The moment Mark Teixeira’s home run left the field, the party atmosphere at Yankee Stadium was restored. Up until then the atmosphere was tense and the crowd, which had been largely clammed up by the cold weather and Cliff Lee’s dominant pitching the night before, continued to be uncharacteristically quiet in the face of Pedro Martinez. Only once had the “Who’s Your Daddy” chant greeted him in the first three innings.

I decided to start my night off right, which meant getting a good luck hug from Mickey Rivers outside Stan’s Sports World, where he was autographing. I don’t think he actually remembers me from one year to the next, although I’ve interviewed him many times in Spring Training. But he’s a sweetheart, no other way to describe him.

I also ran into Seth Everett, now of XM Radio, formerly of MLB.com. Seth recognizes me, but I think can never quite remember who I am either. I probably look quite different when I am pinstriped-up in my fan gear than when I am in my professional writer get-up. (For those who don’t know, the spring training uniform of the baseball writer is a polo shirt in a neutral color with bermuda shorts with pockets to hold your voice recorder and notebook. If you wear a hat to keep the sun off your face, it’s always a neutral non-team affiliated hat. I usually wear one I got from ESPN, even though I don’t write for them. Anyway, hi Seth if you’re reading this! You know me as the editor of Yankees Annual and we met in either Tampa or Clearwater, or maybe it was Lakeland? Probably all three, now that I think about it.)

Anyway, back to tonight when I was out to express my rooting interest and hopefully see the team I love get off the mat.

The weather was brisk, the wind having reversed from last night, blowing a little bit in and from right to left. It was cold, but much nicer than last night. Also, mysteriously, it always feels warmer at the stadium when the Yankees score runs.

A. J. Burnett had his stuff. In fact, he seemed to have stuff we hadn’t seen from him before. In the first inning, he established strike one quickly. The Phillies drew first blood, scratching a run with two outs, after Ibanez doubled and then a ground ball got through the infield off the bat of Matt Stairs. AJ did not pitch scared. He attacked the strike zone and got ahead of hitters. He threw a lot of pitches, but so did Pedro. In fact, both pitchers racked up high pitch counts early. Pedro had 61 pitches after three innings and AJ had 59 pitches.

Kudos to Jose Molina for the big pickoff of Jayson Werth in the fourth. Werth had led off the inning with a base hit and the crowd was worried that it might be the spark that started a brush fire of the Phillies offense. The Panda snuffed that with a heads-up throw to Teixeira.

Teixeira. When he came to bat in the bottom of the inning, I was in a crowded ladies room. They play the radio play by play in the bathrooms in the new stadium, so I was washing my hands when I heard John Sterling go into his patented home run call. Every stall was full at that point, with women in line. The screams of joy were deafening.

I returned to my seat to find the party in full swing. You would have thought he had hit a grand slam to put the Yankees way head, not just tied the game, but somehow there was a feeling of confidence that returned to the fans. If Tex, who had been struggling, could get going like that, surely that meant we were going to be OK?

The feeling was only fueled even more by how great Burnett continued to pitch. Pedro and he continued to duel. Pedro was always wily, but he was even wilier than ever. I knew he had taken the place of Jamie Moyer in the Phillies rotation, but I didn’t know he had taken over the role of Thrower of a Dizzying Array of Off-Speed Junk. His curve ball ranged from 69 mph to 79 mph, and his fastball(s) ranged from 84 to 91. The scoreboard guy didn’t even label half the pitches since he couldn’t figure out what they were. The pitch that Pedro threw to Tex that left the park came in at 75 miles per hour. According to FOX tv, it left the bat at 106.

Burnett threw 22 out of 25 first pitch strikes. That is phenomenal.

Just listened to Pedro on the postgame show. I’m typing this in the car on the way home, of course. Pedro says Tex hit a good pitch, whereas the one that Matsui hit, he said he might have thrown something different if he’d thought about it a bit more. Matsui hit a solo shot in the sixth, to put the Yankees up 2-1.

After six innings he had thrown 96 pitches, and then he came out to pitch the seventh. The crowd was going nuts, supporting him all the way. And he got two called strike outs, and then Feliz grounded out. The party was rocking.

