Bronx, NY (Sports Network) – Hideki Matsui’s monster night at the plate was capped by the Yankees swarming the infield for a boisterous celebration of their unprecedented 27th World Series title, including the first for Alex Rodriguez.
Hideki Matsui’s Monster Night Propels Yanks To 27th Title
Matsui tied a World Series record with six RBI in one game, Andy Pettitte threw into the sixth inning for his postseason-record 18th win and New York beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-3, to clinch the World Series championship in six games.
Fittingly, the game ended with the playoff’s best closer of all-time on the mound as Mariano Rivera retired Shane Victorino on a ground ball to second base.
When Joe Girardi was hired as manager of the Yankees last year, he chose to wear No. 27 on his uniform and he guided baseball’s historic franchise to its first World Series title since 2000.
Matsui belted a two-run homer in the second inning and added a two-run single in the third, both off Pedro Martinez, and then drilled a two-run double off J.A. Happ in the fifth.
The six RBI equals the mark set by the Yankees’ Bobby Richardson in an October 8, 1960 Game 3 victory against Pittsburgh, a series in which New York lost in seven games.
Matsui, in the final season of a four-year, $52 million contract, saved his best for ultimately the last game of 2009. The 35-year-old, a three-time MVP of the Japanese Central League (1996, 2000 and 2002), and nicknamed Godzilla for his hitting power, had a huge series, going 8-for-13 with three homers and eight RBI.
The Yankees won the World Series with just three starting pitchers – CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Pettitte (2-0), who was the third straight hurler to go on three days’ rest. The southpaw allowed four hits and three runs, walked five and fanned three over 5 2/3 innings. Pettitte became the first Yankee starter to record more than one victory in a World Series since Mike Torrez defeated the Dodgers twice in 1977.
The Yankees, who spent $423.5 million in the offseason on three players – Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and Burnett – used that in part to gain their first World Series appearance since 2003. They finished it with a title in the inaugural year of the new Yankee Stadium with shortstop Derek Jeter, catcher Jorge Posada, Pettitte and Rivera all garnering their fifth World Series championship ring. Jeter had three hits and scored twice in the series clincher.
It was also the culmination of a roller-coaster year for Rodriguez. Before the season, the three-time AL MVP admitted to using steroids while a member of the Texas Rangers from 2001-03. He didn’t make his 2009 debut until May 8 because of hip surgery.
It was a record-setting World Series for Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, but one which he’d like to forget. Howard, who hit a two-run homer off Pettitte in the sixth inning, went 4-for-23 with a World Series-record 13 strikeouts over the six games. That broke the mark of 12 strikeouts by Kansas City’s Willie Wilson in 1980, the last time the Phillies won the World Series before Philadelphia captured last year’s championship over Tampa Bay.
The Phillies were trying to become the first back-to-back NL champion since Cincinnati in 1975-76.
Martinez (0-2), the losing pitcher in Game 2, left after giving up three hits and four runs over four frames.
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