Watching the final two proved almost as excruciating.

Victorino, the Philadelphia Phillies center fielder, ducked into the home clubhouse for X-rays in the third inning, two innings after New York Yankees starter A.J. Burnett drilled him with a fastball. The exam revealed no fracture, so he played on despite swelling in his hand that made gripping a bat difficult.

But before the eighth inning, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel decided to remove Victorino with his club holding a six-run lead. As if on cue, the Yankees staged a three-run rally keyed by Alex Rodriguez's two-run double to left field that ticked off the glove of Raul Ibanez, who typically would have been removed had Victorino been healthy.

Worse yet, Victorino said Manuel didn't make it clear that he was coming out, so the center fielder had reason to brood as the Yankees rallied.

But after the Phillies held on for an 8-6 victory in Game 5 of the World Series, the Hawaii native's mood again was upbeat.

No broken bones. And no hard feelings.

"I wanted to play," Victorino said. "There was a miscommunication, but there's nothing to talk about. I don't want to be on the bench."

Manuel cited Victorino's inability to properly grip the bat and ball as his reason for removing him.

Victorino is confident the injury won't hinder him in the final two games of the Series.

He acknowledges he wasn't so sure of that when Burnett's fastball drilled him.

Victorino crumpled to the ground and stayed there awhile before moving to first. Since both benches were warned about inside pitches during Game 4 and Yankees batters have been hit by pitches five times, Burnett moved to quell any bad blood.

"A.J. apologized," Victorino said. "He felt very bad. I knew he was trying to come up and in. A.J. looked at me and said, 'My bad.' Definitely not retaliation."

Victorino's drilling preceded Chase Utley's game-turning three-run homer, but that was the extent of his contribution. He said the swelling "wasn't an excuse for me stinking it up," as he went 0-for-3 to drop his Series average to .167.

Enlarge By Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAY The Phillies' Shane Victorino was hit by Yankees starter A.J. Burnett. Victorino says Burnett apologized.