New York Yankees
New York Yankees pitcher AJ Burnett has admitted that Thursday's World Series clash with Philadelphia Phillies was "the biggest game I've ever thrown in" as he helped inspire his team to a 3-1 win to level the best-of-seven contest 1-1 at Yankee Stadium.The four top hitters for the Phillies went 0-for-10 against Burnett, with Ryan Howard striking out three times.Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui then homered for the Yankees, who overcame a 1-0 second-innings deficit for the crucial victory as the series shifts to Philadelphia over the next three games, starting on Saturday."I wanted to come out and attack, feed off the crowd and the energy," said Burnett. "I've done a good job of being calm in situations but I wanted to come out with some fire."I knew it was a big game, the biggest I've ever thrown in for this team."I wanted to set the tone early, be very aggressive. I threw a lot of first-pitch strikes. It made a big difference. I went out with confidence and the game just rolled by."Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel hailed the performance of Burnett. He said: "Burnett was good. He was very aggressive with his fastball and his slider was off the chart. He pitched a heck of a game."Teixiera, mired in a .186 play-off batting slump, hit a solo homer off Pedro Martinez in the fourth innings to pull New York level and Japan's Matsui struck a sixth-innings homer to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead."It was pretty special, this one," Teixiera said. "We hadn't done anything against them. It put a little bit of a crack in their armour. They had pitched so well. And Matsui's home run was great for our confidence."It was a must-win for us. If we went in there 0-2 it would have been a tough road for us."
New York Yankees
New York Yankees pitcher AJ Burnett has admitted that Thursday's World Series clash with Philadelphia Phillies was "the biggest game I've ever thrown in" as he helped inspire his team to a 3-1 win to level the best-of-seven contest 1-1 at Yankee Stadium.The four top hitters for the Phillies went 0-for-10 against Burnett, with Ryan Howard striking out three times.Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui then homered for the Yankees, who overcame a 1-0 second-innings deficit for the crucial victory as the series shifts to Philadelphia over the next three games, starting on Saturday."I wanted to come out and attack, feed off the crowd and the energy," said Burnett. "I've done a good job of being calm in situations but I wanted to come out with some fire."I knew it was a big game, the biggest I've ever thrown in for this team."I wanted to set the tone early, be very aggressive. I threw a lot of first-pitch strikes. It made a big difference. I went out with confidence and the game just rolled by."Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel hailed the performance of Burnett. He said: "Burnett was good. He was very aggressive with his fastball and his slider was off the chart. He pitched a heck of a game."Teixiera, mired in a .186 play-off batting slump, hit a solo homer off Pedro Martinez in the fourth innings to pull New York level and Japan's Matsui struck a sixth-innings homer to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead."It was pretty special, this one," Teixiera said. "We hadn't done anything against them. It put a little bit of a crack in their armour. They had pitched so well. And Matsui's home run was great for our confidence."It was a must-win for us. If we went in there 0-2 it would have been a tough road for us."
