You see, the Wilpon era has been one totally void of any wrinkles to the extent that if a player is said to spit too far he is weeded out. It almost seems beyond comprehension that they would take a chance on Wally Backman managing their short season Single-A affiliate, the Brooklyn Cyclones, is a pleasant surprise.

“My heart never left New York,” Backman said in a Coney Island press conference. “I’m excited about the opportunity for a new start with an organization I love.”

The fiery former second baseman, 50, had an infamous short four-day stint as manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2004. After holding an offseason press conference, the team discovered that the Oregon native had a checkered past that included domestic disputes and an arrest for DUI and quickly let him go.

“I like to play an aggressive style of baseball, and I’ve always been partial to speed and defense,” said Backman, who spent nine seasons at Shea Stadium. “My goal is to teach the kids who will be playing for me – both on and off the field – and help them to become better ballplayers and better people. There’s a right way to play the game and that’s to play hard, smart and give it everything you’ve got.

“That’s how I always played and that’s how I’ve always taught,” continued Backman. “My job is to prepare my players as best I can, and hopefully get them to Citi Field in a few years.”

Too bad that Backman himself will not be at the big league ballpark. He talks about aggressiveness and the right way to play the game. Those traits have been missing for the past few seasons, especially since Jerry Manuel has been in charge. Nice guys finish last, they say, and if not for the hapless Washington Nationals, that is exactly where the Mets would have found themselves this past season.

How do you think Backman would have reacted when Jose Reyes threw one of his public tantrums? Or when Fernando Martinez failed to run out a pop up that fell to the ground and was thrown out at first while standing in the batter’s box? Those countless base running mistakes would also have become a thing of the past with a hard-nosed guy like Backman wearing the captain’s hat.

Always giving themselves a fail-safe net, Mets VP of Business Operations David Howard stated that there is a zero tolerance clause in Backman’s contract. Because he has basically been blackballed since the Arizona debacle, Backman had little choice but to agree to that nonsense. He has been plying his trade but had to do so in Georgia for an independent league club.

Backman may not have hit rock bottom but he was closer to that surface than the other. This may be the first step in making his way back to ‘The Show.’ As a matter of fact, when the Mets were looking for a replacement for Art Howe, Backman was on their short list. General manager Omar Minaya ended up settling on Willie Randolph.

Things may come full circle and the politically correct Mets have gone against the grain for the first time in a long time by making this move. A baby steps, indeed, but one that is pointed in the right direction.

But, that may be the thing which prevents the New York Yankees from ultimately holding on to what used to be a seemingly safe three games to one lead over the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2009 World Series.

There’s no doubt that the Yankees’ lineup is loaded and powerful, or that they have the best closer in the game in future Hall of Fame Mariano Rivera. Or even, that on a full four days of rest, the Yankees have a championship caliber starting pitching staff.

After all, those are all of the key ingredients which have pushed the Yankees to the very brink of winning their 27th world championship.

However, what if one of those things changed significantly enough in Game 5, and then in Game 6, and finally, in a Game 7 as well?

Well, we’ve actually already seen the first of those three scenarios, when Yankees’ Game 5 starter A.J. Burnett, going on only three days of rest, was rocked for six runs, all earned, in only 2+ innings in the Yankees’ 8-6 loss which sent the Series back to New York for Game 6 Wednesday night.

Speaking of Game 6, Yankees’ starter Andy Pettitte will also be pitching on just three days of rest.

And, should that not work out as New York hopes, the Yankees’ Game 7 starter, will be the ace of their staff, C.C. Sabathia, but he too, would be pitching after only three days of rest.

That all means that the difference between another Yankees’ championship and a World Series collapse could likely be riding on the one area of their team which doesn’t measure up to any of the aforementioned ones — the Yankees’ bullpen, otherwise known as the all important bridge from New York’s starters to world class closer Mariano Rivera.

So far, Yankee relievers Phil Hughes, Brian Bruney, and Phil Coke have all been ineffective during different times in this year’s World Series, and Joba Chamberlain blew a save in the eighth inning of Game 4, even though the Yankees later won that game.

Of course, more than just the Yankees’ bullpen would be available if needed in a possible Game 7. Any starter other than Pettitte would be ready to throw an inning, or to a batter, maybe even just a pitch, whatever it would take to get the ball to Rivera.

Although, if the Yankees can’t do that against an equally dangerous Phillies’ lineup which can often score late once it gets the opposing starting pitcher out of the game, Rivera might never get the chance to close out a world title as he’s done four times before.

