Yankees 7, Phillies 3
Champions! Yankees back on top of the heap
NEW YORK — If this was indeed sayonara to Hideki Matsui in the Big Apple, it was definitely a gift from Japan with love.
The New York Yankees are World Series champions again, wrapping up their record 27th title and first since 2000 with Wednesday's 7-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Matsui, their 35-year-old designated hitter who is not expected to be re-signed, did the major damage by collecting a Series record-tying six RBIs to seal Most Valuable Player honors.
Beloved New York left-hander Andy Pettitte pitched into the sixth inning on three days' rest, becoming the first starter in history to win the clinching game of all three rounds in a single postseason. Pettitte and fellow core Yankees Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada all earned the fifth Series titles of their careers as the Bronx Bombers claimed the title in their first season at the new Yankee Stadium.
Rivera went the final 1⅔ innings for the save, getting Shane Victorino for the final out.
The Yankees shared a group hug on the infield near the mound. They were then presented with the championship trophy on a stage set up behind second base. The stadium's giant HD board blared "This One is for the Boss," a reference to ailing owner George Steinbrenner. The players then retreated to the clubhouse, where they first had a closed-door chat with memers of the Steinbrenner family before staging the customary champagne celebration.
The Yankees won the series, four games to two, and kept the defending champion Phillies from becoming the National League's first repeat winners since the 1976 Cincinnati Reds.
"It's hard to win," said Jeter, the captain. "Maybe a few years ago we made it look easy, but it's not. This is a team that has a lot of heart and we showed it all year long."
Joe Girardi joined Billy Martin as Yankees managers who won championships both as skippers and as Yankees players.
"It's very different winning as the manager here," Girardi said. "It's just such a long road and you're so happy for all your guys."
Matsui hit a two-run homer in the second and a two-out, two-run single in the third off Phillies starter Pedro Martinez. He added a two-run double in the fifth off lefty reliever J.A. Happ to put the Yankees in a commanding 7-1 lead.
Audio Slideshow: Mike Harrington Reports From New York
Limited to pinch-hitting duties in the games at Citizens Bank Park, Matsui was 3 for 4 Wednesday and finished the series 8 for 13 with three homers and eight RBIs.
Matsui had some experience in this area. Playing for the Yomiuri Giants in Game Six of the 2000 Japanese World Series, he was 2 for 2 with four RBIs to clinch MVP honors. He finished that series 8 for 21 — also with three homers and eight RBIs.
"I was in a good situation," Matsui said Wednesday night. "I kept working pitches off. I got one I could hit. I put a good swing on it and I was very happy to see it was a home run."
Matsui's heroics gave Pettitte plenty of room to work with to get his 18th career postseason win, extending his all-time record.
It wasn't a great performance in the box score (5⅔ innings, three runs, four hits, five walks) but it gave the Yankees the bridge they needed to get to the back end of their bullpen.
"Matusi was unbelievable," Pettitte said. "He had some great at-bats. It made it easy for me to pitch the way he was swinging early in the game."
Knowing the lefty was probably in his last inning of the season, the crowd spent much of the sixth chanting "An-dy Pett-itte, An-dy Pett-itte." It was reminiscent of the way the fans honored beloved outfielder Paul O'Neill at the old ballpark across the street in the ninth inning of Game Five in 2001 against Arizona.
The sixth was a struggle for Pettitte as he gave up Ryan Howard's two-run homer to left that cut the Phillies' deficit to 7-3. One out later, Raul Ibanez doubled and Pettitte was lifted for Joba Chamberlain. Pettitte left the mound to a roaring ovation and doffed his hat to the crowd as he descended the dugout steps.
It was the sixth series clincher of Pettitte's career, also a big-league record, and he became the 10th pitcher in history to post the win in the ultimate game of two World Series. Pettitte also got the win in the Yankees' 1998 sweep at San Diego.
At this stage of their careers, neither Pettitte nor Martinez are going to wow anyone with their velocity. Pitches hitting 90 mph on the radar gun were virtually non-existent from either one on this night but Pettitte found the way to get outs when he needed to. Pedro couldn't.
The Yankees got things started with Matsui's at-bat in the second, an eight-pitch special in which he roped a long foul deep to right and another foul down the line. After taking the 2-2 pitch just inside, Matsui pounded the full-count delivery (an 89 mph fastball) deep into the second deck in right to get the crowd energized.
The Phillies answered in the third as Carlos Ruiz tripled with one out and Jimmy Rollins drove him in with a sacrifice fly. But Matsui hurt the Phils again in the bottom of the inning as a huge second-guess surfaced against manager Charlie Manuel.
With one out, Jeter singled on a ball that Victorino read poorly in center field and let drop in front of him. Johnny Damon walked and Martinez then hit Mark Teixeira with the first pitch to load the bases. Martinez recovered to get Alex Rodriguez to take a called third strike.
The Phillies had Happ up in the bullpen to face the left-handed Matsui but Manuel channeled his inner Grady Little and left Pedro in. Matsui drilled a fastball to left-center that brought home two runs — even though Matsui had homered off him the previous two at-bats in the series.
Leaving Martinez in didn't work for former Boston manager Little in Game Seven of the 2003 American League Championship Series at the old stadium. It didn't work for Manuel here either.
Martinez got ahead of Matsui, 0 and 2, with the second strike a loud foul ball that just missed the right-field line. But a strike away from keeping his team within a run, Martinez couldn't seal the deal. Matsui drove the next pitch, a high fastball, the other way to left-center to score two runs and make it 4-1.
It was more of the same in the fifth off Chad Durbin, who gave up an RBI single to Teixeira and was lifted after walking A-Rod. This time, Manuel went to Happ. But Matsui lofted a double off the wall in right-center to score two runs and make it 7-1.
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