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Episode 27

The Empire Strikes Back (Again)

                     Mike DiPatri 11/5/09

   

 What a way to break in a new stadium!  Do it with a championship.  The Yankees did it in 1923 (the first year in the old stadium) too.  Last night the Yankees wrapped up their 27th World Series championship with a 7-3 win over the Phillies in game 6.  This was a really great ending to a terrific season.  For the first time since 1996, the two absolutely best teams were in the Series.  That doesn’t happen every year but it did this year.  As a Yankees fan, I have to admit that I was concerned about the Phillies going in, and it turns out I was right.  They are a very good team; one that can suddenly get things done to get momentum going in their direction.  They proved themselves to be the class of the National League as well.

 Right from the start, you could tell it was going to be a good one.  Game one became the Cliff Lee and Chase Utley show as Lee stifled the Yankees hitters for the entire game.  Utley hit two homers off Sabathia.  Of course, that turned out to be just the first two of his record-tying five homers in one Series.  Game two saw the return of Pedro Martinez to Yankee Stadium.  Things didn’t go well for him.  On top of that, A.J. Burnett pitched the game of his life to shut down the Phillies.  Game three was a regular old game, but then game four came around.  The Yankees looked like they’d win, but Joba gave up a tying homer.  In the ninth, it got really exciting.  Johnny Damon got a single , stole second and knowing the Phillies were in a shift for Texiera went to third when nobody was covering.  Brad Lidge was pitching for the Phiilies.  He has a strong spike pitch that he could not throw because if it got past the catcher, a run would score.  He hit Texiera.  That forced him to get a pitch up to A-Rod and he doubled into the left field corner.  That scored Damon and moved Texiera to third.

Then Posada got a hit to score both runners.  For Yankees fans that made us start to feel better about the Series.  But the game that really gave me confidence was game five.  Lee was pitching and I figured he beat the Yankees again.  He did, but the Yankees made a valiant comeback .  After being down by six, they rallied to lose by only two.

 The Series moved back to the Bronx for game six.  Pettite was pitching in the clinching game for the third post-season series.  Though pitching on short rest, he looked really sharp.  Pedro, on the other hand just could not get it going.  Hideki “Godzilla” Matsui went wild.  He hit a two-run homer, two-run double and a two-run single.  He drove in six of the seven runs the Yankees scored. 

 This Series saw a lot of unexpected stuff.  The regular big bats of Ryan Howard and Mark Texiera were really quiet.  Howard and A-Rod both struck out a bunch.  Then it seemed Chase Utley homered every time he came up.  In game six, Damaso Marte threw six pitches in the game and struck out both Utley and Howard.  It was what the World Series is supposed to be.  That is, the best team from each league playing hard against each other.  This time it really happened and the Yankees really had to work for this win.  There are four Yankees players who were around on those teams that won four of five Series in the late 1990’s and 2000.  Posada, Jeter, Pettite and Riviera each got a ring for his thumb.  It was a good Series, one that was fun to watch for both sides.