Yankees hit jackpot, prove that every underdog has his (pay) day

NEW YORK -- The World Series takes personal checks. Credit and debit cards, too.

Score one for the Yankees, and their bankers. Hideki Matsui as World Series MVP? Maybe. The three home runs were clutch, and the World Series record-tying six RBI in Game 6 were smashing.

But the chief bean counter who sat behind the desk last winter and approved the expenditure of nearly $425 million to hoist CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett aboard the U.S.S. Yankee? Now there's a true Yankee.

In the end, Team Steinbrenner delivered a 7-3 gold-plated, Game 6 World Series clincher for the ages, knocking the stuffing out of these Phillies and Pedro Martinez at every turn. On a 48-degree evening Wednesday, they won their 27th World Series title and, finally, climbed out of the muck of their long and torturous drought.

"Pinstripes are bigger than baseball," Teixeira said while The Champs were in Philadelphia the other day.

Consider that the corporate update of the old Joe DiMaggio line, "It's great to be young and a Yankee."

"When you play for an organization like this, you humble yourself," Tex continued.

Or you wear a lot of rings and keep your financial adviser on speed dial.

"You can call us anything you want," Yanks GM Brian Cashman noted. "You're also going to have to call us world champions."

Andy Pettitte won the clincher on short rest, Joe Girardi proved he can fill (at least partially) Joe Torre's World Series-winning manager's office, Alex Rodriguez no longer is a postseason klutz and the virginal new Yankee Stadium was christened with its first champagne bath.

"This is for the players to enjoy and for my dad to enjoy, it really is," Hank Steinbrenner, 52, senior vice-president of the Yankees and Son of You Know Who, said.

"I don't know if this could be more perfect," Hal Steinbrenner, 39, executive vice-president and No. 2 Son of You Know Who, said. "Moving into this unbelievable new stadium that the fans have loved all year long.

"This was exactly what needed to happen."

The Yankees are kings of the baseball world. They are Pedro's daddies, and Sugar Daddies. The Bronx Bombers ride again.

The Commissioner's Trophy again will wake up in the city that never sleeps.

The wait between World Series titles must have been interminable for both the Yankees and for their fans. Nine whole years! That's, like, a century in Royals years. It's as if the St. Louis Browns lived again.

The "Core Four" players remaining from the last Yankees championship team -- Pettitte (Game 6 winner Wednesday), Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and closer Mariano Rivera -- have been doing their best to prop up a franchise gone ragged.

But they couldn't do it alone. And they certainly couldn't do it with Jason Giambi ... or Carl Pavano ... or Mike Mussina ... or Raul Mondesi ... or Gary Sheffield ... or Randy Johnson or Sidney Ponson ... or any number of other free agents and trade acquisitions they lured to Gotham with the promise of riches and rings.

Why, until closer Rivera retired Shane Victorino on a harmless bouncer to second to kick off another celebration, the pinstripes had turned so rusty that few thought the Yankees could do it again.

It's remarkable how the Yankees take castoffs like A.J. Burnett, Alex Rodriguez and CC Sabathia and turn them into champions. (AP)

Even the Yankees weren't sure.

Cashman actually said before the AL Championship Series started that the Angels "looked down" on them. No wonder the Yanks had to out-bid the Angels by $20 million last winter for CC Sabathia and Teixeira. Not $20 million combined, $20 million for each.

Tabloid Prince Alex Rodriguez, after his big home run in Philadelphia the other day, actually uttered the phrase that "for the first time in my career, I've felt like an underdog."

Odd. Because until now, the only way he could get into a World Series was to opt out of his $252 million contract with the Yankees during the 2007 Fall Classic. Prompting this gem from an angry Hank Steinbrenner: "Does he want to go into the Hall of Fame as a Yankee, or a Toledo Mud Hen?"

See, things have not simply been handed to these guys. Though, technically, A-Rod did pocket another record-setting, 10-year, $275 million deal in the fallout.

As left fielder Johnny Damon has said repeatedly this fall, "We've been a team of battlers all year long."

Translation: They didn't even use an understudy for Teixeira when his bat disappeared during the World Series. And from what everyone could tell, the gritty A-Rod even dressed himself without the aid of assistants all summer long.

In the end, the Yankees played every underdog angle they could, even bypassing old standby Yogi Berra in favor of bringing in Scott Brosius to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 6.

And at the end, it was another Yankees team that made all red-blooded patriots everywhere proud. Even Rudy Giuliani and Kate Hudson, too.

"Alex is happy," Yankees Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson said. "And I saw Kate, she was smiling so much I barely recognized her."

The 50,315 packing Yankee Stadium started smelling blood by the time Matsui's two-run double finished rolling in the outfield in the fifth inning, driving in two runs to extend the Yankees lead to 7-1. At least, I think it was blood. It could have been the Prime Rib in the "Legends Suite" seats behind the plate they were smelling. I don't know.

But with Joba Chamberlain working his way through the sixth, Damaso Marte through the seventh and into the eighth and then, finally, Rivera entering in the eighth to finish it off, a similar, guttural roar that was so often heard at the old stadium swelled and crested.

From there, it was only a matter of time. The money was spent, and so were the Phillies.

As for the impending outcry from the game's paupers that it's just not fair, Team Steinbrenner already has its talking points in order. As you might expect, after casting a wide net in the free-agent market last winter, the one thing they won't be buying is all the whining.

"No, because we've had pretty hefty payrolls in the past," Hal Steinbrenner said. "Having the highest payroll in baseball doesn't guarantee you're going to win. We're proud that the money we made last year we put back into this."

Translation: Suck on it, Pirates.

Maybe one day, players on the other 29 teams can grow up to become Yankees. Or, at least, perhaps one day they'll be lucky enough to have the Yankees purchase their contracts.

For now, the Yankees are back on top and, as they'll be happy to tell you, all is right in the world.