Joe, a proud Father Judge and La Salle graduate, taking his last home series sips, wore a Hamels jersey. He's sticking with his guy.

"Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee," Joe immediately said. "Like Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson."

Don't judge a man by his beer intake. Joe had his reasoning and his history down. Schilling started Game 7 for the Arizona Diamondbacks against the Yankees in 2001. Johnson, who had started the previous night, came back to get the last four outs.

If Lee gets into Game 7, it will be on two days' rest. Of course, the analogy loses a little steam when you factor in that Schilling was a 22-game winner that year, and, unlike Hamels, wasn't wishing for his season to be over. But Joe still had trust in Hamels and hoped Charlie Manuel did, too.

Blind faith? Maybe, but Slurring Joe wasn't alone on that concourse. I had time for only a miniature sampling, a half-dozen people. Four of the six picked Hamels if there is a Game 7. One vote for Lee to start, the other for J.A. Happ.

Another for Hamels

Greenman, well known to fans of the FX show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, walked by. The real Greenman or a cheap imitation? Does it matter?

"Hamels," Greenman said. "I think he'll step up. He can step up. . . . Honestly, it's up to one man. The guy who [messed] it up last night. [Expletive] Lidge. Charlie knows what's up. Honestly, everybody knows it."

More Hamels

Mitch Williams, never shy with an opinion, said yesterday on ESPN radio's Mike and Mike in the Morning that he wouldn't pitch Hamels again after Hamels said he wanted the season to be over. But what Hamels obviously meant was that he was ready for his own crummy year to be over - not that he didn't want to play any more baseball this week. In the same press session, Hamels said he wanted the ball in Game 7.

One thing about Hamels: If he didn't want the ball, he might actually tell you. His press session in the middle of the clubhouse after Game 4 went on for a good 20 to 25 minutes. If somebody had a question, Hamels was staying around to answer it. Jimmy Rollins, waiting to talk, leaned against a wall, just taking it in. A PR person for the Phillies finally broke up the Hamels session or he might still be talking.

If the series gets past tonight, I'm with Slurring Joe and Cursing Greenman. Hamels is the least ugly Game 7 option out there. At the first sign of a pout, give him the hook.

The Bronx is calling

The cell phone rang an hour before Game 5.

"Twenty seven outs until we win No. 27."

Ed is my oldest friend, since we sat next to each other in sixth-grade homeroom 35 years ago. He came by his love of the Yankees, and his arrogance, honestly. He'd moved near me from the Bronx. His father had emigrated to the Bronx from Trieste, Italy, at age 15 in 1937.

"Two years later, he went to see Joe DiMaggio," Ed once explained to me. "If my father moved to Brooklyn, I'm sure we would have been Dodgers fans. They had Italian players, too."

Ed's first trip to Yankees Stadium was with his father for Old-Timers' Day in the late '60s, to see DiMaggio. That became an annual pilgrimage.

"My father always wore a shirt and tie until probably 10, 15 years ago," Ed said. "It was an event. And he never played baseball - he never even threw a baseball."

Naturally . . . Ed loves Joe Girardi, always did. But Ed's also got a baseball brain. He was captain of the team in high school. He lives in Montrose, N.Y., up the Hudson River.

"Everybody here is killing Girardi," Ed said, for the Yankees manager's decision to potentially force his starters to go four straight games on three days' rest for each. Ed thought Girardi should have started Chad Gaudin in Game 5 as a sacrificial lamb against Lee. He said all that before Game 5.

Of course, Girardi has to be wrong, or unlucky, three straight times for the Yankees to blow this 27th Yankees World Series title - to always remain 27 outs away.

Anybody else think?

When Chase Utley, already the hitting star of this World Series for the Phillies, had to turn that ninth-inning double play in Game 5 - was he really past those Dodgers errors? Here was the real test. Utley took the toss from Jimmy Rollins, pivoted, and hit Ryan Howard on the numbers. No more Chuck Knoblauch or injury talk.

Bowa believes Shane missed his sign

Shane Victorino didn't like Larry Bowa's comments about the possibility of the Phillies stealing signs, believing it denigrated their work on the field. He blasted Bowa on Monday, and yesterday, Bowa blasted back, more good-naturedly, saying on ESPN-950: "I love Shane. But he might have been laying out in the sun too long. Not one word was said about that's the reason they are in the World Series. . . . I think Shane had a few too many mai tais on it. They are the best team in the National League."

Back page news: Philly fans sweet, adorable

A New York Post reporter walked around Citizens Bank Park talking to Yankees fans, asking how they were being treated by Phillies fans. Pretty well, a woman reported.

"I can't use that," the Post reporter said.

Contact staff writer Mike Jensen at 215-854-4489 or mjensen@phillynews.com.