The New York Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 last night in a fitting end to a great baseball season. It was fitting because one was the defending Champion and the other was the team with the best record this season. It was fitting because the two best teams in baseball battled for six hard fought games but in the end it was the New York Yankees who came out on top.
Hideki Matsui Wins World Series MVP Award
Hideki Matsui had a phenomenal World Series. He hit .615 in the series with three home runs and eight RBIs. His MVP performance was all the more impressive considering that he didn't even start in the three games in Philadelphia. His Game 6 performance was the stuff of legend. He hit a two-run home run off Pedro Martinez in the second, putting the Yankees on the board. He followed with two-run single in the third and a two-run double in the fifth. He tied a World Series record with his 6 RBIs.
Matsui is a free agent and it will be interesting to see if the Yankees bring him back. He is strictly a DH at this stage and that hamstrings the Yankees because ideally they would like to use that spot to give some of their veterans a break from playing the field. If this was his last game as a Yankee, he certainly went out with a bang.
Yankees Have Many Heroes in 2009 Post-Season
Many Yankees had big contributions in this post-season to help bring them this Championship. C.C. Sabathia pitched like the ace that he is, Andy Pettitte did a great job, A.J. Burnett was inconsistent but pitched some big games along the way. Mariano Rivera was his usual dominant self out of the bullpen and Damaso Marte was a pleasant surprise.
Offensively Derek Jeter had his usual excellent post-season. Johnny Damon came on strong late in the post-season after a slow start. Hideki had a huge contribution, culminating with his MVP performance in the World Series. Jorge Posada and Melky Cabrera both had big hits during the playoff run.
This post-season though, will be remembered as the coming out party for Alex Rodriguez. He finally got the playoff monkey off his back and had a great post-season. He led the Yankees in average (.365), home runs (6), RBIs (18), and OBP (.500). He won his first ever World Series Championship and should finally be accepted as a true Yankeee.
Joe Girardi Is Vidicated
Joe Girardi had a lot of pressure on him when he took the job as Yankees' manager. He was following a legend in Joe Torre. His first year was a disappointment as the Yankees missed the playoffs for the first time in thirteen years and there was talk that some veterans did not like him. Many fans and writers were even calling for his head. He would come back this year to lead the Yankees to 103 regular season wins. Yet throughout the regular season and into the playoffs, many were still questioning some of his managerial decisions. Perhaps his most controversial call, was his decision to go with three starters the entire most season, a radical plan by today's standards. He got the last laugh because the decision worked and it was a big reason why the Yankees won it all. Girardi earned his stripes as a manager this year.
Yankees Are Well-Deserved 2009 World Series Champions
Top to bottom, the Yankees were the best team in baseball this year and deserved to be World Series Champions. They pitched well, they played good defense, and they got big hits when they needed them. They were so good this year that they appeared to spook their opponents in the playoffs. The Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and Philadelphia Phillies were three of the most fundamentally sound teams in baseball during the regular season. Yet, when they played the Yankees in the playoffs, they committed errors defensively, they had baserunning miscues, they didn't make pitches when they needed to, and they had poor at-bats in big spots. That is what the Yankees do to teams. They force them to try to do too much and cause them to make mistakes. Meanwhile, the Yankees played crisp, sound baseball throughout the post-season. That is why the Yankees reclaimed their throne atop the baseball world. The question now is whether this is the beginning of another Yankee dynasty or a one year thing. No one has repeated since the Yankees in 2000 but they figure to come back mostly intact next season and will surely be the odds on favorites to win it all once again.
