By Ron Griffitts
Contributing Columnist
The 107th World Series took place between the Philadelphia Phillies 93-69 managed by Charlie Manuel with general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. and the New York Yankees 103-59 managed by former Yankee catcher Joe Girardi with general manager Brian Cashman.
The Phillies were led on offense by Ryan Howard 45 HR, 141 RBI, 105 RS, Chase Utley 31 HR, 93 RBI, 112 RS, 23 SB, Jimmy Rollins 21 HR, 100 RS, 31 SB, Raul Ibanez 34 HR, 93 RBI, 93 RS and Shane Victorino .292 BA, 102 RS, 25 SB.
Their pitching staff was led by Joe Blanton 12-8, J. A. Happ 12-4, forty-six year old Jamie Moyer 12-10 pitching in his 23rd major league season, Cliff Lee 7-3 with Brad Lidge 31 SV and Brian Madson 10 SV in the bullpen.
The Yankees were led on offense by Mark Teixeira 39 HR, 122 RBI, 103 RS, .298 BA, Jorge Posada 22 HR, 81 RBI, Robinsons Cano 25 HR, 85 RBI, Derek Jeter .334 BA, 103 RS, 30 SB, Alex Rodriguez 30 HR, 100 RBI, Johnny Damon 24 HR, 82 RBI, Nick Swisher29 HR, 82 RBI and Hideki Matsui 28 HR, 90 RBI.
Their pitching staff was led by CC Sabathia 19-8, A. J. Burnett 13-9, Andy Petitte 14-8, and Joba Chamberlain 9-6 with Mariano Rivera 44 SV, 1.70 ERA and Phil Hughes 8-3, 3 SV in the bullpen.
Game one was in Yankee Stadium III with CC Sabathia facing Cliff Lee. Lee was on his game and with the help of two home runs by Chase Utley off of Sabathia, pitched a six-hit complete game victory and the Phils go up 1-0 with a 6-1 win.
In game two, A. J. Burnett pitched for the Yankees and Pedro Martinez for Philadelphia and again home runs played a major role in the game as solo roundtrippers by Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui powered the Yanks to a 3-1 win with Mariano Rivera on for a two-inning save to even the series at one game each.
Game three was in Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, with Andy Petitte for New York and Cole Hamels for Philadelphia as the starters and again home runs accounted for most of the runs in the game.
Hideki Matsui, Nick Swisher and Alex Rodriquez connected for the Bronx Bombers and Jayson Werth had two and Carlos Ruiz one for Philadelphia. Johnny Damon added a two run double for the Yanks and Mariano Rivera was on to retire the last two batters as the Yanks win 8-5 and go up two games to one.
Game four had CC Sabathia and Joe Blanton as the starters and was tied 4-4 after eight innings. The Yankees scored three times in the top of the ninth on an RBI double by Alex Rodriquez and a two-run single by Jorge Posada with Rivera on for his second save of the series and the Yanks win 7-4 to take a three-games-to-one series lead.
Chase Utley and Pedro Feliz added home runs for the Phillies.
In game five still in Philadelphia, Chase Utley got the Phillies off to a good start with a three-run home run in the first inning as they built up an 8-2 lead after seven innings and held off the Yankees for an 8-6 win to pull within one game of New York three games to two.
For the second game in the series, Chase Utley had two home runs and Paul Ibanez added one for Philadelphia as the teams went back to New York.
Back in Yankee Stadium III, the Yanks came out aggressively and built a 7-1 lead after five innings with the help of another home run by Hideki Matsui on their way to a 7-3 win and their 27th World Series title.
Ryan Howard added a homer for the Phillies.
Hideki Matsui got the series MVP with three home runs, eight RBI’s and a .615 batting average.
One difference in the teams was the bullpen as the Yankees had an advantage there, especially with Marino Rivera who closed each of the four Yankee wins.
With his two, two-home run games, Chase Utley and Willie Aikens in 1980 are the only two players to have accomplished that and his five home runs in a series tied Reggie Jackson as the only other player to get five home runs in a World Series.
Neither the Phillies nor the Yankees have been back to the World Series since 2009.
Statistics for this article came from baseball-reference.com.
Ron Griffitts a contributing columnist for The Daily Advocate.
