Pettitte, on the other hand, made it a little longer than his rival, finding slightly better results. Over 5 2/3 innings Andy gave up three runs on four hits, working his way out of multiple jams with double plays and pure guile, pitching well enough to keep the Phillies' offensive in check enough to allow Matsui to do the rest.
Just because Pedro was out of the game after the 4th inning didn't mean that Matsui was done for the day as well. Far from it. Facing rookie lefty JA Happ (who was seen far too little in this series), Matsui continued his remarkable success against left-handed pitching, ripping a double to center that scored Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez in the fifth. That final RBI would represent the Yankees' seventh run of the night, more than enough for New York to secure the game and their 27th World Championship.
For Matsui it was his sixth RBI of the game, tying former Yankees' World Series MVP Bobby Richardson who first accomplished the feat in Game 3 of the 1960 Fall Classic against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The biggest difference being, of course, that Richardson also garnered the inauspicious distinction of becoming the only player to win a World Series MVP for a losing team, thanks in large part to Bill Mazeroski and his well timed Game 7 home run.
The year Matsui rumbled into New York as a 50-home run hitter in Japan, the Yankees reached the World Series but lost to the Flordia Marlins (2003). For the next five years Hideki — a stoic, fundamental cornerstone of the post-dynastic teams — turned in many very good seasons and playoff performances, but every year his teams fell short when it really counted. This time, in the last year of his Yankee contact, Matsui decided to take matters into his own hands in the clinching game, leaving nothing to chance.
Whether or not Hideki Matsui dons a Yankee uniform in 2010 — from the grand slam he crushed in his first at bat as a Yankee at the old Yankee Stadium to this Game 6, series ending victory in which he became one of the greatest New York World Series heroes ever — Matsui is now part of the storied Yankees' lore for as long as baseball is played.
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
Heck of a finish for a Series that I tried so hard to care about.
So I'm guessing it was Mike Mussina and Jason Giambi who held everyone else back all those years?
2 - Ruvy
Now that's it's winter in America (in more ways than one), the "boys of summer" are finally hanging up their pinstripes - gone so Americans can lose themselves in 6-packs and football/hockey/basketball shamelessly.
The most moneyed team in MLB wins another title. What a surprise!
3 - Tony
And Sheffield, Kevin Brown, Randy Johnson, Kenny Lofton, Rondell White....the list goes on and on.
The "most money" arguement is played out. It has been 9 years since the Yankees won a series and I'm pretty sure the contracts of Ibanez, Lee, Howard, Utley, Hammels, and Victorino aren't exactly cheap.
4 - doug m
Don't the Yanks have the highest payroll every year? Doesn't prove much.
Do they ever release the MVP voting numbers? I could have seen Rivera winning it. Heck, Utley and Lee were pretty valuable in defeat, but it seems it always has to go to winning team. Richardson was obvoiusly a fluke because theballots were turned before game ended
5 - Tony
Bobby Richardson was not a fluke. He hit .367 with 12 RBIs in a very low scoring series for the Pirates. The Yankees outscored the Pirates 55 to 27 so there were not a lot of choices from the Pirates' side of things. Roberto Clemente and Hal Smith led the team RBIs with 3 and Clemente and Mazerowski were the only regulars who hit over .300. The entire series was a fluke, not Richardson.