Yankees Win 2009 World Series-Recap

The World Series has turned out to be better than expected. The power-house New York Yankees against the defending Champion Philadelphia Phillies. At the beginning of the post-season very few MLB handicappers had this match-up in the World Series.

Many experts had slated the Yankees as their baseball pick to win it all due to their MLB leading 103 wins and talent filled line-up. Phily wasn’t even supposed to get to the NLCS. Not sure why the pro’s missed on them, because they have virtually the same team as last season with the addition of star pitcher Cliff Lee. Lee has lived up to the hype as he has blown away the competition during the season and in the playoffs. The Yankees struggled against him in both of his World Series starts including a brilliant complete game in game 1.

Manager Charlie Manuel decided not to pitch Lee in game 4 on 3 days rest. Lee had no reputation of pitching on short rest, so Manuel stuck to his guns and scheduled him for a game 5 start. This might have been the nail in the coffin for the Phillies. The Bombers matched their ace CC Sabathia against Lee in game 1. While he pitched fairly well, he was clearly over-matched by the dominant performance of Lee. However, Sabathia proved in the ALCS that he is just as effective on 3 days rest as he is on 4. His game 4 performance was solid. He allowed 3 runs in 6 2/3 innings with 6 strikeouts and received a no decision.

After going down with a 6-1 loss in game 1, the Yanks looked to their other off-season acquisition AJ Burnett to keep them alive. Burnett has an amazing array of pitches including what has been said to be the best curveball in baseball. However, he is known for having an occasional “blowup” inning. His game 2 performance was clearly the best game of his career. He threw 7 innings allowing 1 run on 4 hits with 9 strikeouts. This was apparently just what the Yanks needed to get jump started. New York woke up offensively in game 3 as they hammered out 8 hits including homeruns by ARod, Matsui and Swisher. Rodriguez hit a ball off of an over-hanging camera in right field that was eventually called a homerun after a review by the umpires. That homer got them out of the 3-0 hole they were in and propelled them to the victory.

Game 5 was clearly a letdown for the Yanks after gaining momentum and taking control of the series 3-1. The Phillies are a feisty team that never gives up. They hammered Burnett as he had a couple of his “blowup” innings in rout to an 8-6 loss. The resilient Yankees have found a way to win regardless of the circumstances. They had more walk-off wins this year than any team in baseball, and were not detoured by the loss in game 5.

Hideki Matsui came to play in game 6. He started with a 2-run homerun in the 2nd inning, and finished with a World Series tying 6 runs batted in. The Yanks closeout the game in the usual fashion, with Mariano Rivera getting the final out.

The New York Yankees have won their 27th World Series Championship with relative ease. Expect many more Championships as long as they keep this group together. Congratulation to the 2009 World Series Champion New York Yankees!

Related posts:

1. Baseball Predictions on the Championship Series
2. 2009 Divisional MLB Picks
3. Sunday Night Baseball: Yankees vs. Red Sox
4. Yankees try to avoid sweep against Blue Jays
5. MLB Monday Night: Yankees vs. Red Sox

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