I was predicting at that point that if the Yankees didn’t score five runs, Girardi would go to Mariano for a six-out save. As it turned out, the Yankees managed a small rally, one run on three hits, including a nice pinch single from Posada. They might have had more if not for a strange double play where everyone on the field seemed to see something different. The official call was that the liner to first was caught in the air and then Posada was doubled off first, but some thought it was short-hopped. In any case, they did get an insurance run, and on came Mo for a six out save.

Getting the job done required a nifty double play to end the eighth, but when Mo needed it, he got it. With two outs in the ninth, including the Golden Sombrero for Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez doubled, but Matt Stairs struck out to seal the deal.

The two games were so similar in some ways, being such close pitcher’s duels. And I’ll point out that the two big boppers, Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Howard, have both been shut down. A-Rod is 0-for-8 with 6 strikeouts, while Howard is 2-for-9 with 6 strikeouts. I worry that A-Rod is psyched out, but perhaps he will bust out in the homer haven of Philly, especially if Hamels doesn’t have it.

Looking forward to the day off tomorrow to rest and recuperate. Tonight was my last game at the stadium this year no matter what happens in the series, since if it goes to a game 6 or 7 I will be on my way to South Carolina for a convention at that point. So it is sports bars for me this weekend and then XM radio. Seth Everett, I’m listening to you.

It was a game in which 280 pitches were thrown, but it was the very last one that decided it.

It was a game in which no pitcher was happy. In tonight’s game, Phil Hughes took the loss, and in postgame interviews put all the blame on his own shoulders, but the Yankees’ six-run uprising in the seventh inning was made necessary by A.J. Burnett’s dismal start out of the gate, and possible by Mike Scioscia yanking his protesting starter with two outs in the seventh only to see his bullpen melt down.

At first blush, it looks like Lackey was the one who was going to struggle. Derek Jeter, suffering from a cold but ever eager to play, singled on the first pitch of the game. Two pitches later, Johnny Damon pulled a ground ball to right for another base hit. But Lackey bore down, caught Teixeira looking, got A-Rod to pop up harmlessly, and then Matsui to ground weakly to first.

Then it was Burnett’s turn on the hill. He walked Chone Figgins on five pitches to start the game, then gave up four consecutive hits within the space of seven more pitches, and not a soft one in the bunch. That’s right, it took only 12 pitches for it to be 4-0 Angels. After that, Burnett got a fly ball and a double play to end the inning, and he settled down, allowing only three hits over the next five innings and striking out three, despite losing his personal catcher in the fifth to a pinch-hitting Jorge Posada. Unfortunately, Lackey got Posada looking for the sixth Yankee K of the night.

Lackey retired Nick Swisher, who has been struggling the whole postseason, on a pop fly to center to start the seventh, then gave up a double to Melky Cabrera. This time Posada worked a walk, ball four coming on a pitch Lackey (and Fox PitchTrax) thought was strike three on the inside corner. Rattled, he then walked Jeter on four straight, but got Damon to fly out.

That was when Scioscia brought out the hook. Lackey was vehement on the mound and reading the word “mine!” on his lips repeatedly was not difficult. But Scioscia took the ball anyway, and handed it to Darren Oliver.

Oliver is a lefty pitcher the Yankees have seen a lot in his lengthy career, since he used to be a starter for Texas, and also passed through Boston briefly. If memory serves, they used to pound him pretty good, leading to the expectation (or perhaps the hope) that pretty soon they would pound him again.

The pounding didn’t go on for long. Teixeira, who had been oh-for-the-postseason with runners in scoring position, doubled on Oliver’s very first pitch to bring in three runs. After an intention walk to A-Rod (c’mon, WHY would you pitch to this guy right now?), lefty Matsui brought Tex in and tied the game with a base hit, and that ended Oliver’s night. On came Kevin Jepsen, who then gave up a double to Robinson Cano, insuring that Oliver earned all three runs from the three batters he had faced, while Oliver allowed all three inherited runners to score–six runs in all.

But the Yankees gave one back right away when Burnett went back to the hill. After the long, long inning, Burnett thought he wasn’t stiff or tired. But he gave up a base hit to Mathis, then walked the number nine hitter, Erick Aybar. Mathis is the guy who hit the game-winner the other night, and he was now three-for-three on the night, prompting me to wonder why Mike Napoli has been in there at all. Probably Napoli is better against lefties in career numbers, and with Sabathia and Pettitte, slated to see more action. But Mathis has been hot. Burnett left the game having put the tying runs on base. He looked just as morose as Lackey as Damaso Marte faced Figgins. Figgins dropped down a tectbook bunt to move the runners up, and then Marte got a ground ball to first from Abreu, which brought in a run.

