PHILADELPHIA — Not in Little League in Colorado, not at Cherry Creek High School and never with the Phillies.
Brad Lidge hadn’t ever seen a single runner execute a double steal. But when Johnny Damon, former leader of what he called the Boston Idiots while with the Red Sox, executed the smartest play of this World Series, the Yankees shoved the Phillies to the edge of elimination Sunday, delivering a stirring 7-4 win at Citizens Bank Park.
“It was very unusual,” Lidge said. “It’s not something you practice.”
Damon’s play set in motion a chain of forgettable events, culminating with Lidge, always accountable, standing in front of a battery of reporters explaining how things went so wrong so quickly. There was nothing about the ninth that hinted of pending disaster. With the game tied at 4, Lidge retired the first two hitters, Hideki Matsui and Derek Jeter, and crept ahead of Damon 1-2 — then everything unraveled.
Lidge surprisingly ditched his trademark slider, and Damon spent the next five pitches fouling off fastballs. He finally drilled a base hit to left field.
That’s when things got weird. Damon bolted for second base on the first pitch to Mark Teixeira. Catcher Carlos Ruiz should have eaten the ball, with no chance at nailing Damon. Instead, he bounced the throw. Damon popped up from his slide and saw an opportunity. The Phillies had shifted their infielders for Teixeira, so there was nobody on the left side of the infield, let alone covering third base.
Damon broke free like so many Eagles running backs across the street earlier in the day.
“I saw the throw go by. I thought we had him in a rundown, then I realized that there was nobody on third,” said Lidge, who hadn’t given up a run in the postseason until Sunday. “It was a footrace and he’s faster than me. I have never seen that before.”
Lidge insisted the sequence didn’t rattle him and that he was still sharp after 10 days off. But what happened next amounted to a screaming contradiction.
Calling it the biggest hit of his career, Alex Rodriguez drove home Damon with a double, then Jorge Posada rapped a two-run single to finish off the Phillies.
“I have to be smart at this point in my career,” Damon said with a smirk. “Maybe it took away the slider. Alex got two fastballs. I am just glad I still had some young legs.”
At this point, the Phillies have Jell-O knees, looking wobbly and demoralized. When Pedro Feliz homered off Joba Chamberlain in the eighth, the Phillies appeared primed to steal a win, and with Cliff Lee going tonight, were poised to regain control of the Series.
Then came Damon, A-Rod, Posada.
“It’s frustrating not to close it. It’s frustrating not to win,” Lidge said. “It’s tough to take.”
The Yankees now sit one victory away from their first championship since 2000.
It is not a baseball team, but an institution that demands perfection. Teixeira admitted that “the pinstripes are bigger than baseball.” The Yankees don’t play for a winning record. They play to set records, their excellence measured in championships. Their 26 titles are more than any team in pro sports.
Forever, they have been accused of buying titles. This ring, however, if claimed, will be remembered for a double steal.
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
