I grew up loving baseball and when October rolls around, I can smell the World Series. This year my favorite non-Chicago team returned to the place they belong. This World Series is incredibly intriguing. Only three times has a National League team repeated as the champion. Believe it or not, the Cubs were one of them. Never mind that though. This series features of a matchup of the 2008 and 2007 AL Cy Young winners in C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee. There is also a matchup of MVP winners Alex Rodriguez and Jimmy Rollins. Joe Girardi, that guy who used to play for the Cubs, won manager of the year with the Marlins but wasn’t good enough to manage the Cubs? Yeah, that Joe Girardi is going with a 3-man rotation of Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte.
Going into the series, it appeared Alex Rodriguez had exorcised his post-season demons and started to look a lot like Reggie Jackson. Jimmy Rollins guaranteed a Phillies championship. Stating on Jay Leno’s show that they could win in 5 games, but they may be nice and extend it to 6. This is great stuff. I was really excited. I already thought the Yanks were going to pull it out in 6 games, but I began to think 5 games would be a strong possibility.
The 2009 World Series proved to be not only intriguing but incredibly entertaining. The day of game one, I ordered an official on field Yankees hat. I could barely concentrate on anything. That day I even managed to run an extra mile because I was daydreaming of the ticker tape parade they’re going to have in NYC. I wasn’t the only one stoked about this series. A 43-year-old (female) graduate student at Penn was arrested for allegedly attempting to sell sex for tickets to the series via Cragslist.
The first game was brutal for me to watch. The Phillies loaded the bases in the first inning and I just knew Chase Utley was going to put that pitch into the right field stands. Cliff Lee pitched one of the great games of World Series history. I was so disgusted, I turned the game off during the sixth inning.
The second game I was hopeful. A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira did not let me down. Hideku Matsui reminded baseball fans of why his nickname in Japan was Godzilla. Jorge Posada provided a needed insurance run, and the Yankees tied the series as it headed to the city of brotherly love.
With game three scheduled for Halloween, I was half expecting everyone to come out wearing costumes instead of uniforms. There’s something about Andy Pettitte and the post-season that is just magical, except when he was pitching for the Astros. Alex Rodriguez getting drilled with a pitch (again) was like waking a sleeping dragon, as two innings later he got his first World Series homerun in the first use of instant replay on the biggest stage. There was no doubt for Yankees fans that they would win however, when Andy Pettitte knocked in Nick Swisher in the fifth inning.
With C.C. Sabathia starting game four, I knew the Yanks had it in the bag. Afterall, the Yankees didn’t bankrupt Lehman Brothers to sign him, only for him to lose two games in The Series. The Yankees bats were awake and it seemed the big man was cruising to his first win until Joba served up a game tying homerun to Pedro Feliz. Alex Rodriguez was up for saving the day however, as he knocked in Johnny Damon the next inning for the go ahead run. Jimmy Rollins said five games, and it was starting to look like that was all it would take.
Game five would be the last game of the year in Citizens Bank Park. I had a feeling the Phillies would win this game. You knew the atmosphere would be electric and the Phillies had something to prove. They jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead and it looked like this game was over with as Burnett pulled in the third inning. Chase Utley donned his Superman cape and hit two homeruns bringing his total to five, tying a World Series record. The Yankees would not go quietly, storming back but falling two runs short as the game came a to a close.
“Empire State of Mind” was the theme song for the Yankees this season and definitely game six. Andy Pettitte simply would not be denied and added yet another postseason win to his record total. Hideki Matsui showed New Yorkers they shouldn’t fear Godzilla as he drove in 6 runs, tying the record for the most in a World Series game. Mariano Rivera earned another save and the Yankees won another title.
The Yankees won a very competitive series in six games as half of Jimmy Rollins prediction came true. As a Yankees fan, I could not have been happier. As a baseball fan, I would have been ecstatic with the Phillies winning also. I can only hope that the 2010 World Series produces the kind of excitement and level game play that these two teams gave us… along with a Cubs appearance.