November 6, 2009
By Peter Mathews

The Yankees can now celebrate their first World Series title in nine years; a feat the franchise has accomplished a record 27 times. It’s a long time coming since the 9/11 faithful were stunned by a Luis Gonzalez blooper, and when a young Marlins’ staff led by Carl Pavano, Brad Penny and Josh Beckett mowed a flawed Yankee team down in 2003. As much as the ‘09 title is all about number 27, Wednesday’s Game 6 finale also marked several observations that didn’t make the tabloid coverage.

A-Rod. How surreal is it to see arguably the most controversial player in sport hoist the Commissioner’s Trophy for the first time in his storied career? After lying to Katie Couric, a so-called cathartic confession exclusive with ESPN’s Peter Gammons in February, followed by serious hip surgery in May, even Rodriguez probably thought championship euphoria might never come. Say what you will, the guy was a beast this postseason and so he gets a reprieve for sounding like he’d just lost his virginity at his trophy podium op with FOX’s Chris Rose. Do you think he and Kate celebrated into Thursday morning?

Am I the only one who’s convinced Matsui’s interpreter, Roger Kahlon, is making stuff up? I can’t remember an MVP in a major sport take their acceptance interview through an interpreter. Matsui absolutely epitomizes MLB’s global reach and made his native Japan proud (they watched across the country starting at 10:00 AM) with a single game performance for the ages. If the entire Yankee squad isn’t Pedro’s daddy, Matsui sure is. Whether or not he was more valuable than Jeter, Rivera, or Rodriguez is worth a debate, but you can hardly refute a resume that includes a .615 World Series batting average (only 13 ABs) and six RBI in the clincher.

Matsui was the opposite of what ESPNs John Kruk tried to explain about hitting. Kruk said that during their prolonged slumps, Texeira and Swisher were going into the box with no confidence, almost resigned to making an out. Since coming to the Yanks in 2003, Matsui has never taken an at bat where he doesn’t think he can hit it with the whitest bat in baseball. For his career he’s hit safely at a rate of almost three out of ten (.292), six out of ten in this World Series. That he was able to accomplish this as his contract expired and he was being labeled half a player, is a tribute to a true pro. All this talk about “the Yankee family” is plenty of justification to re-sign him (and Damon).

Was there ever a time a team that led the Series lost two key outfielders (Cabrera and Damon) in consecutive games, while running the bases? Cabrera’s bum hamstring cleared a spot for Brett Gardner, who was as close to an automatic out as we’ve seen in some time. The only thing uglier than some of Gardner’s swings was Andy Petitte’s base running. Hard to believe most prognosticators pegged Gardner as the regular center fielder this season. You heard it here: The Yankees will spend big to improve in center field. If Melky happens to regress, center field is really the only hole the Yankees potentially have next year.

The “Core Four” will all be back I predict, but planning for replacements has to begin. For 2010 Brian Cashman would be better suited to keep Brett Gardner, Francisco Cervelli, Ramiro Pena. Austin Jackson and Freddy Guzman down-on-the-farm and tweak the end of his roster with suitable replacements for Xavier Nady, Eric Hinske, Chad Guadin, Sergio Mitre and Alfredo Aceves in his attempt to get younger. Jerry Hairston Jr. and Nick Swisher and maybe Jose Molina again (or perhaps a defensive catcher that can hit?) form a great bench core.

Can’t wait for Jimmy Rollins’ next prediction. It’s also going to be good not to hear the hype about Pedro Martinez being better than he is. He’s a first-ballot hall-of-famer, but inflating his story to make World Series glory was a media dream. It was stilted broadcasting from FOX to hear everyone raving about Pedro pitching so well in game two only to have A.J. Burnett become the pitcher of the game. Where was Burnett before Pedro left? Oh yeah, he threw first pitch strikes to every batter.

The most tired commentary on Thursday was that the Yankees had bought the championship. Say you are Jim Rome of ESPN, who said on Wednesday that a Yankee loss would be a historic “choke” and then blasted Texiera’s slump (completely ignorant to his contribution in 2009 both offensively and defensively), and you apply your hypocrisy to your sport…horseracing. Let’s pretend besides losing money on his endeavor (which helps fuel his meanness) one of your horses becomes the fastest thing in the world and cleans up the Triple Crown. When the HH Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai comes calling for a jar of swimmers, are you going to give it away and be “Jim the Benevolent” to keep a level playing field, or play by the rules and cash in? So why does Rome rail against the Yankees? It’s called capitalism, Jim. The Yankees shouldn’t be resented for buying players, they should be resented for having about 25 more profit centers in their business plan than everyone else. The American Way, and the Yanks are smarter.

On his way home just hours after celebrating their championship, manager Joe Girardi stopped his car to flag down help for a woman who had just driven into a wall on the Cross County Expressway in Eastchester, NY. The Yankee skipper now has something not even Huggins, McCarthy, Stengel, Houk, Martin, Lemon and Torre can say. A save. Only 525 more to tie Mo Rivera.