Yankees-Phillies: Hideki Matsui, Andy Pettitte, NY Win 2009 World Series, 7-3
November 5, 2009 · Doug Rush · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
The energy was in the Bronx on Wednesday night. There was a special feeling in the new Yankee Stadium that could be felt by the thousands who were there.
Game Six of the 2009 World Series between the Yankees and Phillies took place in the big ballpark in the Bronx, and there was no shortage of excitement for the fans.
The Yankees were sending up their most reliable pitcher in the postseason in Andy Pettitte, while the Phillies were countering with Pedro Martinez, a former nemesis of the Yankees.
While Martinez was on full rest from pitching in Game Two, Pettitte was pitching on three days’ rest after winning Game Three on Saturday.
Pettitte started off the game with quality pitching, and even got Chase Utley to bounce into a double play to end the top of the first inning to get the crowd into the game early.
Martinez kept the Yankees off the board with a perfect first, and Pettitte came back for a strong second inning.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Yankees struck off Pedro. After Alex Rodriguez walked, Hideki Matsui took a Martinez fastball and drilled it into the second deck of the right field seats, and the Yankees were quickly up 2-0.
In the top of the third inning, Carlos Ruiz tripled and Jimmy Rollins hit a sacrifice fly to right field to cut the lead to 2-1.
In the bottom of the third, the Yankees were looking for more runs. Derek Jeter singled to center, Johnny Damon walked, and Mark Teixeira was hit by a pitch. Alex Rodriguez struck out for the second out, which put Matsui up to bat with the bases loaded.
Matsui singled to center to bring home Jeter and Damon, and the Yankees were now ahead 4-1.
Pettitte pitched another scoreless fourth and fifth inning and showed no signs of a tired arm pitching on three days’ rest.
Martinez was done before the fifth inning started. Pedro pitched only four innings, allowed three hits, four runs, walked two, and struck out five. Pedro wasn’t sharp on this night and the Yankee hitters took full advantage of his mistakes.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, with Jeter on third, Teixeira singled to center off Chad Durbin to bring home Jeter, and the Yankees took a 5-1 lead.
J.A. Happ relieved Durbin after he walked A-Rod, and Matsui drilled a Happ pitch to deep right center field to bring home Teixeira and A-Rod and the Yankees were now up 7-1. The crowd in the Bronx was electric and could feel the offense bringing home a championship on this night.
In the top of the sixth inning, with Utley on, Ryan Howard hit his first home run of the series, a two-run shot to left field, and cut the lead to 7-3. Pettitte got Jayson Werth to strike out, but allowed a double to Raul Ibanez, which was the final batter Pettitte would see.
Pettitte pitched five-and-two-thirds-innings, allowed four hits, three runs, walked five, and struck out three.
On three days’ rest, Pettitte was still strong enough to guide his team to the biggest win of the season.
Joba Chamberlain relieved Pettitte and got Pedro Feliz to ground out to third to end the top of the sixth inning.
In the top of the seventh inning, Joba had Ruiz and Shane Victorino on with two outs and Joe Girardi brought in lefty Damaso Marte, who struck out Utley to get the final out of the seventh, a huge strikeout.
In the top of the eighth inning, Marte had one final batter to get out in Howard and he ringed him up with a slider, notching another huge strikeout. After the first out, Girardi called on the best closer ever to play the game in Mariano Rivera to go the rest of the way.
Rivera struck out Werth for the second out, allowed a double to Ibanez, but got Feliz to fly out to Jorge Posada, and ended the eighth. The Yankees were three outs away.
In the top of the ninth inning, Matt Stairs batted for Ben Francisco and lined out to Jeter for the first out.
Ruiz was able to get on with a walk. Rollins flied out to deep right field for the second out, and the crowd was buzzing. One more out to go, which left it up to Victorino.
Victorino battled Rivera for nine pitches, but finally grounded the ball to Cano, who threw out Victorino for the final out. The 2009 World Series was all over, and the Yankees won Game Six 7-3.
Pettitte won the game for the Yankees, going 4-0 in the 2009 playoffs, while Martinez took the loss. Pettitte now has 18 career wins in the playoffs, which is the all-time record. Pettitte was also the winning pitcher for each clinching game in every series of the 2009 postseason.
Matsui was the star of the night, going 3-for-4 with a home run and six RBI. Matsui also went 8-for-13 in the series and was named the 2009 World Series Most Valuable Player, an honor so fitting for Matsui as he was one of the most consistent and classiest players for the Yankees since 2003. He not only finally won a championship, but a World Series MVP Award to go along with it.
Following the game, the Yankees mobbed the center of the diamond and celebrated as a team and were given the 2009 World Series hats and T-shirts.
In his second season with the Yankees, Girardi wins his first World Series as a manager after winning three as a player.
Jeter, who went 3-for-5 in Game Six and finished the postseason hitting .344, won his fifth World Series along with Rivera, Posada, and Pettitte.
Damon, who had to leave the game in the third with a strained hamstring, won his second World Series after winning one in 2004 with the Red Sox.
After 15 long years, some of which were filled with disappointment, A-Rod finally has won his first World Series. He didn’t have his best performance in the series itself, but still batted .365 with six huge home runs in the 2009 playoffs. After all the criticism he took since coming to New York, it was nice to see A-Rod finally win the big one while in pinstripes.
For the Phillies hitters, except for Utley, nobody really stepped up in the series. In Game Six, Ibanez went 2-for-3 and Ruiz went 2-for-2, but nobody else had a good game Wednesday night.
Overall, the Phillies still had a tremendous 2009 season that saw them win the National League East division for the third straight year and won the National League Championship for the second straight season, but they just fell two games short of repeating as World Series Champions.
For the Yankees, after nine long years of championship-less baseball, they finally bring back a championship to the Bronx. For guys like Teixeira, Nick Swisher, CC Sabathia, and A.J. Burnett, all additions during the offseason, it was their first Fall Classic that ended up with a championship. For all the signings made in the winter, Brian Cashman’s investments paid off tremendously in their first season with the Yankees.
In their first season in the New Yankee Stadium, after opening on April 16, 2009, the Yankees bring home its first championship on Nov. 4, just seven months after opening and seven months worth of great opening memories to the ballpark’s first season.
For Yankees Universe, 11 down, none to go, and the Yankees have won World Series Championship No. 27.
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