Yankees Win Number 27

Last night the New York Yankees won Game 6, 7-3 to win their 27th World Series Title. Though the Yankees were favorites thoughout the playoffs, they overcame the perception that they couldn’t win it with their current roster, and that they would find a way to lose like they had over the last few years. The Yankees also overcame the pressure to vindicate their manager Joe Girardi’s decision to go with a three man rotation and have his starters go on three days rest. Many people questioned whether the pitching staff could handle the extra workload, and last night SP Andy Pettitte showed he was up to the challenge going 5 and 2/3 innings giving up just 3 runs, on his way to a 7-3 victory.

The real hero last night was designated hitter Hideki Matsui, who went 3-4 and drove in six runs. Matsui killed the ball all series, batting .615, with a .643 on base percentage, a ridiculous 1.385 slugging percentage. Matsui had as many home runs as the rest of the Yankees combined, despite only starting in half of the games. He also paced the team by driving in eight runs in the series, which led to him being named MVP of the World Series.

For Matsui, Pettitte and the rest of the Yankees the monkey is officially off their backs. Since losing to the Diamondbacks in the 2001 World Series, the Yankees haven’t been able to return to the greatness they had in the late 90’s. They were pretty easily defeated by the young upstart Marlins in 2003, then the embarrassing loss to the Red Sox in 04, to missing the playoffs entirely last year, the Yankees had really failed to deliver on the hype and talent that they have on opening day. This year though that changed, they were everyone’s preseason favorite to win the World Series, and they delivered on that prediction. They were the best team in baseball from start to finish, and showed a level of professionalism that had been lacking for a while. The best thing about the 2009 Yankees, and something that really couldn’t be said about them for awhile, is they won and lost together as a team. Despite all the star power, this wasn’t a one man show, no one player was bigger than anyone else. A lot of credit goes to Girardi and the players for staying focused and finding a way to win. Congratulations to everyone on the Yankees, our 2009 World Series Champions.