A Tale of Two Cities

Philadelphia, PA (WFAN)  -- The Yankees traveling party left the Stadium this morning on 3 buses to go to Penn. Station, for the Amtrak Trek to Philadelphia. As the buses turned down 31st Street, we saw the crowds, the Yankees jackets and the fans lining the streets. The crowds were behind barricades, taking pictures, holding Yankees pennants and waving hats and cheering. All the way into Penn Station, all the way DOWN the escalators they were lined up everywhere. The team was waving, smiling and cheering. Great, just great support by New Yorkers. It was a fabulous send off. The younger players, who have never been through this before, had big grins on their faces...great to see. I told one of the rookies, "If you win the Series, and there is a Parade, you won't believe what this City will be like. "

The train ride (4 private cars of course) took about an hour and a half. Fruit, salads, pizza, sandwiches, anything you could want as everyone talked baseball, slept, read the newspapers and explained to those of us over a certain age who JZ is and why he would be on the field before a baseball game. I DO know John Legend, though, and think he did a fabulous job with the anthem.

We got off the train in Philly, and you could hear "it" from the train tracks. I turned to first base coach Mick Kellaher and said , "Here's the back swing of the pendulum." Going UP the escalators...there they were..hundreds and hundreds of Philly fans, booing, yelling "Welcome to Philadelphia"..screaming. I thanked the man who said , "Welcome to Philadelphia," because we New Yorkers are very polite. There were a few people in Yankees jackets yelling "Let's go Yankees"...but they were drowned out quickly. The Philly police were fabulous. As we passed by, I asked one of them, "Having a nice day, are you?" He smiled and said, "Oh yeah!"

All the way to the buses...and you know what? It was actually terrific. Two cities in the Northeast supporting their teams. I think the middle aged woman in the business suit giving us "the finger" with both hands was a little unseemly, but what the heck.

Joe Torre used to say that Game 3 was the most important game in a series. Andy Pettitte heard him say that many, many times. Now, tomorrow night, Andy gets to be the one on the mound to make that statement come true for the Yankees.