FOX opened Game 3 with a segment interweaving comments on the New York/Florida match-up with scenes from the upcoming Russell Crowe movie "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World", which previews indicate should be as pompous and long-winded as the title suggests.

Having an anthem singer with some connection to the proceedings was refreshing. Gloria Estefan's performance of the anthem wasn't stunning, but she remembered the lyrics and didn't play with the melody.

The 65,731 in attendance worked into a frenzy while Josh Beckett went one-two-three through the top of the Yankee lineup and Juan Pierre dropped a fly ball into right center for a double. Pierre's double should have been the first out of the game, but neither Bernie Williams nor Karim Garcia was able to get in position for the catch. New York almost caught a break with Luis Castillo and Ivan Rodriguez both making outs, but Miguel Cabrera hit a grounder past Alfonso Soriano into right field to score Pierre.

While Beckett pitched another three up, three down inning, Joe Buck spoke via phone with Simon Cowell from "American Idol", as FOX has found another way to jam promotions for their other programming into the broadcast. In the bottom of the third, Aaron Boone committed his fifth error of the post-season when he once again failed to cleanly field a ground ball, though the mistake didn't cost the Yankees a run.

Soriano struck out swinging to lead off the fourth, but Derek Jeter broke up Beckett's perfect game with a double into left, and Jason Giambi worked him for a walk, putting men on first and second. Williams popped a ball to short on the first pitch of his at-bat, leaving New York with one out to drive in their runners. Beckett had Hideki Matsui at 1-2 when he let slip a pitch that hit Matsui's shoe, loading the bases. Working with a tight strike zone, Beckett issued a walk to Jorge Posasa, bringing in the tying run.

Rain started to fall in the bottom of the fourth but play continued for another inning. When the umpires finally called for the tarp with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, the rain was pouring down. FOX went to a commercial break, came back and talked to Commissioner Bud Selig about how long they expected the delay to last, and then turned the broadcast over to local stations for the duration of the rain delay. Although the downpour was expected to let up quickly, the network couldn't be bothered to provide baseball related filler during the break in play. Later reports indicated the rain delay lasted 39 minutes.

Beckett and Mike Mussina were at 70 and 72 pitches respectively, so both managers were happy the rain delay didn't last long enough to keep them from returning to the mound. When play resumed, Pierre slapped a single over the head of Jeter and into left field. Pierre attempted to steal second on the first pitch to Castillo, but he didn't beat Posada's throw. Replays showed Pierre's foot slipped a little on take off and Jeter's high tag might have allowed Pierre's hand to reach the bag safely, making it a tough out for the Marlins' to swallow.

Florida twice missed a chance to score in the bottom of the sixth. IRod was on second after doubling into left, when Cabrera hit a line drive into right. Garcia dropped the ball and had to chase after it, but the Marlins held Rodriguez at third rather than sending him home. Derrek Lee then hit a bouncing grounder to the pitching mound, where Mussina knocked it down but didn't catch it. Rodriguez ran on contact, so when Mussina tossed the ball home, he was caught in a run-down situation. If he'd merely run straight back to third, he probably would have been safe. However, he sidestepped back toward the bag as Posada ran toward him, worried about waiving the runners forward, and fell down for an easy tag out. Mussina struck out Lowell and the inning ended without Florida scoring.

Coming back from the commercial break between innings, we saw two pitches to Garcia before the broadcast cut to a GMC ad. After the ad, we saw fan cam shots, and when the camera turned to the field, Aaron Boone was at the plate and the line at the top of the screen showed an out. One pitch into Boone's at-bat and we were back to commercials. This time the ad instructed us to see our Chicagoland Pontiac Dealer, so maybe our local affiliate accidentally cut in, but the entire sequence was bizarre. We missed two pitches of Boone's at-bat during the cut away, however we were back to see him strike out. I'm curious as to whether the phenomenon was strictly local or if others experienced something similar, as it struck us as a rather substantial mistake.

Despite our interrupted game feed, we could see the rain had resumed. David Cassidy gave a horrendous performance of "God Bless America" during the seventh inning stretch of which I will spare you the details. The grounds crew again removed the cover from the tarp in the bottom of the seventh, but the game went on through sheets of rain. FOX put up a weather map of the area to show the rain was supposed to move through quickly, but it didn't stop. I've never seen a baseball game continue through such conditions for multiple innings.

In the eighth, Soriano once again struck out to lead off the inning while Jeter followed him with a double down the first base line. Tim McCarver made a big point of chastising the Marlins' for not having Lee on the line to keep grounders like that hit by Jeter from getting through to the outfield. Jack McKeon responded to the double by pulling Beckett and sending Dontrelle Willis to the mound to pitch to Giambi. While Beckett was at 108 pitches and had been pitching for a long time due to the rain delay, he probably should have remained in the game to issue an intentional walk to Giambi and pitch to Williams.

While the pitching change was taking place, Derrek Lee visited the dugout, spoke to McKeon, and then returned to the field to speak to Willis. The Yankees' first base coach pointed this out to the umpires, who conferred and determined it counted as a mound visit, so the Marlins' would be unable to send anyone from the dugout to visit Willis without pulling him. Before throwing a pitch to the plate, Willis threw to first base as Florida believed Jeter may have missed first on his way to second, but the umpires ruled in New York's favor on the appeal.

After Willis issued a walk to Giambi, Williams hit a fly ball into deep centerfield. Pierre easily made the catch for the second out of the inning, but his throw wasn't able to reach third before Jeter, who'd waited at third for the catch and then taken off. Matsui drove a ball into left field for a single, scoring Jeter and giving the Yankees the lead. Willis walked Posada to load the bases, so with Ruben Sierra pinch hitting for Karim Garcia, McKeon moved to Chad Fox. Fox escaped without allowing the Yankees to increase their lead, but Mariano Rivera didn't give Florida a chance to come back in the bottom of the inning.

Boone led off the ninth with a homer out to left, increasing New York's lead to 3-1. Nick Johnson grounded out, but Fox left after walking Alfonso Soriano. Distracted by the runner at first, Braden Looper hit Jeter's lead elbow, putting men on first and second. David Dellucci hit a fly ball into left for the second out of the inning. Then with the rain still falling, Williams homered to straightaway centerfield. Pierre was back to the wall and leaped up attempting to make the catch, but he was just an inch or two left of where the ball came down, so the Marlins entered the bottom of the ninth needing to make up a 5 run deficit.

Jeff Conine hit a liner past Soriano and into right field for a single and then advanced to second on a passed ball, but Florida couldn't even drive him in to add one run to their total before the game ended.

The Marlins worked the count against Rivera a little better at the end than in the eighth when they allowed the New York closer to retire them using only six pitches. Nevertheless, that short inning should allow Rivera to return for an inning tomorrow, as he finished with only 23 pitches thrown over his two innings of work. Overall, Florida had a disappointing night at the plate, failing to capitalize on several scoring opportunities.