Outside Yankee Stadium, workmen wielding power washers crisscross the walkways on a crisp autumn afternoon, dutifully cleaning each and every groove between thousands of concrete squares. Inside, groundskeepers wielding rakes push pebbles back and forth, smoothing the dirt around home plate. Everyone in town, it seems, wants the place to look perfect for the return of Pedro Martinez.
"This is the kind of stage that I deserve," Martinez said, "and in a stadium like this, the most legendary of all places."
It will be nothing short of a miracle if the Yankees' new baseball palace remains anchored to its moorings when Martinez walks out to the mound Wednesday night in a Phillies uniform for Game 6 of the World Series. The last time the level of psychokinetic energy in New York pushed the needle this far off the meter, the "Ghostbusters" were called in to save the city.
Pedro ain't afraid of no ghosts, either, even though he brings a history to the Bronx like almost no other.
When Martinez last showed his face here — in the interview room after losing Game 2, despite a strong effort — he was wearing a striped jacket that looked like it had been stolen from the set of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." Yet it was while wearing the red socks of hated rival Boston a half-dozen years ago that Martinez was rendered a villain in these parts forever.
In Game 3 of the ALCS, he was at the center of a tit-for-tat, purpose-pitch skirmish that erupted into a bench-clearing brawl. Don Zimmer, then a 72-year-old bulldog of a bench coach with the Yankees, rushed from the Yankees dugout straight for Martinez, who threw him to the ground.
New York didn't have to wait long for its revenge.
In the eighth inning of Game 7, Red Sox manager Grady Little left a tiring Martinez in to clean up the jam he'd gotten himself into. Bad idea: four straight hits erased Boston's 5-2 advantage, leading to a dramatic extra-inning, series-ending victory for the Yankees.
But Martinez's lowest moment in New York was still almost a year off. The following September, after yet another tough loss, the defiant right-hander who once famously growled, "Wake up the Bambino, I'll drill him in the ass," was disconsolate and said he never wanted to face New York again.
"What can I say?" Martinez said then. "I tip my hat and call the Yankees my daddy."
He's been reminded of that comment on every visit since. Taunts of "Who's your daddy?" echoed again across the Bronx throughout Game 2, supplemented by gestures that can't be described here. Martinez left the field smiling but later that night practically begged Yankee fans to tone down the abuse, if not for his sake, then at least for the kids within earshot. It was not an act.
Say what you will about the once-flamboyant character; at 38, both his personality and competitive nature have been leavened by a nearly two-year absence from the game, when Martinez wondered whether his arm was shot and his career over. Philadelphia took a flyer on him, wondering how much magic Martinez could still conjure up. He has learned to be grateful for every opportunity.
"Two months back I was sitting at home not doing anything, none of you were thinking of me whatsoever," Martinez said. "None of you were asking me questions, and today I am here, probably pitching one of the biggest games ever in the World Series, two great teams with a whole bunch of legendary players that are going to be.
"I know when you mention Derek Jeter, you mention Alex Rodriguez, (Mark) Teixeira. I see those guys as probably the future of the game, the next Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron."
Back in the day, Martinez rarely bothered to learn the names of the hitters he faced; he simply blew them away. Today, he studies each hitter and every one of their tendencies, probing for the tiniest of edges. His fastball rarely tops 90 mph on the radar gun, so he relies more on a vintage circle change-up, an array of curves and cutters, varying his speeds and location.
The kid who broke into the big leagues at "154 (pounds) soaking wet with a good arm" is now the consummate craftsman, getting by on nothing more than guts and guile. There is something almost poetic about the biggest game of the season resting on his slim shoulders one final time, and in New York, no less.
On the ride back up from the interview room to the press box at Yankee Stadium, the elevator operator asked: What can you say about Martinez that hasn't been said?
The answer is only what Martinez said about himself.
"Everybody that grows up in the Dominican (Republic) and didn't have a rich life is a survivor. That's what we call it in the Dominican, survival.
"And in baseball I am a survivor. I'm someone that wasn't meant to be. And here I am," he said, finally, "on one big stage."
Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke@ap.org
Baseball ‘champagne goggles’ make some fans groan
NEW YORK — When the New York Yankees clinched their spot in the World Series last week, the casual TV viewer might have wondered if they were about to go swim the 200-meter butterfly with Michael Phelps.
Call it a fashion statement for the very rich and very happy: There they were, stars like CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and Johnny Damon, sporting swim goggles to protect their eyes from the victory champagne being poured, squirted and sprayed amid the post-game revelry.
It’s become a more familiar sight in the past few years in the locker rooms of baseball’s top teams. And some die-hard fans aren’t too happy.
Sure, they say, it’s important to preserve those valuable eyes. But the eyewear sure looks a little goofy, doesn’t it? And more importantly, it suggests a broader problem, these fans say: Post-game celebrations have become too predictable, with all that unspontaneous champagne-pouring.
"I guess it was funny when they first poured champagne on somebody, but it’s just too prepared, too scripted now," says Matt O’Donnell, a high school history teacher and baseball fan in Sebastopol, Calif. "The way they have the plastic tarps all laid out in the locker room, and they have the goggles already set up there."
