The old-school Series

PHILADELPHIA

Now, this is more like the World Series we were expecting and hoping for, isn't it? Or, since this is ornery Philly and the Big Apple doing baseball battle that we are talking about, why don't we just say it: This is a hell of a lot more like it. Polite is dead and buried for the rest of this Series.

Now, after an 8-6 Phillies beat-down of the Yankees here in Game 5 to keep this Series alive, we're headed back to Amtrak, back to Yankee Stadium and, finally, back to bad-blood-filled, strategy-consumed, controversy-loving old-school baseball.

Questions, oh, we've got questions. Will Chase Utley, who tied the all-time Series record with five home runs by crashing two more here in Game 5, break the iconic record set by Mr. October, the Yanks' own Reggie Jackson, in '77?

If Utley's double in Game 4 off CC Sabathia had been a few feet higher, he'd already have six homers (and three two-homer games) in this Series. If you think A-Rod -- who just demolished the Yankees' postseason RBI record with three more in this game for a total of 18 -- is hot, then Utley's the Human Torch.

"Hit two fastballs," Utley said afterward, setting a personal record for length of quote. Then, intoxicated by the moment, he added, "Someday, maybe I'll look back on it. Now we need to win two more games."

Or, someday, maybe he won't look back on it at all. He's a different dude. If they remake "A Fistful of Dollars," Utley's got The Man With No Name role down pat. Stone killer.

And what about the stone-cold Anti-Utleys -- will they ever hit again this season? The Phils' cleanup man, Ryan Howard (hitting .158 in this Series), has now tied the Series whiff record with 12. As for the Yanks' mega-free agent Mark Teixeira, he's hitting .105 in this Series. And he fanned to end the game against Ryan Madson when he represented the tying run.

Controversy, oh, we've got controversy. Suddenly, after A.J. Burnett, working on short rest (cue the spooky music) was crushed for six runs in just two innings, Yankees Manager Joe Girardi's whole shorten-the-rotation strategy has been called into question.

If the Yanks end up blowing their three-games-to-one lead after Girardi, by choice, set up his rotation so the last four games would use Yankees pitchers on three days' rest, he'll retired the Gene Mauch Trophy for over-managing.

"A.J. just lacked command," said Girardi. "There was no correlation [to rest]." So, now we have one person on earth with that view.

Now, in Game 6 on Wednesday, the Phils will have Pedro Martínez, working on full rest, and presumably over his Bad Cold, against 37-year-old Andy Pettitte, the Yankee hurler least likely to enjoy short rest. Pettitte has reached the stage of his career where he wants an extra fifth day of rest between starts, not a mere three. In Game 4, he said he'd never battled so hard for a postseason win and that his mechanics were abandoning him.