Go, go Godzilla: Yankees win World Series
Led by designated hitter Hideki Matsui's 6 RBI night - perhaps in his last game in pinstripes - the New York Yankees won their 27th championship and their first since 2000, beating the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 in Game 6 and winning the 2009 World Series, four games to two.
Matsui, the Japanese star whose nickname is "Godzilla," trampled on the Phillies. He was 8 for 13 in the World Series. On Wednesday at Yankee Stadium, he hit a two-run homer into the second deck in right field in the second inning and a bases-loaded single in the third against Phillies starter Pedro Martinez, who only lasted four innings. He had a two-run double against J.A. Happ in the fifth. Matsui was named MVP of the series despite not starting in any of the three games in Philadelphia. His six RBI tied a World Series game record set in 1960 by the Yankees' Bobby Richardson.
The Yankees' Andy Pettitte pitched well on three days' rest and is 6-2 in games that the Yankees can clinch a postseason series in his career. It was the 18th win of his postseason career, extending his own record, and it was his fifth World Series win, his second in this World Series. He's also a free agent after the season, but it's very unlikely he'll end up in another uniform at age 37. He could opt to retire, however - going out on top.
Mariano Rivera came on in the eighth and finished off the game in the ninth, retiring the Phillies' Shane Victorino for the final out on a ground ball to second baseman Robinson Cano as the Yankees won a championship in their first year in the new Yankee Stadium. The Yankees also won a title in the first year of the old Yankee Stadium, way back in 1923. They also won that World Series in six games, over the New York Giants.
It was the fifth championship for Pettitte, Rivera, shortstop Derek Jeter and catcher Jorge Posada, all with the Yankees, and the first title for many of their high-priced free agents, such as Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, A.J. Burnett and Matsui. And Johnny Damon became the first player to win championships with the Red Sox and Yankees since Babe Ruth.
Comments
Didn’t A.J. get a ring with the 2003 Marlins?
Don’t know if he actually has a ring. He had Tommy John surgery and was out that whole year, so I didn’t count it.
-SK
Sounds like AJ agrees with you: Burnett said his ‘03 World Series ring is “in the house somewhere with the box they gave it to me. I thought about trading it in to get a house. I didn’t pitch. I felt like I wasn’t part of it.” http://bit.ly/3myjbe