O’Donnell, 39, is an ardent Boston Red Sox fan (his 4-year-old son’s middle name is Fenway, after Fenway Park.) "Please, No More champagne Goggles!" he pleaded on his baseball blog in September, when his team was about to clinch a playoff spot.
After every big victory, he complained, the plastic sheets go up, "and then a few players will put on the readily available ridiculous looking champagne goggles and begin spraying their teammates. A manager or coach will inevitably be sprayed with bubbly ... and the perpetrator will think it is the funniest thing ever. Yawn."
Patrick Stimson agrees. "Why can’t they all just go into the clubhouse and celebrate naturally?" asks the 28-year-old Oakland A’s fan. "What I like is spontaneous moments."
And while the goggles don’t lessen any of his respect for the top players, he does see them as a sign that today’s athletes may be getting a little softer.
"It just seems like something the older, more hardened players of yesterday wouldn’t wear — not something you’d have seen on Babe Ruth or Pete Rose," says Stimson, who lives in Los Angeles and works in online marketing. "There’s a notion that today’s players are coddled, multi-gazillionaire athletes, and maybe this is an outgrowth of that."
On his own baseball blog, Stimson recently posted the question of whether champagne goggles were ever acceptable — or whether it made the players seem, well, wimpy. "Most people thought it took away some of their manly nature," he says.
Talk to an eye doctor, though, and you’ll be converted to the pro-goggle side with the speed of one of Sabathia’s fastballs.
Champagne has a high alcohol content, high enough to damage the surface lining of the cornea, says Dr. Matthew Gardiner, director of emergency ophthalmology services at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. (For those medically inclined, the lining is called the epithelium.)
"A corneal abrasion like that usually heals within two to three days, but it can be extremely painful while it’s healing," says Gardiner.
In other words, you don’t want your ace pitcher or hitter nursing a corneal abrasion while taking on the next team, as the Yankees did a few days after their pennant victory against the Los Angeles Angels, facing the Philadelphia Phillies for the big prize. (The series stands 3-2, Yankees.)
For Jane Heller, the well-being of her treasured Yankees is the key concern — much more important than how silly they may or may not look in goggles.
"I see all these posts, saying gee, what sissies," says Heller, a lifelong Yankee fan in Santa Barbara, Calif., who blogs about the Yankees on "Confessions of a She-Fan," and has written a book of the same name. "But it doesn’t bother me."
What bothers Heller more is what the goggles might represent: "These quote-unquote celebrations have become so calculated and neat and tidy now," she says. "It used to be a spontaneous burst of enthusiasm. There was no plastic tarp covering everything."
Heller notes that the goggles are a relatively new phenomenon, something she first noticed in 2007. "I noticed that one player, Doug Mientkiewicz, was wearing them during a celebration," she says.
At the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s library, researcher Gabriel Schechter can’t pinpoint when the first champagne goggles were donned, but he says it’s only in recent years. (champagne celebrations, on the other hand, have been around since the 1950s, when they took the place of beer.)
"It might just be that they’re using so much more champagne now that it’s really hazardous," says Schechter.
One important baseball fan doesn’t know anything of the goggle tradition. "Really?" asks W.P. Kinsella, whose novel, "Shoeless Joe," became the movie "Field of Dreams."
"It sounds so calculated," the author says. "Just so you don’t get a little champagne in your eyes." (Kinsella, a huge fan, says he hates watching the celebrations and always turns the TV off anyway once the game is over.)
Hazards aside, fans like Brian Welch may find it hard not to stifle a giggle when they see the next World Series champs don their swim equipment on Wednesday or Thursday, when the series ends. "I think the goggles are hilarious," says Welch, 34, a Cincinnati Reds fan who lives in Chicago.
But he hopes the victorious Yanks or Phillies, with finally no games left to worry about, will throw caution to the wind — or, more like it, to the spray.
After all, says Welch, "Maybe it’s good to save your eyes before you go on to the World Series. But once you’ve won, hey. You’ve just won the World Series! Suck it up. Get some champagne in your eyes!"
-- Jocelyn Noveck
Elsewhere
Blige to sing national anthem at World Series
LOS ANGELES — Mary J. Blige is going back to the Bronx.
Major League Baseball says the Bronx-born singer will perform the national anthem at Yankee Stadium before Game Six of the World Series on Wednesday.
Blige is the latest superstar to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" during the championship matchup between the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies. John Legend and Alanis Morissette have also lent their voices to the traditional pre-game performance.
Blige, 38, has won six Grammy awards since her 1992 debut, "What’s the 411?"
Mom of Yankees’ Chamberlain faces prison for drugs
LINCOLN, Neb. — The mother of New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain faces up to 20 years in prison when she’s sentenced next month on a felony drug charge.
Jackie Standley pleaded no contest Monday to an amended charge of delivery of a controlled substance, according to court records. The 44-year-old Standley was arrested in May after selling a gram of methamphetamine to an undercover officer at her Lincoln residence.
Standley originally was charged with a Class II felony, which carries a maximum sentence of 50 years, but the prosecutor reduced the charge to a Class III felony. She’ll be sentenced Dec. 16.
Phone calls to a number listed for Standley went unanswered Tuesday.
The Yankees play Game 6 of the World Series against Philadelphia on Wednesday.
