Pedro Martinez set; Andy Pettitte likely for game six showdown

Pitching matchups became the focus after the Phillies held off a late rally Monday to beat the Yankees 8-6, pulling within 3-2 in Major League Baseball's best-of-seven final as the scene shifts back to Yankee Stadium.

“Our backs were against the wall, a do-or-die situation,” said Phillies southpaw Cliff Lee, the game one winner who struck out three and scattered seven hits to earn the game-five victory as well.

“We're still fighting.”

Martinez, a 38-year-old Dominican right-hander, is a former Boston Red Sox pitcher loathed by Yankee fans. He surrendered three runs on six hits over six innings in a game two loss at New York, where he is 8-5 against the Yankees.

“Pedro is ready to go,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “I expect probably something similar to what we got the other night. He should go six, seven innings in a game, maybe longer.”

Yankees manager Joe Girardi will wait until seeing 37-year-old southpaw Pettitte pitch Tuesday before making a final decision but is leaning toward giving a veteran who helped New York win four titles a chance to take a fifth.

“I will check with him at our workout. Physically I've got to see how he is,” Girardi said. “If Andy physically feels good, he's going to go Wednesday.”

No World Series winner since Minnesota in 1991 has used a three-man starting rotation of pitchers as the Yankees have this year with Pettitte, C.C. Sabathia and right-hander A.J. Burnett, who won game two but lost Monday on short rest.

“I don't think there was any correlation,” Girardi said. “He just wasn't able to get it going.”

Girardi has given his hurlers three days off instead of four, a pattern that would set up game one and four southpaw starter Sabathia for a possible seventh game Thursday.

Only six of 40 Series teams trailing 3-1 have ever rallied to win the crown, but no Yankees foe in that situation has even forced a seventh game. Lee took the Phillies a step closer to doing that despite struggling with accuracy.

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