By Michael P. Ventura
DNAinfo Associate Editor
MANHATTAN — Facing an old foe in a must-win Game 2, the Yankees turned to shaky right-hander A.J. Burnett to send the World Series to Philadelphia tied at 1-1.
Burnett rose to the challenge, pitching seven strong innings, giving up one run on four hits and striking out nine.
"I wanted to come out and attack, feed off the crowd and the energy," Burnett said, according to the Daily News. "I think I've done a good job of being calm in situations, but I wanted to make it a point to come out with some fire tonight."
It was the first time this postseason that Burnett took the mound with the team down 0-1 in a series. Usually, when he pitches, the Yankees have already won a game pitched by ace CC Sabathia. But Wednesday night, the Phillies jumped out to lead the World Series with a 6-1 win.
Burnett faced Yankee nemesis Pedro Martinez, who also pitched a good game allowing three runs on six hits with eight strikeouts.
“I don’t feel like I saved anything,” Martinez said, according to the New York Times. “I did everything I could to beat those guys. You have to give them a lot of credit. You have to give Burnett a lot of credit for the kind of game he was able to pitch. It’s just a loss. I just don’t see them beating us too often with just three runs or less.”
Fans were all over Martinez throughout the game, chanting "Who's your daddy?" He even cracked a smile as the Bronx cheers rained down on him when he left the game in the seventh.
Down 1-0, the Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira tied the game with a solo home run in the fourth. DH Hideki Matsui, who was late to the game because he was stuck in traffic, according to the New York Post, hit a solo shot, too.
"[Martinez] threw two curveballs and the second one was a little inside and I made the adjustment,” Matsui said through an interpreter, according to the Post. “Fortunately, it ended in a good result.”
In the eighth, with runners on the corners, Yankee catcher Jorge Posada slapped a single to center to score the third run. Closer Mariano Rivera stifled the Phillies for two innings to pick up the save.
The series now turns to Philadelphia Saturday night. The Yankees are relieved they're heading down the turnpike with the series even, instead of being in a two-game hole.
“It’s a terrible cliché, but it was a must-win,” Teixeira said of Wednesday night's game, according to the Times. “[T]heir fans are going to be all over us. It’s going to be a great couple of games there, but if we went in there 0-2 it would have been a tough road for us.”r
