Yankees Daily

Yankees World Championship Trophy Pays Visit To Fordham University Rose Hill Campus This Sat., Jan., 23

***27th World Series Hardware treks up the Deegan to be displayed at Fordham Athletics Hall of Fame ceremonies, and during Rams vs. Temple Men’s Basketball Game***

New York, January 21, 2010 — The New York Yankees 2009 World Championship Trophy will depart from Yankee Stadium, travel north on the Major Deegan Expressway, across Fordham Road, and arrive at another venerable Bronx institution – Fordham University –  this Saturday, January 23, from 11:30 am to 4:00 pm for a special visit to the Rose Hill Campus.

Fordham will play host to the World Series hardware – the Bronx Bombers 27th championship trophy – will be on display during Fordham Athletics’ Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in the McGinley Center , and later at the Rams vs. Temple men’s basketball game at the Rose Hill Gymnasium. The public is welcomed (tickets for the Hall of Fame brunch are priced at $50 adults/$25 students and children, while game tickets are priced at $10 for adults and $5 for children).

An astounding number of Fordham connections helped the visit the visit to materialize. Recent Fordham/WFUV alum Ryan Ruocco (’08) tipped off executive athletic director Frank McLaughlin (‘69) with the brainchild. The idea was hatched because Michael Kay (’82), YES Network’s Yankees play by play voice and 1050 ESPN Radio host is Master of Ceremonies for the Hall of Fame proceedings. Ruocco works with Kay at both YES and ESPN. McLaughlin went into action, contacting a pair of Fordham grads now with the Yankees, Assistant Director of Corporate/Community Relations Rocky Halsey (’98) and Director of Stadium Tours Tony Morante (’79), who will escort the trophy to his alma mater.

Men’s swimming record holder Akira Kosugi (CBA ’96), football Patriot League champions   and 2004 graduates Kirwin Watson (FCRH), wide receiver Javarus Dudley (CBA) and quarterback Kevin Eakin (FCRH), Ioana Dragan (CBA ’02, Women’s Tennis), and Sophie Namy (FCRH ’00 Rowing) – champions all – will be inducted into the hallowed Fordham halls, where they join the likes of Frankie Frisch, Vince Lombardi, Wellington Mara and Vin Scully in the Fordham pantheon, with the Yankees championship trophy present and accounted for.

Thanks to Jerry Milani for the info.

Zack Greinke won the American League 2009 Cy Young Award on Tuesday. A 2.16 ERA which was the best in the majors is pretty amazing especially since he plays in the American League.

It still doesn’t take away the fact that C.C. Sabathia had a great year for the New York Yankees.

He received a contract from the Yankees in the off season that matched his mountainous presence on the mound during the 2009 season. He was the money player the Yankees paid for. He went and earned the ALCS MVP by overpowering the Anaheim Angels during the three games he pitched.

His regular season wasn’t too shabby either going 19-8 with a 3.37 ERA and 197 strikeouts in 230 innings.

Sabathia has gone deep in all of his postseason starts and made three starts in the World Series which gave Joe Girardi the luxury of going with a three-man rotation in the best-of-seven Series if they needed to.

He lost the first World Series game but gave up only two earned runs. He gave up only three earned runs in his second world series start for the Yankees which they won.

In that game he pitched on three days’ rest for the second time in the postseason. Sabathia pitched in and out of jams and kept a threatening Phillies’ offense stalled for most of the night as the Yankees went on to secure a pivotal 7-4 victory. He just got done pitching 113 pitches three days before that.

Him being able to pitch on short days’ rest has earned the confidence and trust of his teammates and earned a level of respect around the Yankee clubhouse.

Right now, I can say with all the confidence in the world that the Yankees are more happy they have a World Championship on their mantle than a pitcher that has a Cy Young award.

It felt pretty good to know that Joe Torre was happy the New York Yankees won. You know that he’s a father like figure to Derek Jeter and the Yankees still had the big four, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte.

You have to wonder if the Yankees winning the World Series diminishes his reputation as a manager that knows how to win. Joe Girardi just won with a high payroll, something Joe Torre wasn’t able to do. Joe Torre was part of a great Yankee dynasty in the 90′s but you have to wonder if the Yankees winning it all would make it harder for Torre to get into the Hall of Fame.

Then again, the Yankees had George Steinbrenner pulling the strings and not his sons when Torre was manager. His sons seem like they know what they are doing more so than their father.

You could point that out as well. George Steinbrenner didn’t win while Joe Torre was manager either. When his sons took over, they won.

I’ve seen seven New York Yankees’ world championships in my lifetime. The 1977, 78, 96, 98, 99, 2000 and 2009 World Series. I was a little too young for the 77 and 78 teams but I do remember liking Mickey Rivers and Ron Guidry. I was born in 1970 so you do the math.

Out of all the World Series I witnessed, the 1996 Championship was the most satisfying for me. I grew up in the 80′s and all I had was Don Mattingly. He was the only good thing going for the Yankees growing up. I even copied my baseball stance for little league after him.

Every April, all of us Yankee fans would have hope that the new baseball season would bring a baseball title in October but it would never come. We’ve waited, and waited and waited and waited and then 1995 came. As a fan, I thought that was our best shot we’ve had in a long time to win.

It didn’t happen but then 1996 happened. When John Wetteland threw the last pitch to Luis Polonia and he popped it up to Charlie Hayes? What emotion I felt. It was relief and happiness all rolled into one. The 1996 World Series was the most satisfying one to me. The Yankees weren’t expected to win, they haven’t won in a long time and they pulled through and did it.

Now we have the 2009 world series. I was talking to a family member of mine during our Sunday 1:00 PM Italian dinner. He said that the 2009 World Series wasn’t that satisfying because the Yankees were expected to win with such a high payroll. Not even the nine year drought would make him think different.