Perhaps Pettitte will get Game 6 to Rivera himself. Or, if Pettitte and the Yankees’ bullpen fail, maybe Sabathia might even throw a complete game a night later.

But, if the short rest affects both Pettitte and Sabathia from this point, the way it seems to have limited Burnett in the Game 5, the Yankees will need their bullpen to play a key role in at least one of the next two games, and be the connection from either Pettitte or Sabathia to Rivera.

Through 103 regular season wins, an AL East title, ALDS and ALCS championships, and three World Series victories, the Yankees have made it this far on their journey.

But, to reach the promised land, they still need to travel to the other side of where they are now and avoid any Phillie pitfalls with a bullpen that might very well be called upon to be their bridge to a championship.

The Yanks got an early 2-0 lead off of Joe Blanton in the top of the 1st inning, and there was immediate drama when both sides were warned after A-Rod was hit for the third time in the last two games. The warning did not really have an affect on the game the rest of the way, but it was still drama. The Phillies would eventually tie the game up at two in the bottom of the fourth, but then the Yankees came right back to take a 4-2 lead in the top of the fifth inning. Once again, this was the theme all night, as the magic was not quite there for the Phils. The turning point in the game was probably in the bottom of the fifth inning when it appeared that the Phillies could get to C.C. Sabathia.

Jimmy Rollins led off with a base hit up the middle, and then Victorino worked a walk to put runners on at first and second with nobody out and Chase Utley stepping to the plate. Utley popped out in the infield for the first out of the inning. Howard followed with another pop up. Jayson Werth struck out swinging…the Phillies had first and second and nobody out, and they don’t get anything…that’s not acceptable! Sabathia did a great job getting out of trouble though. It was at a point in the game where the Phillies could have done some real damage, and they were not able to capitalize. However, they were not out of the game yet, because they are a team of comebacks.

Chase Utley homered in the seventh, and then Pedro Feliz homered in the 8th with two outs off of Joba Chamberlain to tie the ballgame up at four.

It appeared that everything was working in the Phils favor going into the ninth inning, and it seemed that the Phils were ready to come up in the bottom half of the ninth to win it, but first they had to get through the top of the ninth. Brad Lidge came on and looked impressive as he got the first two outs, but then he crumbled. Johnny Damon had a great at bat against Lidge, and it was all downhill from there, and before you knew it, the Phils were coming up in the bottom of the ninth with the score 7-4 and facing Mariano Rivera

Obviously the task was too tall to come back again, and the Phils magic was gone. The Phillies will try to find that magic once again now down 3-1 in the series, as they will have to win three in a row to become repeat champions. Cliff Lee takes the ball for the Phils tomorrow night, and he will try to send the series back to New York. I have no hero or goat in this one, because in my mind, the Yankees simply outplayed the Phillies, and it was not anything anyone on the Phils did to blow this one.

More at BaseballDigest.com

New York (0-3) rallied from a 23-point early second-half deficit to take a three-point lead in overtime, only to see Philadelphia (2-1) close on a 17-0 run and beat the Knicks 141-127, before a raucous sellout crowd of 19,763 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.

For the second time in as many nights, the Knicks dug a huge first quarter hole due to a lack of defensive intensity, stormed back with a big fourth quarter, and eventually lost a heartbreaker after grabbing a lead in an extra session. On Friday night, the Knicks trailed 32-13 after the first quarter in Charlotte, before rallying to lead briefly in overtime, only to lose 102-100.

One night later, New York again allowed an opponent to light up the scoreboard early and often. Philadelphia shot 72.7 percent (16 of 22) from the field, led by four field goals apiece from guard Louis Williams, forward Andre Igoudala, and center Elton Brand, as the 76ers, without attempting a three-point shot, torched the Knicks’ for a 40-25 lead after one quarter. During the period, Philadelphia made all eight of its free throw attempts (five by forward Thaddeus Young) and broke open a 10-10 tie, scoring 12 straight points en route to a larger 22-6 run, to take its biggest lead of the quarter, 32-16, on an Igoudala left wing jumper with 3:20 remaining. The 76ers would match that margin twice more before the first quarter ended.

New York cut Philadelphia’s lead to nine points on three different occasions in the second quarter, the last of which brought the Knicks to within 48-39, with 7:00 left in the half, on a jumper by former 1998 76er first-round pick, forward Larry Hughes (18 points, 7-11 fg, 5 rebounds, 6 assists in 39 minutes off the bench).

The 76ers though, pulled away again, outscoring the Knicks 22-12 over the final seven minutes of the first half, to lead 70-51 at halftime.

