Phillies’ Victorino will play in Game 6
It looks as if the Philadelphia Phillies will be at full strength for Wednesday night’s Game 6 of the World Series, as All-Star outfielder Shane Victorino says he is fine after getting hit on the hand by an A.J. Burnett pitch on Monday night.
Though X-rays were negative, the Phillies’ center fielder was clearly in discomfort the rest of the way in Philadelphia’s 8-6 Game 5 win. He gingerly removed his batting gloves after each at-bat, and had trouble gripping the bat and throwing the ball because his finger was swollen.
“When I first got hit, I said, ‘Oh no, this doesn’t feel right,’ ” Victorino said. “I went in and threw and it felt fine. I’m happy for that.”
Victorino said Burnett apologized, and added that it wasn’t retaliation for the Phillies hitting Alex Rodriguez with pitches three times this series.
“Shane got hit on the finger,” said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel. “As the game went on, the finger kept swelling. It was bruised. And it started getting bigger. He couldn’t grip the ball, and he also couldn’t grip the bat.”
There hasn’t been a World Series that has been extended to a Game 6 since 2003.
Pedro Martinez starts for the Phils. In Game 2, he used a darting changeup and great movement to hold the Yankees to three runs in six innings. The only purely two right-handed batters in Wednesday night’s Yankee lineup will be future Hall of Famers Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. There will be two more lefty hitters in the lineup than Pedro faced in Game 2; Martinez struck out 30 percent of the right-handed batters he faced this season, as opposed to just 12 percent of lefties. Andy Pettitte starts for New York on three days’ rest.
Forty-nine teams have been down 3-2 in the World Series since the 2-3-2 format became the standard in 1924, and they’ve won about 45 percent of the time. Only 14 of 35 teams going on the road were able to pull it off.
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