Phillies hang on and play on

Utley matches World Series record with fifth home run as teams return to New York

PHILADELPHIA -- You can tell yourself that it doesn't matter, that the New York Yankees merely lost a game Monday night -- Game 5 of the World Series -- that they were supposed to lose all along, on a night the Philadelphia Phillies simply had the better pitcher on the mound. You can tell yourself the Yankees will gladly take their chances with two more opportunities, this time back home in the Bronx, to close out the title they have been pointed towards all year.

But there was something about the way the Yankees lost Game 5. Their pitcher, A.J. Burnett, short one day of rest, wasn't just bad -- he was terrible. The Phillies, having recovered from a traumatic loss the night before, didn't just roll over and die the way they were supposed to.

And the big, trademark Yankee rally, which was supposed to have delivered a victory against a shell-shocked Phillies bullpen, fizzled at the exact moment it was supposed to explode. The result was an unpalatable 8-6 loss, and while the Yankees still hold a 3-2 edge in the series, but it feels exponentially smaller than it did 24 hours ago.

Phillies ace Cliff Lee, the dominant pitcher of this postseason, appeared merely human Monday night, and when Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel tried to squeeze an eighth inning out of him, it nearly blew up on him. Lee gave up hits to the first three batters of the inning -- the third of which, a two-run double by Alex Rodriguez, pulled the Yankees to 8-4. When Robinson Canó hit a sacrifice fly off right-hander Chan Ho Park two batters later, it was 8-5.

All around Citizens Bank Park, profound unease spread across the crowd of 46,178. Only 24 hours earlier, the Phillies had suffered a devastating loss when closer Brad Lidge gave up three runs in the ninth -- the kind of loss from which teams, and closers, sometimes never recover.

But when the doors to the Phillies' bullpen opened an inning later, it was top set-up man Ryan Madson, and not Lidge, who entered the game, the latest twist in the story of their ever-evolving bullpen.

"I just kind of wanted to just give Lidge a break tonight if I could," Manuel said. "I know him, and I think [the loss] could bother him a little bit."

But within minutes, following a double by Jorge Posada and a single by pinch hitter Hideki Matsui, Madson found himself facing the potential tying run, in the form of Derek Jeter. The only question was to which field his inevitable base-knock was going to go.

"We felt pretty good, especially with the captain coming up there," Yankees left fielder Johnny Damon said of the Jeter at-bat. "I'll take him in that spot anytime. He's the best postseason hitter of all time."

But Jeter, who earned the nickname "Mr. November" after a walk-off homer to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2001 World Series, grounded into a double play. Two batters later, Mark Teixeira, again representing the tying run, struck out to end the game.

"He made good pitches," Jeter said. "I would have loved to get a hit there."

There is a new Mr. November now, and it is Chase Utley, the Phillies' second baseman, who hit two more home runs Monday night, giving him three this month and five for the series, which ties Reggie "Mr. October" Jackson's 1977 World Series record.