At that point, the Knicks were lucky that the hometown fans didn’t egg or toilet paper the court. They headed for the locker room under a chorus boos that weren’t exactly of the variety of Knick fans imitating Halloween ghosts.

Jeers turned to cheers in the second half when the Knicks stormed back and nearly turned the night into a happy “Harroween” or “Galloween” for the Garden faithful, as in Knick forwards Al Harrington and Danilo Gallinari, who each scored career highs to lead New York back. However, that only served to little more than cancel out what the 76ers’ scored in first half.

Harrington finished with a game-high 42 points (30 after halftime) in 36:28 off the bench, making 16 of 23 shots from the floor and 9 of 11 free throws. Replacing Harrington in the opening lineup, Gallinari made his first NBA start with an impressive display from beyond the arc. The second-year, 21-year-old Italian import delighted the crowd, scoring 21 of his 30 points in the second half, finishing 9 of 22 from the field, including 8 of 16 from three-point range, falling just one three-pointer short of the Knicks’ all-time single-game record.

Behind their two leading scorers, the Knicks reversed everything in the second half. They outscored the 76ers by the same 30-26 margin in the third quarter that Philadelphia won the second quarter by, and the Knicks forced the overtime by winning the fourth period, 41-26. Still, just as in Charlotte the night before, they had a big hill to climb, trailing 96-81, entering the fourth quarter.

It seemed as if the game was out of reach when the lead swelled back to 105-87 with 8:59 left in the fourth quarter, and the 76ers still led 110-93 on a pair of free throws by guard Andre Igoudala (team-high 32 pts, 12-21 fg, 11 reb, 8 ast) with 6:52 left in the period.

However, the Knicks, also like the night before, charged back late, as they finally started clamping down defensively and made some stops, while at the other end, Harrington and point guard Chris Duhon (7 pts, 6 ast), who was publicly outspoken about the Knicks not going into Charlotte seriously, both started driving aggressively to the basket.

Harrington scored seven points to during a 15-3 surge which brought New York to within 113-108 with 2:12 left. The last two point of the run came on a pair of Harrington free throws. In between making each one, the draftee out of St. Patrick’s high school in nearby Elizabeth, New Jersey, who always wanted to be a Knick while playing for three other teams over twelve years before arriving in New York last year, stood at the foul line, waving his arms and pulling out the “NEW YORK” on the front of his jersey, exhorting the Garden crowd to roar louder than it already was.

“I was just wanna get ‘em involved,” Harrington said afterwards. “These people pay top dollar to come watch us play. For us to be down 20 and get back in the game, the reason we did that is… we fed off their energy.”

That of course, doesn’t explain the “Defense!” chants from the opening tip during the first quarter, leading to the 76ers’ offensive explosion in that period.

A couple of free throws by forward Thaddeus Young (25 pts, 9-14 fg, 7-8 ft) pushed the 76ers’ lead to 119-112 with just 1:12 left in regulation.

But again, Gallinari and Harrington wouldn’t let the Knicks go quietly.

Two Gallinari free throws made it 119-114, before a jumper by Brand (16 pts, 7-13 fg) increased the lead to 121-114.

Harrington then scored off glass while being bumped in the lane. He made another free throw to complete a three-point play, cutting Philadelphia’s lead to 121-117 with 47.9 seconds left in the quarter. He then rebounded a missed shot by Igoudala which resulted in a Gallinari three-pointer, which sent the crowd into a frenzy and cut the 76ers’ lead to 121-120 with 11.4 seconds left in the period.

A free throw by 76ers’ forward Jason Kapono (6 pts) made it 122-120 with 10.7 seconds to go, before Duhon tied the score, 122-122, on a running, contested layup off glass with 5.9 seconds remaining.

Igoudala raced down the left side, but missed a jumper as time expired in the fourth quarter.

In overtime, Harrington starting the scoring with a three-point play, again taking the ball strong to the hoop, scoring, and making a free throw.

Williams (27 pts, 10-12 fg, 7-8 ft, 10 reb, 7 ast), who played an outstanding game for the 76ers,  answered with a jumper before Harrington made another driving layup to put the Knicks ahead 127-124 with 3:41 left in the game.

But, Harrington fouled forward Marreese Speights (20 pts, 7-10 fg, 6-7 ft, 10 reb), who made two free throws to cut the Knicks’ lead to 127-126, with 3:30 remaining.

More importantly, the Knicks best offensive option of the night fouled out on the play, and Philadelphia completely took over after that. New York wouldn’t score again while Igoudala, Williams, Young, and Speights all scored, usually off of fast breaks, to seal the win over the final three minutes for the 76ers.

