Hideki Matsui's monster night at the plate was
capped by the Yankees swarming the infield for a boisterous celebration of
their unprecedented 27th World Series title, including the first for Alex
Rodriguez.
Matsui tied a World Series record with six RBI in one game, Andy Pettitte
threw into the sixth inning for his postseason-record 18th win and New York
beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-3, to clinch the World Series championship
in six games.
Fittingly, the game ended with the playoff's best closer of all-time on the
mound, as Mariano Rivera retired Shane Victorino on a ground ball to second
base.
When Joe Girardi was hired as manager of the Yankees last year, he chose to
wear No. 27 on his uniform to symbolize the team's next championship, and he
guided baseball's historic franchise to its first World Series title since
2000.
Matsui belted a two-run homer in the second inning and added a two-run single
in the third, both off Pedro Martinez, and then drilled a two-run double off
J.A. Happ in the fifth. Matsui became the first full-time designated hitter to
win the World Series MVP.
The six RBI equals the mark set by the Yankees' Bobby Richardson in an October
8, 1960 Game 3 victory against Pittsburgh, a series in which New York lost in
seven games.
Matsui, in the final season of a four-year, $52 million contract, saved his
best for ultimately the last game of 2009. The 35-year-old, a three-time MVP
of the Japanese Central League (1996, 2000 and 2002), and nicknamed Godzilla
for his hitting power, had a huge series, going 8-for-13 with three homers and
eight RBI.
The Yankees won the World Series with just three starting pitchers - CC
Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Pettitte (2-0), who was the third straight hurler
to go on three days' rest. The southpaw allowed four hits and three runs,
walked five and fanned three over 5 2/3 innings. Pettitte became the first
Yankee starter to record more than one victory in a World Series since Mike
Torrez defeated the Dodgers twice in 1977.
The Yankees, who spent $423.5 million in the offseason on three players -
Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and Burnett - used that in part to gain their first
World Series appearance since 2003. They finished it with a title in the
inaugural year of the new Yankee Stadium with shortstop Derek Jeter, catcher
Jorge Posada, Pettitte and Rivera all garnering their fifth World Series
championship ring. Jeter had three hits and scored twice in the series
clincher.
It was also the culmination of a roller-coaster year for Rodriguez. Before the
season, the three-time AL MVP admitted to using steroids while a member of the
Texas Rangers from 2001-03. He didn't make his 2009 debut until May 8 because
of hip surgery.
Ryan Howard had a record-setting World Series for the Phillies, but it was one
he would like to forget. Howard, who hit a two-run homer off Pettitte in the
sixth inning, went 4-for-23 with a World Series-record 13 strikeouts over the
six games. That broke the mark of 12 strikeouts by Kansas City's Willie Wilson
in 1980, when the Phillies won their first World Series in franchise history
before adding last year's championship over Tampa Bay.
The Phillies were trying to become the first NL team to win back-to-back World
Series titles since Cincinnati in 1975-76.
Martinez (0-2), the losing pitcher in Game 2, left after giving up three hits
and four runs over four frames.
Already ahead 4-1, the Yankees tacked on three runs in the fifth. Jeter hit a
ground-rule double to left-center field and moved to third on a sacrifice
bunt. Teixeira singled up the middle to plate the runner before Rodriguez
walked. Matsui then greeted Happ by crushing a 3-1 offering off the base of
the wall in right field, scoring two more.
Howard homered to left field with Chase Utley on base in the sixth, but after
Raul Ibanez doubled, Joba Chamberlain retired Pedro Feliz on a ground ball to
end the inning.
The Phillies threatened in the seventh, putting men on first and second, but
Damaso Marte fanned Utley to end the frame. Rivera came in with one out and
nobody on base in the eighth, and although Ibanez doubled with two outs, Feliz
fouled out to Posada.
Rivera worked around a one-out walk to Carlos Ruiz in the ninth, retiring
Jimmy Rollins on a fly ball to deep right field and Shane Victorino on a
groundout to second base. When Teixeira received Robinson Cano's throw at
first for the final out, the celebration began...for a 27th time.
When Martinez stepped to the mound on the brisk night at Yankee Stadium, the
chants of "Who's your daddy?" were consistently heard from the capacity crowd,
trying to heckle the three-time Cy Young Award winner.
He walked Rodriguez on four pitches to start the second. Matsui, who homered
off Martinez in the sixth inning of Game 2, then clubbed a four-seam fastball
on the inside corner to the second deck in right field for his third round-
tripper of this series. It came on the eighth pitch of the at-bat.
With one out in the Philadelphia third, Ruiz tripled to the gap off the
wall in left-center field and scored on a Rollins fly ball to right.
The Yankees loaded the bases in the third as Jeter singled, Johnny Damon
walked and Teixeira was hit by a pitch on his right thigh, but Rodriguez
looked at a called third strike on the outside corner for the second out.
Matsui nearly had a hit for extra bases, but it hooked foul down the right
field line. Facing an 0-2 count, New York's designated hitter lined a two-run
single to center field.
Game Notes
Damon left the game after three innings due to a strained right calf and was
replaced in left field by Jerry Hairston Jr...The Phillies, who won, 8-6, on
Monday in Game 5, went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left eight
men on base...Pettitte has won six series-clinching games in his career. He
became the first pitcher to win more than one World Series clincher since
Jimmy Key won Game 6 for Toronto in 1992 and Game 6 for the Yankees in
1996...Rodriguez finished the postseason with 18 RBI, the most in Yankees
history for a single playoff year...The last team to start three different
pitchers on three days rest between two starts in the same World Series was
Atlanta in 1992, when Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and Steve Avery all did it in
a six-game loss to the Blue Jays.
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