Uggghhh!!!! Yankees Win World Series

The New York Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 in Game 6 to win the 2009 World Series. It marks the first time the Yankees have won the Fall Classic since 2000. In all, it is their 27th World Series title.

Hideki Matsui went 3 for 4 with a home run and drove in six runs. Matsui was also named World Series MVP. He went 8 for 13 with 3 home runs and 8 RBI. Matsui is a free agent. At 35 and limited to DH duty, the Yankees might not offer him a contract for 2010. If this was Matsui's last game as a Yankee then he went out in a blaze of glory.

Yes, I am the guy who picked the Yankeees to finish last this season. My subsequent articles lauding Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera might not be enough to dissuade the inevitable onslaught of e-mail from Yankees fans with nothing better to do. Suffice it to say, manager Joe Girardi has bought himself a measure of job security.

The Phillies got stellar performances from Cliff Lee, who won Games 1 and 5, and from Chase Utley, who tied a World Series record with five home runs. Reggie Jackson hit five home runs in the 1977 World Series for - who else? - the New York Yankees.

Ryan Howard, on the other hand, had a World Series he'd rather forget. Although Howard did hit a two run home run tonight he also set a World Series record by striking out 13 times. The record had been held by Willie Wilson who struck out 12 times in the 1980 World Series for the Kansas City Royals against - who else? - the Phillies. In fact, Wilson's final strikeout came at the hands of the late Tug McGraw and it resulted in the Phillies clinching their first World Series title. As for Howard, he had been swinging a hot bat and was the NLCS MVP against the Dodgers. But the one week layoff messed up his timing at the plate and he wasn't much of a factor.

So are the Yankees going to party like it's 1996? When the Yankees beat the Braves in the '96 Series they defeated a team that had won the World Series the previous year. The Yankees would then win three more World Series in the next four years. It sure felt like 1996 with the likes of Andy Pettitte (who started tonight's game), Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Joe Girardi, who was a catcher on that team. On the other hand, the Yankees also have the likes of Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. So yes they went out and bought a World Series. But they spent their money well.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the tendency of the Yankees to win World Series during Democratic administrations. Not winning a World Series in nine years meant they didn't win one during the Bush Administration (although they did play in the 2001 and 2003 World Series.) The last time the Yankees won a World Series during a Republican administration was in 1958 when Dwight Eisenhower was in office. The Yankees beat the Milwaukee Braves in seven games. Of the 27 World Series titles won by the Yankees, twenty of them occurred when Democratic Presidents were in office. If this isn't reason enough not to elect a Democratic President then I don't know what is.

If there is one good thing that comes of it is that my Dad is in New York. He could hear the reverie outside his Upper West Side apartment so he went to check things out. I'm sure he'll enjoy the World Series Parade. I've been to two of them here in Boston. They are a lot of fun.

And with that another baseball season has come to a close. But there's still the MLB Network. That is unless they rerun Yankees World Series triumphs all winter.