“Tough, very tough,” Harrington said on watching from the bench the rest of the way.

On Halloween night, coming back to win from such a big deficit would have been great trick by the Knicks and a real treat for the Garden fans, but without Harrington in overtime, New York simply ran out of gas after a valiant effort.

Although Knicks’ head coach Mike D’Antoni was again displeased with his team’s intensity to start the game, he noted the scrappiness of his tired squad which played three overtimes in two nights. “They could have quit, but they didn’t,” he said. “I just thought in the overtime, we had a complete physical breakdown.”

“We have to find a way to play with a sense of urgency,” Harrington said. “We can’t keep giving teams 20-point leads and then fighting back and then coming in here and feeling good about ourselves… Last year we struggled with our third quarter, this year we struggle with our first quarter. We just gotta find a way to fight through this. There’s no moral victories around here… we’ve got goals we’re trying to accomplish.”

When discussing the slow starts defensively, Gallinari pointed to the need to maintain a consistent effort throughout the entire game. “We have to play our best defense for 48 minutes,” he said. “We cannot allow ourselves to have ups and downs [with that] during the game. Once we keep our energy up, everything goes fine, so we just have to keep our energy at the highest level.”

On the plus side, Gallinari feels no ill effects of the back surgery which kept him from missing most of his rookie season last year. “I feel good, my back is fine,” he said. And, he’s adjusting well to playing in New York. The only time he smiled after the game it seemed, was giving a simple answer on his new home. “Nice city,” he said.

But, Gallinari didn’t feel good about losing. Shrugging aside his own big scoring night, the disappointed and humble forward said, “I don’t feel good. We lost and that’s what matters.”

Two key areas in which the 76ers, who won their second straight, held big advantages were at the free throw line, where they shot 36 of 42 (85.7 percent) compared to the Knicks’ 19 of 24 (79.2 percent), and on the boards where Philadelphia limited New York’s second-chance attempts by outrebounding the Knicks 49-31. Three 76ers were in double figures in rebounds while Harrington and guard Wilson Chandler tied for the Knicks’ lead with just 6 rebounds apiece.

After the game, Knicks’ guard Nate Robinson (8 pts), who sprained his right ankle in the fourth quarter, told Harrington, “We should be 2-1, Bro.”

Harrington nodded in agreement.

Yet instead, the Knicks open a season with three straight losses for the first time since an 0-5 start four years ago, in 2005.

The game kicked off the start of a four-game home stand which will continue with Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets on Monday night and culminate with MSG likely buzzing when next year’s free agent Lebron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers visit on Friday night.

On Sunday night, the left-hander from Baton Rouge did the next best thing, and did his part to propel the 2009 New York Yankees into the World Series.

The Yankees haven’t been to the Fall Classic since 2003. That year marked Pettitte’s last season with the team that signed him as an amateur free agent in 1991. After being allowed to leave (or was pushed out, depending on who you talk to), to Houston for three seasons, he came back to the club in 2007. After going 14-14 a year ago, including a poor second half to the 2008 season, his returning this year was up in the air as well.

It was only after the Yankees had made their high-profile signings that they addressed bringing Pettitte back, which they eventually did. The team is fortunate they did so, because they are going back to the Fall Classic because Pettitte limited the Angels to just one run over 6 1-3 innings, striking out six and walking just one to earn his 16th postseason win, the most in baseball history.

There were 50,173 fans vociferously booing Joe Girardi when the skipper jogged to remove Pettitte in the top of the seventh, but it was quickly turned to a thundering standing ovation, as the tall southpaw tipped his cap to the largest crowd to see a Yankee game this season.

Mariano Rivera made things interesting in the eighth, when he allowed a two-out RBI single to Vlad Guerrero. It was the first earned run he had allowed at home in the postseason since Game 2 of the 2000 World Series.

But in the ninth, Rivera’s margin for error was expanded, as the Yankees scored two more runs in the bottom of the eighth, thanks to some sloppy defense by Los Angeles. He made short work of the Angels in the ninth, retiring the side in order to earn his 37th postseason save, also the best in MLB history.

The Yankee offense took advantage of the Angels in the fourth. After Derek Jeter worked out a walk to load the bases, left fielder Johnny Damon stepped up to the plate. It was Damon, as a member of the Red Sox and in all of his grizzled glory that quieted old Yankee Stadium in the second inning with a grand slam on Javier Vazquez’s first pitch in Game 7, 2004. He had failed in his first attempt with the bases loaded earlier in the night, but delivered in this at-bat, driving in two runs with a base hit up the middle.

