PHILADELPHIA -- The last time the Yankees asked Andy Pettitte to do what they will ask him to do Wednesday night, the World Series ended with a visiting team celebrating on the field at Yankee Stadium.

That wasn't Pettitte's fault. He and the Yankees ran into a buzz saw named Josh Beckett that night in 2003, and the way Beckett pitched, the one earned run Pettitte allowed against the Marlins in seven innings might just as well have been 10.

Which brings us back to Pettitte's previous opportunity to wrap up a World Series for the Yankees, which happened one day shy of eight years ago today.

That night, the Yankees gave Pettitte the baseball in Game 6, looking to bury a Diamondbacks team already declared dead after losing three straight to fall into a 3-2 hole.

>>VIDEO: Click here to see Newsday reporters wrap up Game 5

Two innings later, they were grabbing it back. Pettitte got rocked that night, allowing as many runs - six - as he got outs, and the Yankees lost, 15-2. We all know what happened the next night, of course.

Suddenly, a World Series that looked as if it were over on Sunday night is anything but on Tuesday morning.