He said some one on the radio joked about how a Phillie player would ground out to the highest paid third baseman and he would throw the ball to the highest paid first baseman. Then a Phillie player would make another out by trying to steal second and the highest paid catcher would throw it to the highest paid short stop.

To him, the World Series wasn’t as satisfying because of the payroll issue. I agreed with him that if the Yankees’ payroll was the same as the rest of the league it would of been a more exciting world series. I still felt satisfied.

What about you? Was it satisfying to you? Was it as satisfying to you as other World Series titles or was 1996 the best?

Key Plays of the World Series

Game two: Bottom of the ninth: Mariano Rivera striking out Matt Stairs. You had to wonder if Mariano still had that world series magic in his first world series game in six years. Matt Stairs was up with Raul Ibanez on second with two outs. A home run would of tied the game. Mariano struck Stairs out to end it.

Game three: Top of the fifth: Cole Hamels not being able to get Andy Pettitte out. The Yankees were losing 3-2 and you’d think you’d be able to get the pitcher out. A pitcher who never bats and plays in the American League. Andy Pettitte singled to center that allowed Nick Swisher to score and tie the game. Instead of the game being 3-2 Phillies with two outs, it was a 3-3 tie with one out. Then Johnny Damon singled Pettitte and Jeter home.

Game four: Top of the ninth: Damon’s steal of third base when he saw no one covering the bag. That allowed A-Rod to drive in the winning run. It was a big play and a momentum switch.

Game six: Top of the seventh: Damaso Marte striking out Chase Utley with man on first and second and the Yankees were winning 7-3. That was it for the Phillies. That killed any chance they had of coming back. Once Utley struck out, I knew we were going to celebrate a World Series title.

Every Hideki Matsui bat was a key play as well. That’s why he got MVP.

The video is behind the audio because of radio.

Lineups from foxsports.com

Lineups

Phillies (2 – 3) 1st in NL East Season Stats | Roster | Tickets		Yankees (3 – 2) 1st in AL East Season Stats | Roster | Tickets
Starting Lineup Season | Postseason Name AVG HR RBI SB 1. J Rollins, SS .250 21 77 31 2. S Victorino, CF .292 10 62 25 3. C Utley, 2B .282 31 93 23 4. R Howard, 1B .279 45 141 8 5. J Werth, RF .268 36 99 20 6. R Ibanez, DH .272 34 93 4 7. P Feliz, 3B .266 12 82 0 8. B Francisco, LF .278 5 13 1 9. C Ruiz, C .255 9 43 3 Name AVG HR RBI SB 1. J Rollins, SS .250 0 4 2 2. S Victorino, CF .296 3 9 2 3. C Utley, 2B .314 6 10 3 4. R Howard, 1B .280 2 15 1 5. J Werth, RF .286 7 13 0 6. R Ibanez, DH .235 2 13 0 7. P Feliz, 3B .180 2 4 0 8. B Francisco, LF .000 0 0 0 9. C Ruiz, C .310 2 9 1		Starting Lineup Season | Postseason Name AVG HR RBI SB 1. D Jeter, SS .334 18 66 30 2. J Damon, LF .282 24 82 12 3. M Teixeira, 1B .292 39 122 2 4. A Rodriguez, 3B .286 30 100 14 5. H Matsui, DH .274 28 90 0 6. J Posada, C .285 22 81 1 7. R Cano, 2B .320 25 85 5 8. N Swisher, RF .249 29 82 0 9. B Gardner, CF .270 3 23 26 Name AVG HR RBI SB 1. D Jeter, SS .322 3 6 0 2. J Damon, LF .286 2 9 3 3. M Teixeira, 1B .172 2 7 0 4. A Rodriguez, 3B .360 6 18 1 5. H Matsui, DH .308 3 7 0 6. J Posada, C .277 2 8 1 7. R Cano, 2B .208 0 6 0 8. N Swisher, RF .136 1 2 0 9. B Gardner, CF .222 0 0 1
Starting Pitcher Name W L ERA* WHIP K P Martinez 5 1 3.63 1.27 37		Starting Pitcher Name W L ERA* WHIP K A Pettitte 14 8 4.16 1.39 148

Pedro Martinez

Advantage tonight: Slight Advantage to Phillies. Pedro Martinez is working on regular rest and Andy Pettitte is working on short rest. We know what Pedro has done to the Yankees in the past and we also know what the Yankees have done to him. Andy Pettitte and Pedro can shut each team down. Tonight is a matter of who happens to be on.

The New York Yankees’ Andy Pettitte is the only one that handled Chase Utley well. Burnett couldn’t do it in the second game, Sabathia couldn’t do it but Pettitte did.

If Pettitte can control Utley again and make him go 0-for-4, the Yankees will have a great chance.

Here’s what I say… the Yankees are winning the world series and it’s because they are the better team. Why are they the better team? Because Philadelphia’s bull pen is not as good as the Yankees’ bull pen. Sure, Phil Coke didn’t get the job done last night but Philadelphia was ahead by six runs.

The Yankees almost won. How the heck are the Phillies going to win with a bull pen like that? The answer? They won’t.

After the Cole Hamels got rocked in game three, their bull pen gave up three earned runs in 3.2 innings.

In game four, the Phillies and Yankees were tied in the ninth inning but the Phillies bull pen gave the game away by letting in three earned runs. Thanks Brad Lidge.

Then last night, the Phillies were winning 8-2 in the eighth inning. The Phillies bull pen let in two more runs and had man on first and third with no outs.

The Phillies bull pen is their weak link. There’s no way you’re telling me that this bull pen is going to help the Phillies win another world championship. No way. Not going to happen.