Out with Marte, who did get two outs but allowed an inherited runner to score, and in with Phil Hughes.

This was not the time to get bat shy, but Hughes faltered, admitting after the game he was “trying to be too fine.” It looked to me more like he just didn’t have control, and so a pitch he said was supposed to be “up and in” was right through the heart of the plate. He walked Torii Hunter, then threw that meatball to Vlad Guerrero, who laced it for the game-tying RBI. Then Kendry Morales did the same thing, making it 7-6 Angels. Hughes struck out Maicer Izturis to end the inning, but the damage was done.

Jered Weaver then pitched the eighth, one two three, including strikeouts of Posada and Jeter, so maybe he was happy, although it probably doesn’t feel great for a starter to come out of the bullpen like that. I’m sure since they won he was happy to contribute.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Yankees went to Joba, who didn’t look that dominating either, giving up a leadoff double to Juan Rivera. He was the guy who finally retired Mathis, though, striking him out, but Erick Aybar got just enough of the bat on the ball to get it through the infield, and with men on the corners and one out, Girardi went to Mo.

Mo got a rare fly ball from Figgins (I thought surely if Scioscia was going to put on the squeeze, it would have been here, but he decided not to over-manage) into short right. Nick Swisher put on the biggest crow hop I’ve ever seen–more of a pterodactyl hop–and they had to send the runner back to third. Then a harmless fly to center from Abreu, and Mariano had done it again… except it wasn’t a save situation. The only way to make Mo happy would be to score some runs in the top of the ninth and then give him the ball to shut the door.

It almost happened. Almost. Brian Fuentes, the Angels’ closer, came on to get the final three outs. Johnny Damon pulled a laser shot but right into the glove of Morales at first. Teixeira flew out quickly. With two out and no one on, they elected to intentionally walk A-Rod (and Guzman ran for him). THen Fuentes unintentionally walked Matsui (and Gardner ran for him). Then he hit Robinson Cano on the second pitch of the at bat to load the bases.

Bringing up Nick Swisher. Swisher, who has been scuffling, striking out when he should be walking. Maybe even pressing. Swisher chopped a ball right to Figgins at third, who gloved it and stepped on the bag and it seemed like the game was over. But no! It was called foul and Swisher was giving a new lease on life. Could this be one of those magical moments any championship team needs to win? Another changeup, another foul. The count mounted. Soon it was 3-2. Now all it would take is a wild pitch, a hit batter, ball four, any of the above, to tie the game and give the Yankees a chance to bury the Angels for the year. But all it would take is one strike, or one out, to ensure they would live to see at least one more game. Fuentes had pitched horribly, but if he could make this one pitch, all would be erased.

On the seventh and final pitch of the at bat, Fuentes challenged him, a fastball in the middle of the plate, a four-seamer at 91 miles an hour. And Swisher popped it up to short to end the game.

There were so many twists and turns in this game that the only reasonable way for me to recap it is to tell it chronologically.

Let us begin with the weather, which was balmy and humid for October. With possible rain showers forecast, the fans had jackets but most were carrying them. The intense wind of game one had gone, and if anything the wind was blowing in just a bit, the big American flag beyond left field hanging limp much of the night.

The warmth added to the party atmosphere at the ballpark, where the beer was flowing freely if the people in our section of the upper deck were any indication. No one was feeling tense, except maybe the Twins.

The first seven pitches of the game were all strikes (or hit into play) before A.J. Burnett threw his first ball. He looked sharp and aggressive (except to Joe Mauer, but I get the feeling the Yankees corporate policy on Mauer is to never give him anything good to hit, so walking him sometimes is inevitable) but so did Nick Blackburn when he took the hill for Minnesota, retiring the Yankees quickly in the first. Jeter’s average was no longer a majestic 1.000.

