Yankees win 27th World Series with 7-3 Victory

(Clockwise from top left): Hideki Matsui watches his two run home run in the 2nd inning, the Yankees celebrating their record 27th championship and Andy Pettitte hurling a pitch in his winning effort. Photos courtesy (Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images) and http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0911/mlb.world.series.game6/content.1.html

11/4/09

The New York Yankees won their 27th World Series championship Wednesday night with a 7-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. The Yankees were led by Series MVP Hideki Matsui who finished the night 3-4 with 6 RBI, tying the single game WS record, on a home run, double and single. The Yankees have won more championships than any other American sports franchise and their first title in nearly a decade.

The "core 4" of the Yankees, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera, who all debuted in the 1995 season and have been together now for 5 championships, got their first ring since the 2000 season. The Yankees had won 3 championships in a row from '98-00 and 4 in the last 5 years before their 9-year "drought."

Jeter had 3 hits and 2 runs, Posada caught all 9 innings, Pettitte set a new record by being the first pitcher to start and win all 3 clinching games in the playoffs and Mo finished the game.

This championship justified nearly half a billion dollars ($462 million) in the off-season free agent acquisitions of CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett and the extravagant $1.5 billion Yankee stadium got a 'ship in just its first year, too. CC had a great post season and shook off some past struggles in October. He had 3 wins and a 1.98 ERA in 5 starts and frequently pitched on short rest.

Matsui led off the scoring with a 2-run homer in the second, and after a sac fly by Jimmy Rollins, "Godzilla" hit a 2-run single off of Pedro in the 5th inning to make the game 4-1 in favor of the Yanks. 2 innings later Matsui finished the Yankees scoring with a deep double off the wall in right center that scored 2 more runs and gave the Yankees their 7th run. He, Johnny Damon and Jorge Posada all are free agents after this season and the speculation was that the team would retain Posada and Damon and not re-sign Matsui, but after such a big performance it will be hard for the team to part ways with the Japanese slugger.

Alex Rodriguez, a man known for his spectacular regular season stats and choke jobs in the playoffs contributed with a great postseason this year. Despite leaked reports about how he took steroids with the Texas Rangers from 2001-3 and hip surgery that kept A-Rod on the bench until May. A new, wider batting stance and willingness to be just another guy and not so intensely focused on being the best player helped A-Rod to hit .365 with 6 HRs, including a couple of crucial game tying or go-ahead home runs.

On Phillies notes, at least Chase Utley tied Reggie Jackson, Mr. October himself, with a record 5 home runs in a single series. He owned the formidable lefty CC Sabathia and hit 3 jacks off of him.

The Phillies came within 2 games of being the last NL team to win back to back World Series titles since the Big Red Machine Cincinnati Reds did it back in 1975 and '76.

Ryan Howard set a new postseason record with 13 Ks in a World Series, but did hit a 2 run homer in the 6th inning. He struggled in the Series against New York's heavily left-handed starters and hit .207 against lefties this year.