PHILADELPHIA — In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Phillie Phanatic wobbled his portly posterior in front of the New York Yankees’ dugout for a Halloween sketch.
Zombie-clad actors pretended to scare the green fur ball before breaking out in dance to “Monster Mash.” The sketch bombed, the crowd reacting as if it had just watched a trailer for “Gigli.”
The Yankees went monster mash on Cole Hamels minutes before, his bludgeoning the turning point in their convincing 8-5 victory Saturday over the Phillies, baseball’s defending champions.
The Yankees led the World Series 2-1 entering Sunday’s Game 4. The Phillies weren’t on the brink, but they could see it from here. Everything tilted toward the Bronx, setting up like a script for the Yankees’ 27th title.
Not only did the Yankees win Saturday, dismissing Hamels with one out in the fifth inning, they had CC Sabathia pitching Sunday against Joe Blanton. Sabathia was 3-1 with a 1.01 ERA on three days’ rest. Blanton was working on 12 days’ rest — the baseball equivalent of being in hibernation — and had a 5.22 ERA in his last seven games.
There was concern about Hamels entering Saturday’s Game 3. He’s been a ghost in a uniform in the playoffs, looking more like a fringe starter than the 2008 World Series MVP. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel professed confidence in his former ace.
But like so many of his games this season, Hamels panicked in crisis. The juxtaposition between how he and Andy Pettitte handled damage was the difference Saturday.
Hamels was almost perfect through three innings and didn’t reach a single three-ball count. Then he walked Mark Teixeira in the fourth. Irritated, Hamels grooved a fastball to previously slumping Alex Rodriguez, who hammered one off the camera over the right-field fence. Initially ruled a double, it was overturned on replay, giving Rodriguez his sixth home run in the playoffs, tying Bernie Williams’ franchise record set in 1996.
“It woke our offense up a little bit,” Rodriguez said. “It was a little weird to have that replay and the whole nine yards, but it was a big hit.”
The Phillies should have possessed a larger cushion. They had Pettitte teetering in the second inning. He walked in a run and gave up a sacrifice fly. But just before he completely unraveled, the veteran left-hander retired Shane Victorino and Chase Utley, working at least six innings in his 11th consecutive playoff start.
Under similar circumstances in the fifth, Hamels dissolved. The Yankees — the game was delayed 80 minutes by rain that spit all night — opened the floodgates on Hamels.
Pettitte blooped an RBI single, scoring Nick Swisher, as four straight Yankees reached. Hamel owns a 7.58 ERA in the playoffs, allowing 16 runs in 19 innings. And that’s not the worst part.
If the Phillies are able to push the World Series to a seventh game, Hamels would be in line to start. The other option is rookie J.A. Happ, who has worked out of the bullpen for a month, save for one start against the Rockies in the NL division series.