As the innings wore on, though, and the Yankees still couldn’t manage much but pop-ups off Blackburn, Burnett’s focus began to drift. He walked the number nine hitter in the third, Nick Punto, who admittedly is a walking machine, hit back to back batters in the fourth, and walked Orlando Cabrera in the fifth. It was only an incredible heads-up play by Nick Swisher and Derek Jeter (yes, him again) after the back to back HBPs that kept the game scoreless. With two out and the two plunked men on, Michael Tolbert came to the plate and hit a line drive single to Swisher, but before Delmon Young could cross the plate and score, Swisher threw the ball to Jeter who tagged out Carlos Gomez to end the inning. Home plate umpire Chuck Meriweather signaled emphatically no play but many in the crowd were not completely sure of what they had just seen until after the inning break when the scoreboard again showed the big fat zero in the Twins score column.

Unfortunately, the Yankees had the same zero. And then Burnett’s woes continued as he walked Delmon Young with one out in the sixth. Young stole second but he struck out Carlos Gomez to bring Michael Tolbert to the plate, except it wasn’t Tolbert, it was Brendan Harris pinch hitting. Harris connected on a pitch to send it sailing. Would it be a home run? Hit the wall? Johnny Damon and Melky Cabrera were converging, with Johnny slightly closer. He leaped at the wall, and it would have been an incredible circus catch if he made it. But he didn’t. RBI triple for Harris. 1-0 Twins.

The Yankees did let them have the lead for long. With Burnett having thrown over 90 pitches, Joe Girardi took catcher Jose Molina out of the game and inserted Jorge Posada to pinch hit for him to lead off the inning. Posada was ready to mash, and bashed a ball that looked like maybe it would go. But no, it was caught on the warning track in deep center. However, Jeter then did the same, the ball bouncing over the wall for a ground rule double. Johnny Damon worked a walk, and up came Mark Teixeira.

To that point, Teixeira was hitless for the postseason. Only he and Cano didn’t have hits to their credit in game one, but Cano had ripped a single in the previous inning. Teixeira had popped up twice. Could he finally solve Blackburn? No. He popped up for the third time, and I began to wonder if A-Rod just passed his postseason slump to Teix.

Speaking of A-Rod, up he now came to the plate, his back free of the monkey that had dogged him until game one, when he came through not once but twice with two out and men in scoring position. He stroked a single and Jeter scored handily to tie the game. I turned to corwin and said, “Look who finally learned not to try to do to much.”

That would be all the Yankees would get in that rally, though, as Teixeira’s woes continued. With two men on, he fouled a ball deep but just foul, that was nearly a three-run home run. Instead he popped up for the third time in the game. The Twins then took Blackburn from the game and put in a lefty (Ron Mahay) to face Matsui, who grounded out weakly.

Now it was bullpen versus bullpen. Joba came in to a warm ovation. He got two quick outs and then nibbled around Joe Mauer, who ended up smacking a single. This brought Jason Kubel to the plate. All I can really tell you about Kubel is that he is no Justin Morneau. His ineffectiveness as a cleanup hitter has meant they can pitch around Mauer, and he came to the plate with two strikeouts (and a groundout) to his name in the game already.

Girardi pulled Joba and brought in lefty Phil Coke. Who gave Kubel the hat trick, his third K.

At that point, corwin turned to me and said, “For a close game, I’m remarkably not nervous.”

“That’s because if everyone does their jobs,” I said, “You know we’ll win.”

When Phil Hughes came in to pitch the eighth, he got a wonderful moo out of the crowd. He got two quick outs, then walked Carlos Gomez. Pesky Twins. Then gave up two soft singles, the second one an RBI hit by that pesky pesky Nick Punto. 2-1 Twins.

Girardi went to Mo.

Mo gave up another soft hit, another run, and then struck out Orlando Cabrera to end the inning.

Some people in the row in front of us got up to leave after the Yankees went down one-two-three again in the bottom of the eighth. They had to go past the group of drunk college students in front of us, one of whom said to them, “You can’t leave now! You’ll miss the pie in the face!” Because, of course, if the Yankees were going to win at this point, they would have to win in walk-off fashion. And that means pie.

Mo struck out two more in the ninth,first the dangerous Mauer, and then put the Golden Sombrero on Kubel. He gave up a soft hit, but then Nick Swisher made a great catch to end the inning.

So, bottom of the ninth, down two runs, and the hitless Mark Teixeira led off the inning.

