More photos » by Jason DeCrow - AP

Baseball fans cheer and take photographs of the New York Yankees during a ticker-tape parade along Broadway celebrating their 27th World Series championship on Friday, Nov. 6, 2009, in New York.

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Putting aside his reporter hat in favor of being a dad for the day, Tyler Kepner of the New York Times took his 7-year-old son to Friday's victory parade and mixed with the throng of celebrating Yankee fans.

The result was that Kepner had a great day with his son. And, maybe because I am dad with three kids much too old to sit on my shoulders at a parade, he turned in my favorite parade story of the day.

Here is a snippet.

We were not really sure where to go. I had never been to a parade for a sports team, and I have also never lived in the five boroughs. I am basically a Mike Mussina-style New Yorker — I live in the suburbs and know the route to and from Yankee Stadium.

Anyway, I think we got off at Cortlandt Street. Wherever we were, there were so many people standing just outside the station exit that down below, we could not move at all. Eventually we found another exit and wedged onto Maiden Lane. Needless to say, we were a little late.

Teenage revelers stomped and hollered from atop a sanitation truck. There were horns blaring and beach balls bouncing and paper fluttering everywhere. We bought a pennant on a stick for $5. Floats and buses went by, and we couldn’t make out anybody, really. I think I noticed some front-office people.

Then, I’m pretty sure, I saw (Dave) Robertson. I shouted this to Michael, up on my shoulders, and my tip spread virally through the fans. "Dave Robertson!" someone said. "That’s Dave Robertson!" And in a few seconds his float had moved on.

I know I saw C. C. Sabathia holding up an index finger. And Michael saw Jorge Posada. Neither of us laid eyes on Nick Swisher, who, judging from the swooning girls and whooping guys, is apparently some kind of rock star.

Michael sort of expected to be closer to the action. He was a little bored, he admitted, and his feet fell asleep a few times. But he never complained; skipping school is always fun, and we found a subway back uptown, grabbed some slices of pizza and saw Derek Jeter get the key to the city on the big screen in Times Square.

We stopped in at the arcade on the top floor of the ESPN Zone, and Michael pitched to a virtual Jeter at a booth. Jay-Z was performing at City Hall by then, as we could see from dozens of TV screens. The arcade was his favorite part of the day.

More photos » by Eric Gay - AP

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Hideki Matsui's two-run shot off Pedro Martinez in the second set the tone for the game and increased the Yankees' chances of winning 16% (the most in the game). It made the game 2-0, and was the key hit in his World Series MVP credentials.

Here's the AB:

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More photos » by Kathy Willens - AP

Joe G. is as confused as I am.

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I read in the NYTimes, I hear it on the radio, I see it on TV.

Utley should be MVP even if the Yankees win the World Series.

Mo, Jeter, Arod, Damon.

I have every respect for Utley, who has impressed his greatness upon everyone who wasn't paying enough attention before.  But how could that respect mean he's worthy of receiving an MVP award from Joe Girardi?

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November 4, 2009.

11/4.

If the Yankees win tonight, their postseason record is 11-4.

And it will be their 114th win of 2009.

The only people who should be worried right now are Phillies fans.

More photos » by Julie Jacobson - AP

New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi takes the game ball from starter A.J. Burnett during the third inning of Game 5 of the Major League Baseball World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies Monday, Nov. 2, 2009, in Philadelphia.

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Everybody has an opinion on New York Yankee Manager Joe Girardi's decision to stick with three starting pitchers in the World Series, meaning A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte and CC Sabathia (if necessary) are all working on short rest.

Mine is this. I love it.

Of course we know it did not work out last night, when Burnett imploded and gave up six runs in two innings. Did that have anything to do with pitching on short rest? Impossible to say.

What you can say is this. Burnett had pitched on short rest four times previously in his career, and had pitched to a 2.33 ERA. Most likely last night was just a case of the 'Bad A.J.' showing up an inopportune time.

Still, love the fact that Girardi is going to sink or swim the rest of the way with his best guys.

In that regard, I have to agree with Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News.

A.J. Burnett was awful in Game 5, and while many will now second-guess Joe Girardi’s decision to start him on short rest, you won’t see any of that in this space. Burnett said he felt fine physically, he just couldn’t throw strikes. He went through the same thing on regular rest in Anaheim in Game 5 of the ALCS, so I’ll take him at his word that the short rest wasn’t the cause for his brutal outing. He had a terrible game, plain and simple. Can anybody tell me that they would have felt as confident with Chad Gaudin - who has thrown one inning in the postseason and 2 1/3 innings since Sept. 28 - starting Game 5 of the World Series? If you can answer that question with a "Yes," then you should have your head examined. If anything, the decision to use Burnett on short rest is an indictment of the Yankees’ lack of pitching depth, something that took a huge hit with Chien-Ming Wang’s injury and Joba Chamberlain’s terrible second half. If they had a fourth starter they trusted, it would have been an easy call to start him in Game 4 or 5. But they don’t, so they’re going to live or die with the three guys that got them to this point.

To me, that perfectly covers all of the essential points.

Now, will I be nervous Wednesday night when Andy Pettitte takes the mound? Sure. But, I'm still happier about an extra start from Pettitte -- even on short rest -- than I would be simply have seen Girardi mostly forfeit a game by using Gaudin.

If Pettitte doesn't get it done Wednesday I will be on the verge of a breakdown Thursday for Game 7. That, though, is the game Brian Cashman signed CC Sabathia to pitch. So, you still have to feel good about the Yankees right now.

They need one win. Philly needs two. In Yankee Stadium. Advantage Yankees.

I'm looking at Postseason vs World Series stats to see if we can differentiate between a struggling postseason (Tex) and a great player held in check (Howard).

The Yankees have done very well at holding down the top of the Phillies lineup, while the Phillies have really smothered Cano and Cabrera.

Matsui hasn't gotten the fan fair of Johnny Damon in their mutual quest to return to the Yankees next season, but he's making as strong a case.

No more fastballs over the plate to Utley.

This will be a short one -

With no outs, two runners on, and the previous batter the recipient of a bean-ball, Utley was looking for Burnett to get ahead early. And in a sense, A.J. was right to do so: Utley swung at the first pitch only 9% of the time this season (third lowest in the NL*). But for whatever reason, he decided he would guess first-pitch fastball and got one down the heart of the plate:

That was really the game. It increased Philly's chances of winning 19%. No other hit or out was as important.

* courtesy of The 2010 Bill James Handbook

4-6, 4.15 ERA, 86.2 ip, 86 h, 38 bb, 69 k, 1.43 WHIP

On normal rest:

229-135, 3.91 ERA, 2.8 BB/9, 6.6 K/9, 1.36 WHIP