World Series Wrap: Meditations in a Celebration

I'm a sports fan, and I'm a New Yorker. I was born here, I live here and I follow the sports teams here with a rabid passion. And I can rattle off the list below on command.

1994 Rangers
1996 Yankees
1998 Yankees
1999 Yankees
2000 Yankees
2007 Giants

Those are the teams that won it all, the teams that made every postseason heartbreak, every last-place finish and every Knicks season in the last decade worth it. These are my championship teams.

After seven months, 177 games and countless hours in front of the television, it's finally time to add the 2009 Yankees to that list.

The Bombers captured their 27th World Series title with a 7-3 win over the defending champion Phillies in Game 6 (and it couldn't have come against a better sports town... not really). Andy Pettitte got the win -- extending his MLB records to 18 postseason victories and six series-clinching wins, including all three this postseason -- and World Series MVP Hideki Matsui blasted a home run and a double on his way to six RBIs.

I'll have a complete look at the season that was later today. For now, here are five points from Game 6, one for each ring now owned by the Dynasty Boys.

--Since Pedro Martinez's infamously called the Yankees his "daddy" in 2004, derisive chants of "WHO'S YOUR DAD-DY?" have rung down from the Yankee Stadium stands. After Wednesday's game, I think we have the answer: Matsui.

Godzilla continued to completely own Pedro, blasting a two-run homer and a two-run single to single-handedly give the Bombers a 4-1 lead and chase Martinez. For the series, Matsui was perfect against Pedro, going 4-4 with a walk, two singles, two home runs and five RBIs. For his career, Matsui is 9-for-19 against Pedro in the postseason. And for those of you who weren't at Fenway Park on September 24, 2004, it was Matsui's game-tying home run off Pedro that started a go-ahead rally and led to Pedro "daddy" comment in the first place. So I guess Matsui was his papa all along.

For the series, Matsui hit .615 with three homers and eight RBIs. Those kind of numbers make you the first full-time DH to win a World Series MVP. Matsui's has now made his playoff bones on two continents; he won a Japan Series MVP for the Yomiuri Giants in 2000.

--Anyone 21 and over may fondly remember Graeme Lloyd, the left-handed specialist who was so effective against Rusty Greer, Fred McGriff and Ryan Klesko in the 1996 postseason. Well, Damaso Marte is this year's Graeme Lloyd.

In fact, Marte was much better than the swashbuckling Australian. Beginning with Game 2 of the ALCS, Marte retired 12 consecutive hitters over seven appearances, culminating with sick strikeouts of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard on Wednesday. Not bad, considering Utley's record-tying five World Series homers and Howard's 45 jacks in the regular season.

Saying Marte struck out the Phillies' Murderer's Row doesn't even do it justice. He did it on six pitches, three to each, all strikes. That's pretty much perfect.

--You can't say enough about how gritty Pettitte's performance was. Three runs, four hits and five walks in 5 2/3 innings doesn't look like much on a stat sheet, but anyone who saw the game knows how good it was. The veteran southpaw cruised into the sixth, allowing only one hard-hit ball, a triple by Carlos Ruiz in the third. His backdoor cutter was falling over the outside corner, his accuracy was impeccable and his concentration never wavered. Only when he tired in the sixth did he lose his command, walking Utley and surrendering a opposite-field home run to Howard (on a good outside pitch at that). A double by Raul Ibanez later in the inning finally chased Pettitte, who left to more than a standing ovation.

The Yankee Stadium fans chanted his day during the Ibanez at-bat, sensing that one way or another, this inning would be his last. It was reminiscent of the crowd's tribute to Paul O'Neill in Game 5 of the 2001 World Series, his final game at Yankee Stadium. Pettitte has earned a similar place in pinstripe lore, and if this win was really his last hurrah, I can only tip my cap to one of the all-time Yankee greats and the best postseason starting pitcher I have ever seen.

--Watching the postgame analysis on ESPN, I heard Bobby Valentine provide a rare grain of insight among the cacophony of voices. "The Yankees always play 'New York, New York' after wins," he said, "and Joe Girardi should be singing 'I Did It My Way' right now."

I was struck by the reference to two great Frank Sinatra songs (though the title of the latter is wrong -- no 'I did it') and the fact that Girardi did indeed do it his way. In my last post, I wrote that Girardi had gone out on a limb in throwing a three-man rotation in the ALCS and World Series, rolling the dice with a trio of tired arms. You know what Pettitte, C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett gave him in their 12 starts? 11 starts of four or fewer earned runs, 11 that went at least five innings, and a 6-2 record. All three went on short rest in the final three games of the World Series, Sabathia and Pettitte pitched well enough to put the Yanks in position to win, and the bats did the rest.

Girardi definitely gambled, but in the end he rode a talented team just the right amount. Pretty good for a fellow Northwestern graduate.

--When I said Pettitte was the best postseason starting pitcher I had ever seen, I included the caveat because Mariano Rivera is the best playoff pitcher in history in addition to being the best reliever of all time. The moment Rivera jogged in from the bullpen with a 7-3 lead in the eighth inning was the first time I allowed myself to smile and admit to myself, "Hey, we're really gonna win this thing." Mo had three more postseason saves in the Fall Classic and was on the mound for the end of all four Yankee wins. He allowed just one run all postseason and was five for five in save opportunities.

To top it all off, he delivered the best quote of the postgame celebration. Grinning like an idiot, he quipped to the Yankee Stadium crowd, "I was going to retire before this, but now I think I'll come back for another five years."

The crowd roared in approval -- obviously. You know what, Mariano? You pitch 75 percent as well as you did this season and you can close until you're 50. And you can keep recording the final out in the World Series and starting the victory mosh pit (we're at four and counting).

Much, much more to come later today. For now, bask in it, Yankee fans. Nine years never felt so long.