With a hit! To say the crowd went wild would be an understatement. Michael Kay apparently commented a lot on game one about how the new stadium just didn’t seem as loud as the old place. What he wasn’t taking into account was probably that the game just wasn’t as exciting as some of the ones played over there.

The tying run came to the plate in the person of Alex Rodriguez. On the hill at this point was Joe Nathan, the Twins closer, against whom the Yankees had several walk-offs already this year. Alex didn’t waste a lot of time before unloading. The moment he connected, he knew it was gone. I didn’t until I saw it bounce beyond the wall, and then I discovered that the upper deck of the new place shakes and sways just as much as the one in the old place. The rafters were shaking and vibrations were coming through my feet. The screaming didn’t stop, but did have second crescendo. After Alex had been high-fived and greeted up and down the Yankees dugout, including an earnest hug from Jeter, who said something into his ear, perhaps encouraging him to take his curtain call, A-Rod went up the steps to raise his batting helmet. Tie game, a whole new ballgame. Nathan would get the next three men out, but the save was blown in emphatic fashion.

The Twins threatened somewhat in the tenth, getting two on with two out, but then Aceves got out of it with a fly ball to right.

So in the bottom of the inning it was the next try for the Yankees to walk off. Melky grounded out, but then Posada singled, and was pulled for Brett Gardner. Gardner stole second while Jeter was at the plate. Then he went to third when they tried to pick him off second and threw the ball into the outfield. The ball didn’t go far, though, and it looked like he was sure to be out at third when he jumped up and ran. But then he slid in under the tag. Jeter was still at the plate, but now he had a man on third and one out.

At that point, the Twins elected to intentionally walk Mr. Jeter. Did I neglect to mention that Joe Nathan was still in the game at this point? It would take a miracle to get him out of the inning, just like the other day in the one-game playoff against the Tigers…

Which is what he got. Damon lined right to short, or maybe it was third, it happened so fast we didn’t even really see exactly what happened. But someone over there snagged the line drive and then ran across second, doubling off Gardner.* Poof. Rally snuffed.

So we went to the eleventh. Now the only pitchers left in the Yankees bullpen were Damaso Marte, David Robertson, and Chad Gaudin. But tomorrow is an off day, so all hands were on deck. Marte came on and gave up hits to both Mauer and Kubel. (After the game we would find out that Mauer should have had a ground rule double on a ball that was called foul, but given how gimpy he was running, I’m not convinced he would have definitely scored that inning if he had.) Girardi pulled Marte and brought in Robertson, who gave up a line drive hit that loaded the bases, so hard hit that Mauer couldn’t score.

The Yankees elected to play the infield in with bases loaded and no one out. Delmon Young came to the plate and hit a liner–right into the glove of Mark Teixeira, who was on one knee at the edge of the infield grass. One out, and no advance. Carlos Gomez then hit a grounder, and Teixeira scooped it and threw to Cervelli for the force at home. (Remember, Jorge was lifted for the pinch runner.) Two out. The infield backed up. Robertson then got a can of corn to center to end the inning.

The crowd was in full voice through all of this. For several innings we barely sat, and the crowd was so loud that our own cheers and clapping patterns were louder than the rhythms being played by the scoreboard department.

Bottom of the eleventh. And here was Mark Teixeira once again. He had at least gotten off the schnied with the clutch hit to lead off the bottom of the ninth, allowing A-Rod’s homer to tie it, but could he be the man? Or would it be A-Rod? Or Matsui?

It would be Teixeira. Facing lefty Sergio Mijares, so batting from the right side. On the second pitch he saw, he hooked a ball with a ton of topspin toward the left field line. I thought for a moment that it would be like the ball he hit in the seventh that went just foul.

But no. It was over the wall! The stadium erupted! We were already all on our feet but people jumped up and down and hugged each other, the upper deck shook like an earthquake, and we were then treated to the absolute loudest chorus of New York, New York I have ever heard. Louder than in the old place.

Mark Teixeira was treated to a pie in the face. That drunk college kid in front of us had been right.

–

*Correction: Damon lined to Cabrera at short who threw to Harris at third to double Gardner. Thanks, Ram Man, I was writing in the car on the way back to Boston and couldn’t look it up. And then when I posted at 5am when we arrived, I forgot to fix it.