Mark Teixeira hit a ball far enough in the hole that shortstop made Erick Aybar’s throw to second base a shade late to force Damon at second base. Then, Alex Rodriguez, whose first year in the Bronx was that miserable 2004 season, and who has been trying to make up for that and several other postseason failures since, drew a bases-loaded walk to make the score 3-1.

It was all the offense they needed.

***

There were three “Yankee Stadium” signature moments before the game, the first being a loud roar from the crowd when Tino Martinez was spotted in a luxury suite and shown on the immense HD screen in center field.

The second eruption came when Bernie Williams was announced as the thrower of the ceremonial first pitch.

The third was the thundering sound of “Welcome to The Jungle” played through the Stadium’s sound system, sending the Bronx into a frenzy.

Then Pettitte took over.

***

CC Sabathia was named the ALCS MVP, and will face Phillies’ left-hander Cliff Lee in Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday. The two pitchers were teammates on the 2007 Cleveland Indians, a club that blew a 3-1 ALCS lead over the Red Sox.

More at BaseballDigest.com.

There were some questions in early May, before Alex Rodriguez returned to the lineup. After that the Yankees proved they were destined to get back to the World Series. They were the best team in baseball from then on, and now four more wins await them this time, before they can be called the best against the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies

And just like the ALCS battle with the Angels, the Yankees know their destiny to get championship number 27 won’t be easy. They don’t know much about the Phillies with the exception of the three games they played against them in June when the Phils came to the Bronx and took two of three games.

And so the mission for Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and the Steinbrenner owned Yankees is almost complete. It was Cashman, last October, after seeing his team fail to make the postseason making a statement. “We are not satisfied and won’t be,” he said, “unless we are in the World Series.”

So they spent money again to make it correct. They had to with a spanking new billion dollar ballpark. And the hope is it will all culminate in the next week with another World Series trophy.  But these Phillies provide just as much power as the Yankees do, and play just as well at their ballpark as the Yankees do in the Bronx.

“Don’t know a thing about them, don’t know much about them,” said the captain Derek Jeter when asked about the Phillies in the new spacious Yankees clubhouse that got another dose of champagne Sunday evening. Jeter is a part of that core of four with Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte who now go to their seventh World Series.

For Rodriquez it is his first time going to the Big Dance. And all of the demons of previous postseasons are history. He could have been ALCS MVP that went to Sabathia, but what is more important is how Rodriquez shut the mouths of critics and finally became a Yankee the past few weeks.

He reached base five times in the ALCS finale, batted .429, hit three home runs, and drove in six against the Angels. After two of the core players embraced after the final out, Posada and the closer Rivera, it was no surprise that Rodriquez was the first Yankee on the field that got hugged by Jeter and the rest of his team.

“I felt really happy and really blessed and all I cared about this year was winning games,” said Rodriquez who had a tense spring training with a steroid controversy and then missing time until May with hip surgery.  But all along the goal was to get where he is now, a World Series with the Yankees.

And for the manager Joe Girardi every thing now has gone to plan. Like his predecessor, Joe Torre, management provided the players and opportunity to get the elusive 27^th championship. The moves made out of the bullpen that may have cost a game three win last week are now in the past.

His mission from the spring was to get where the Yankees are, beginning Wednesday evening in the Bronx. “We’ve had big players do big things,” he said. “That’s why we are going to the World Series.” Sabathia is one of those big players with two wins, one on three days rest against the Angels, Rodriguez the other, and of course Pettitte who got a baseball record 16^th career postseason win getting the clinching win against the Twins also in the ALDS.

Perhaps this will be the last time Pettitte and the core are together for this special moment in late October. Pettitte signed a one-year contract to get there again. Jeter, Posada and Rivera still have some time together.  But for now, the agenda for them and these Yankees are the Phillies, a team that picked up momentum in September and will provide a bigger test than the Angels.

“They outplayed us, that’s’ the bottom line,” said Angels manager Mike Scoscia. His team made errors, and the Yankees like the good team they are will capitalize on that. And the Angels only stole two bases in the six games, so the Yankees had a way of stopping their running game.

With Sabathia pitching Game 1 Wednesday evening, the Yankees quickly have an advantage.  “That’s’ what you play for,” said Rodriguez. “In order to win a World Series you have to get there first.”

Mission accomplished for now. Bring on the Phillies.

e-mail Rich Mancuso:  Ring786@aol.com