Yeah, they spent the most money, but they spent the most money a lot of other years, too. Yeah, they had the best regular-season record in the game, but a lot of teams with the best regular-season record haven't won. Give the Yankees this: In 2009, they got the job done. They fully earned the title of champions. They deserve it, from ace CC Sabathia to Mariano Rivera, the unmatched closer. From Derek Jeter, a champion for the fifth time, to Alex Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui, who are finally champions for the first time. Rodriguez carried them through the postseason, Matsui through the clinching game of the World Series. They clinched with Andy Pettitte as the starting pitcher, just as they clinched the division, the Division Series and the American League Championship Series with Pettitte on the mound. They won Wednesday night for the 114th time this year, and they won the World Series for the 27th time in franchise history. They won it by taking down the defending champions, a Phillies team that earned its way here but will go home realizing that it wasn't at its best in the games that counted most. The Phillies forced the World Series to six games for the first time in six years, but the Yankees won it for the first time since 2000, and in the first year in their new, $1.5 billion ballpark. The park is ridiculously expensive and so is the team, but on this day and in this year, the Yankees lived up to their paychecks. They make the most, but they also won the most.
Phillies 6, Yankees 1 W:C. Lee (3-0) L:CC Sabathia (3-1)
Cliff Lee and Chase Utley got the Phillies off to a fast World Series start. Lee pitched a six-hitter to outduel CC Sabathia, Utley homered twice and the Phillies beat the Yankees 6-1.
-- AP GameCenter |
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VideoColumns:Knobler | Miller
Game 2
Yankees 3, Phillies 1 W:A.J. Burnett (1-0)
L:P. Martinez (0-1)
S:M. Rivera (4)
A.J. Burnett was in control on the mound for the Yankees. Hideki Matsui and Mark Teixeira homered off an otherwise sharp Pedro Martinez, giving the Yankees a 3-1 lead over the Phillies in Game 2. -- AP GameCenter |
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Game 3
Yankees 8, Phillies 5 W:A. Pettitte (3-0) L:C. Hamels (1-2)
Alex Rodriguez homered to start a big comeback for the Yankees. Nick Swisher and pinch-hitter Hideki Matsui also homered for the Yankees. Jayson Werth connected twice and Carlos Ruiz had one homer for the defending champion Phillies. -- AP GameCenter |
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VideoColumns:Miller | Knobler
Game 4
Yankees 7, Phillies 4 W:J. Chamberlain (1-0)
L:B. Lidge (1-1)
S:M. Rivera (5)
Alex Rodriguez delivered the biggest hit of his life, a go-ahead, two-out double in the ninth inning off Brad Lidge and the Yankees beat the Phillies 7-4 for a 3-1 lead in the World Series.
-- AP GameCenter |
Recap |
VideoColumns:Miller | Knobler
Game 5
Phillies 8, Yankees 6 W:C. Lee (4-0)
L:A.J. Burnett (1-1)
S:R. Madson (1)
Chase Utley hit two home runs and Cliff Lee won again to keep the Phillies from elimination. The Phillies' 8-6 victory forces a Game 6 for the first time since 2003.
-- AP GameCenter |
Recap |
VideoColumns:Knobler | Miller
Game 6
Yankees 7, Phillies 3 W:A. Pettitte (4-0)
L:P. Martinez (0-2)
The Yankees won the club's 27th title behind Andy Pettite on the mound and Hideki Matsui's record-tying six RBI.
-- AP GameCenter |
Recap |
VideoColumns:Knobler | Miller
After pinch hitting for two games in Philly, Matsui came back to Yankee Stadium as DH and took charge. He wasted no time, driving in his first two runs in the second inning. The next two came in the third inning with his two-run single and the last came in the fifth with a two-run double. His six RBI ties the World Series record set in 1960 and he is the first full-time DH to win the World Series MVP.
Martinez couldn't get the job done in Game 6. He lasted just four innings and 77 pitches, giving up four runs and three hits. He struck out five and walked two.
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Photo Gallery
Game 6: The Yankees clinch the club's 27th title in the first year of their new stadium. (Getty Images)
Hideki Matsui tied the World Series record with six RBI. The Yankees' Bobby Richardson set the mark in Game 3 against Pittsburgh in 1960.
With Chase Utley's two homers in Game 5, he joined Reggie Jackson as the only players to hit five home runs in a single World Series.
Ryan Howard now owns the record of strikeouts in a World Series at 13.
Eric Hinske appeared for Boston in the 2007 Series and in 2008 for Tampa Bay and joined Don Baylor (1986-88) as the only players to appear in three consecutive Series with three different teams.
No World Series champion has gone the entire postseason with just three starters since the 1991 Minnesota Twins -- when there were just two rounds of playoffs.
A.J. Burnett's two-plus innings start in Game 5 was the first time in 14 postseason games this year that a Yankees starter failed to pitch at least six innings.
For the first time in postseason history, the umpires consulted instant replay. In the fourth inning of Game 3, the umpires reviewed the call that gave Alex Rodriguez a double. The ruling was overturned and A-Rod was awarded a two-run homer.
Rodriguez's sixth homer this October (in Game 3) matched the Yankees' postseason record set by Bernie Williams in 1996.
Also in Game 3, Andy Pettitte connected off Cole Hamels with a run-scoring single to center -- the first by a Yankees pitcher in the World Series since Jim Bouton in 1964.
New York won a World Series title in its first season at the original Yankee Stadium in 1923 and played exactly 100 Series games there.
Andy Pettitte is baseball's all-time leader with 18 postseason victories. He also set a new recored with six series-clinching wins. This postseason, Pettitte pitched all three series-clinching games.
The Yankees were the last team to win consecutive titles when they captured three in a row from 1998-2000.
The Phillies are the first team to reach consecutive World Series since the New York Yankees in 2000-01.
This was Philadelphia's seventh trip to the World Series in 127 years. The Phillies beat Kansas City in 1980 and lost in 1915, 1950, 1983 and 1993. The Yankees swept Philadelphia in '50, winning the first three games of that series by one run.
Yeah, they spent the most money, but they spent the most money a lot of other years, too. Yeah, they had the best regular-season record in the game, but a lot of teams with the best regular-season record haven't won. Give the Yankees this: In 2009, they got the job done. They fully earned the title of champions. They deserve it, from ace CC Sabathia to Mariano Rivera, the unmatched closer. From Derek Jeter, a champion for the fifth time, to Alex Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui, who are finally champions for the first time. Rodriguez carried them through the postseason, Matsui through the clinching game of the World Series. They clinched with Andy Pettitte as the starting pitcher, just as they clinched the division, the Division Series and the American League Championship Series with Pettitte on the mound. They won Wednesday night for the 114th time this year, and they won the World Series for the 27th time in franchise history. They won it by taking down the defending champions, a Phillies team that earned its way here but will go home realizing that it wasn't at its best in the games that counted most. The Phillies forced the World Series to six games for the first time in six years, but the Yankees won it for the first time since 2000, and in the first year in their new, $1.5 billion ballpark. The park is ridiculously expensive and so is the team, but on this day and in this year, the Yankees lived up to their paychecks. They make the most, but they also won the most.
Phillies 6, Yankees 1 
Yankees 3, Phillies 1 
Yankees 8, Phillies 5
Yankees 7, Phillies 4 
Phillies 8, Yankees 6
Yankees 7, Phillies 3
Philadelphia Phillies
New York Yankees
