Yankees Need That Backs-to-the-Wall Attitude Now

NEW YORK -- Their backs are up against the wall.

They have to win Sunday.

This is it. Must-win. Do or die.

Not just the Angels. But the Yankees, too.

Asked Friday before the Yankees worked out which team faces the most pressure in Game 6, catcher Jorge Posada said, "Both teams."

He's right.

Sure, the Yankees have a 3-2 lead in the ALCS. But there are a couple of reasons they need to close out the series in Game 6.

• Reason No. 1: Don't let it get to a seventh game, because then anything can happen.

Sixteen times in baseball history, a team that led a best-of-7 series 3-1 dropped the next two, forcing a deciding game.

In 11 of those 16 series, the team that trailed 3-1 and won Games 5 and 6 also won Game 7 -- including eight of the past 10 times.

In other words, just five times the team that led 3-1 hung on to win the series after having to go to Game 7.

So while momentum, as baseball people say, is tomorrow's starting pitcher, history shows that failing to land the knockout blow twice results in a comeback more than two-thirds of the time.

"There's momentum you can carry, there's confidence you can carry as you win some good games against good teams, " Angels manager Mike Scioscia said, "and we're going to definitely have to carry that into Game 6. You still have a challenge in front of you, it's not just momentum that's going to carry you through. We have to continue to play well and do a lot of the things in Game 6 as we did in Game 5."

• Reason No. 2: Saving CC.

The Yankees' goal isn't just to get to the World Series, it's to win the World Series. And if they need to use CC Sabathia in Game 7 of the ALCS, he can't start Games 1, 4, and 7 of the World Series.

As mentioned by Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci, the Yankees' World Series rotation looks quite different if it takes them seven games to get past the Angels.

Here's how the Yankees can line up their rotation if they clinch Sunday:

Game 1	Sabathia
Game 2	Burnett
Game 3	Pettitte
Game 4	Sabathia*
Game 5	Gaudin
Game 6	Burnett
Game 7	Sabathia*

But if they need seven games to get past the Angels, their choices go something like this:

	Plan 1	Plan 2
Game 1	Burnett	Burnett
Game 2	Sabathia*	Sabathia*
Game 3	Pettitte	Pettitte
Game 4	Burnett*	Gaudin
Game 5	Sabathia*	Burnett
Game 6	Pettitte*	Sabathia
Game 7	Burnett*	Pettitte

So burning Sabathia in Game 7 of the ALCS would force the Yankees to go to fourth starter Chad Gaudin earlier or use starters on short rest way too much.

Thus it would behoove the Yankees to approach Game 6 as if they were already at Game 7, rather than feeling they are in the driver's seat.

That starts with manager Joe Girardi.

Even if his players don't play with a sense of utmost urgency, Girardi can manage with it.

That was the issue in Game 5. He should have gone in feeling that if he and starter A.J. Burnett got to the seventh inning with the lead, it was time to go to the bullpen. After all, the Yankees built what they felt was a deep relief corps -- Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Damaso Marte, Mariano Rivera, etc. -- for the playoffs, and Girardi had taken full advantage of that throughout the postseason.

But then he managed Game 5 as if he wanted to save the bullpen, instead of going for the jugular. And allowing Burnett to come out for the bottom of the seventh inning didn't work.

So Girardi needs to go for the kill, even if his players don't talk as if they have to.

"We're still up 3-2," said Nick Swisher (2-for-17, no RBI in the series). "I feel confident about where we stand."

Asked if he felt a parallel to 2004, when the Yankees blew a 3-0 lead in the ALCS, Derek Jeter said, "Nope."

He continued, "Every game's big. This one is just as big as the first game [of the Division Series] against Minnesota. Every game we have to have the same mentality, the same mindset. ... Last checked, I think we're in pretty good shape."

Said Andy Pettitte, the Game 6 starter: "I don't think anybody really feels like we're pinned up against a wall around here. We're back [at Yankee Stadium], we love playing here. I think everybody's extremely comfortable and confident where this club is."

That makes it the Yankees' comfort and confidence against the Angels' desperation.

Usually, desperation wins out.

"You have to play with nothing in your mind except making plays and winning a game," Scioscia said, "and not be afraid to go out there and play the game of baseball. I think we're at our best when we're in that mode.

"I think [Thursday] night we were in that mode, and hopefully moving through this weekend in New York we're going to be able to do that because we're certainly capable of meeting this challenge."