Legends of the fall

By BOB KLAPISCH
BERGEN COUNTY RECORD COLUMNIST
Friday, November 6, 2009
http://www.northjersey.com/sports/

This was close to 3 a.m. on Thursday, long after Sinatra’s silky voice had drifted off into the night. The clubhouse floor was still soaked in champagne and outside, hundreds of Stadium workers were still cleaning up the Bronx’s best party in a decade. With nothing else to do, New York City cops were posing for pictures on the mound.


New York Yankees' Derek Jeter(notes), left, and Mariano Rivera(notes) look at the championship trophy after winning the Major League Baseball World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009, in New York. (AP)

So begins the precious hangover. It’ll take an entire off-season to fully appreciate the breadth of the Yankees’ accomplishments, but for now, the fans are having too much fun counting the long line of vanquished opponents. There’s the Twins and the Angels, of course, especially the Phillies.

Derek Jeter stood on the temporary podium at second base and reminded 50,000 fans how, “a lot of people were making predictions about this Series before it started.” The place roared its approval. Everyone knew Jeter was talking about Jimmy Rollins and the way he ran his mouth. Instead, Jeter chose to live by the time-honored credo that nothing fuels revenge more sweetly than living well.

But the Yankees’ hierarchy understands this championship season, seamless as it appeared, comes with a surcharge. Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui might both be gone in 2010, and who knows where Joba Chamberlain’s trend line is headed?

If there’s any single factor that distinguishes the ’09 Yankees from their predecessors, it’s that Chamberlain’s failure forced them into an almost unheard-of three-man rotation throughout the postseason.

No championship club had relied on just three starters since the 1991 Twins. Back then it was Jack Morris, Scott Erickson and Kevin Tapani. This time around, CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte were all forced to work on short rest.

You could call it a resource failure and wonder how, after $204 million, the Yankees still couldn’t find a fourth starter they trusted. Or else it was just another way of mocking the industry. Even with three-quarters of a rotation, the Yankee still crushed everyone in their path.

Either way, the ’09 team will be remembered as one of the better champions in club history, although they fall a notch below the ’98 club. This ’09 edition did, in fact, struggle — all the way back to Game 2 of the AL Division Series, when the Twins were on the verge of winning, 3-1. If Joe Nathan had been able to preserve a ninth-inning lead, the Twins would’ve gone home tied, 1-1, with two of the final three games in the Metrodome.

But Nathan couldn’t hold down Alex Rodriguez, who tied the game with a two-run homer and sent it into extra innings. The Twins were never the same, just as the Angels were sunk in the ALCS after closer Brian Fuentes surrendered an 11th-inning homer to A-Rod in Game 2, leading the way to the Yankees’ 4-3 victory.

Brad Lidge was no better in the World Series; he failed in Game 4, the one that Johnny Damon literally stole in the ninth inning. At the moment of truth, when it was Lidge’s fastball against A-Rod’s bat speed, the Yankee slugger had an answer – a line-drive double into the left field corner that helped give the Bombers a 7-4 victory.

Those comebacks were forged by more than just talent. It was from the Yankees’ limitless belief in their own superiority. As one major league executive said with envy: “The difference was how much the Yankees believed they could come back and beat you in their last at-bat. That kind of confidence is un-quantifiable.”

The Yankees spent crazy money, of course. The haters will tell you the Bombers’ championship is soiled by the Steinbrenner family’s excess, which makes it hard for the average fan to buy into the “Win it for The Boss” mantra. But if the last decade has taught us anything, it’s that money is a guarantee of nothing: the Steinbrenners had spent more than $1 billion since 2000 without a championship to show for it.

It’s how wisely that money is spent; that’s the difference between winning and ending up like the Mets. And that was the enduring irony of Game 6, that for all the cash heaped upon last year’s free agents – Sabathia, Burnett and Mark Teixeira – it was the home grown Yankees who brought home the title.

Who else but Pettitte could’ve started this game? Who else but Mariano Rivera could’ve finished it? What better scene than Jeter hugging Jorge Posada one last time on the field as the postgame party raged on.

It was a perfect full-circle journey for this core, the same four players who were there in 1996. They’re older and (clearly) wiser now, more appreciative than ever of the precious gift of a championship. Pettitte, especially, was the right person for this ending, confounding the Phillies just as he almost always has in the big moments.

Remember only two days when Charlie Manuel dismissed the 37-year-old lefty as just another aging talent? Pettitte took no offense at the slap – he never does, he wasn’t born with a score-settling gene – but instead channeled his energy into working out of trouble.

Even now, a full decade later, Pettitte’s gift of making rallies disappear remains intact. Rollins conceded that much late Wednesday night, saying, “[Pettitte] made one great pitch every at-bat, it seemed like. When he needed that one pitch, he was able to make it. He got some double plays. That really shortened some innings. That’s what Andy does — he keeps his team in the game. You walk away shaking your head. But obviously, he’s pretty good.”

Pettitte walked off the mound to a thunderous standing ovation – a public thank-you for 12 years of greatness with the team. That was just one of a million memories that’ll remain with the Yankees and with their fans.

It was a compelling season and an October that left no doubt about its verdict: this time, the best team won.