It was the top of the ninth, there were two outs and Yankee leftfielder Johnny Damon was on first.
The shift was on. First baseman Mark Teixeira was at bat. Damon took advantage of Phillies reliever Brad Lidge’s inability to hold base runners on and bolted for second base.
Phils third baseman Pedro Feliz was covering second and that left third base uncovered because reliever
Brad Lidge hadn’t gone over the situation in his mind and he hadn’t been coached in the situation, so he didn’t cover third base.
Damon wisely used a pop up slide and took off for third after he saw it was uncovered.
It was a key play in the game because Damon’s presence on third base prevented Lidge from throwing his vicious slider because of the fear it would get by catcher Carlos Ruiz.
Damon said the Yankees had gone over the shift situation earlier in the year and he knew that he might be able to steal both second and third on the same play.
Lidge hit Teixeira with a fastball and eventually threw another fastball to Alex Rodriguez, who doubled it off of the leftfield wall and drove in the go ahead run.
Who do you should be blamed for this mistake? Charlie Manuel or Brad Lidge
