Yankees 3, Phillies 1: The game began with Jay-Z and Alicia Keys performing their hit song (and Derek Jeter’s entrance song) and most felt this was an omen that the Yankees would win. This was a game many felt would be high scoring with the bullpens battling it out, myself included. However both starting pitchers pitched gems like their Game 1 counterparts. The veteran for the Phillies, Pedro Martinez, entered the field to the expected “Who’s your daddy?” chants. He fed off the hostile crowd to, for the most part, dominate the potent Yankee lineup, a lineup most expected would kill the Phillies pitching. So far, that hasn’t happened. The Yankees are hitting .222, with the red-hot Alex Rodriguez going completely cold, 0-for-8 with six strikeouts. Pedro made just two mistakes, two sole homeruns by Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui, before being taken out in the seventh. Watching Pedro take the mound in the seventh, it reminded me of the 2003 playoffs when he was with Boston and manager Grady Little left him in the game too long (and got fired soon following). With double-barreled action in the Phillies bullpen, manager Charlie Manuel decided to stay with Pedro to start the seventh and it backfired as he gave up back-to-back hits, leading to another run.

Yankees starter AJ Burnett avoided the big wild inning, throwing first pitch strikes to 22 of the 26 batters he faced. Burnett’s curveball was working throughout the night, making the Phillies hitters look silly. He gave manager Joe Girardi seven solid innings, allowing him to go to closer Mariano Rivera for another six out save. Rivera looked hittable in Game 2, especially in the eighth inning when the Phillies had two men on and only one out. Manuel decided not to send the speedy runners (Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino) on a 3-2 count and the batter, Chase Utley, grounded into a double-play to end the inning. Utley meanwhile, extended his consecutive on-base streak in postseason games to 27 with a walk in the 3rd inning, continuing to add on to his Major League Baseball record.

Has Girardi completely lost faith in his entire bullpen? I’m not sure Girardi can continue to go to Rivera for six out saves, especially if he continues to throw close to 40 pitches an outing. We will see as the World Series continues.

Neither team is tearing the cover off of the baseball and both teams RBI machines have cooled off. I mentioned A-Rod earlier, but Ryan Howard went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts last night against the combination of Burnett and Rivera and never looked comfortable at the plate. Unlike in Game 1, Burnett only showed the fastball on the first pitch to most of the hitters and they were taking it for a strike, trying to be patient and run up Burnett’s pitch-count. That approach never really worked. The Phillies struck out 15 times in Game 2, yet only lost 3-1.

The Phillies left Yankee Stadium with a split, something they did last year in the World Series against Tampa Bay and something they just did in this year’s NLCS. They left smiling, with all of the confidence that they have retaken home-field advantage and can win three straight to celebrate in Philadelphia behind their wild and raucous fans. The Phillies have lost just one postseason game at home in the past two years (11-1).