NewsHistory beckons as Series nears end
Individual, team feats ready for the taking in Bronx
By Mark Newman / MLB.com
11/03/09 7:30 PM EST
NEW YORK -- The 105th World Series is back at Yankee Stadium for the grand finale, and as fans, we are assured of witnessing some important baseball history now.
For students of baseball history, there is plenty to love right now. This one will earn its rightful place among some of the best, and now the only question is how high on the list. It will be one you tell stories about, one that sticks out amongst others you sort of recall.
Here is the history that awaits:
If the Yankees win either Wednesday or Thursday, then they will win their 27th world championship, far more than any other major North American sports franchise and their first since 2000. They would duplicate what Babe Ruth and his teammates did in 1923 by winning it all in the first year of Yankee Stadium. It has happened only once since then, and that was when the Cardinals beat the Tigers in five games and celebrated at new Busch Stadium.
In fact, the moment could be even better for the 2009 Yankees than it was for those 1923 Bombers, because this would be at home. That 1923 Fall Classic was a Subway Series, and the Yankees clinched over at the Polo Grounds against the New York Giants, scoring five runs in the eighth inning for a 6-4 triumph. One silver lining in the Phillies' Game 5 victory Monday at Citizens Bank Park was that New York fans now have a chance to possibly see their heroes win it all right here in the new ballpark, with two cracks at it.
If the Phillies come back and win, they will become the first Major League Baseball team since the 1979 Pirates to win a World Series Game 7 on the road. In fact, when the Pittsburgh Penguins just won at Detroit for the last Stanley Cup, they were the only major North American sports franchise since those Pirates to win a Game 7 on the road for a title.
COMEBACK KIDS
| Year | Team | Opp. |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Angels | Giants |
| 2001 | D-backs | Yankees |
| 1991 | Twins | Braves |
| 1987 | Twins | Cardinals |
| 1986 | Mets | Red Sox |
| 1985 | Royals | Cardinals |
| 1982 | Cardinals | Brewers |
| 1979 | Pirates | Orioles |
| 1973 | A's | Mets |
| 1968 | Tigers | Cardinals |
| 1958 | Yankees | Braves |
| 1952 | Yankees | Dodgers |
| 1946 | Cardinals | Red Sox |
| 1940 | Reds | Tigers |
| 1934 | Cardinals | Tigers |
| 1926 | Cardinals | Yankees |
| 1925 | Pirates | Senators |
| 1924 | Senators | Giants |
There is another possible parallel between these Yankees and those 1979 Orioles, and that is at first base. Eddie Murray, who would go on to the Hall of Fame, was 0-for-21 in his last five games of that series as first baseman for the AL champs. Mark Teixeira, who was born in the Baltimore area the April after that series and who grew up watching the Orioles, is 2-for-19 in this World Series as first baseman for the AL champs. Teixeira made the last out of Game 5, and Yankees fans are waiting for their 2009 AL home run and RBI king to bust out -- or risk a possible fate that befell Murray and those Orioles.
"Tex, he's struggled a little bit, he's had some big hits, had a big hit [double on Monday] that kind of got us going, got us back in the game," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "I felt good about him. ... He hit a home run off of Pedro to get us going [in Game 2], and I'll take my chances with him every day in the lineup."
Girardi himself is in position to join some historic names. With one more Yankees victory, he can become the eighth different person to manage World Series champions in the Bronx. The others before him were Joe Torre, Billy Martin, Bob Lemon, Ralph Houk, Casey Stengel, Bucky Harris, Joe McCarthy and Miller Huggins.
"You try to stay focused on the things that you need to stay focused on, and that's just the game tomorrow," Girardi said. "You know, when you get to this point, there's two very good teams, and one team is going to be extremely excited at the end of it, and one team is going to be disappointed. I know that. I've been to three World Series, I've been in playoffs when we've lost series, and it's disappointment. But you still move on and your life goes on, and you know, you have to continue to go to work and be a husband and a father.
"So for me, the only thing I focus on is Game 6. I don't focus on legacy, because I'm not worried about my legacy."
Speaking of legacies, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera each are candidates for the World Series Most Valuable Player Award, and if either wins, he will join this select group of two-time Series MVP winners: Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson. Jeter and Rivera already are considered locks for eventual Cooperstown enshrinement, and two-time Series MVP status could merit plaque mention.
"I don't want to allow myself to go too far thinking about individual things," Rivera said before stretching on Tuesday. "I just want to go do my job and continue what has happened so far."
If the Phillies win in seven, they will have pulled off the first successful rally from a 3-1 deficit since the Royals overtook the Cardinals in 1985 -- another World Series between rivals who were just down the highway from each other. Will there be a Don Denkinger call in this one, too? No one wants to lose any series, but if you lose a seven-game series -- and if you blow a big lead in the process -- then you at least want to have a questionable umpire call or something to hang your hat onto.
Chase Utley has five homers in this series, including those two in Game 5 that helped the Phillies extend this Fall Classic to a third travel leg. That ties him with Jackson, whose five came in 1977 -- and three of them on consecutive pitches. Utley has a game or two left to pass Reggie, and if there is a Game 7, then more history awaits because he would be facing Yankees ace CC Sabathia. Utley already has three homers against the lefty, matching the record for most homers by one player against the same pitcher in a World Series. Everywhere you look, there is some important history on deck.
NOT DEAD YET
| Year | Up 3-2 | Opp | G6 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | FLA | NYY | W |
| 2002 | SF | ANA | L |
| 2001 | NYY | ARI | L |
| 1997 | FLA | CLE | L* |
| 1996 | NYY | ATL | W |
| 1995 | ATL | CLE | W |
| 1993 | TOR | PHI | W |
| 1992 | TOR | ATL | W |
| 1991 | ATL | MIN | L |
| 1987 | STL | MIN | L |
| 1986 | BOS | NYM | L |
| 1985 | STL | KC | L |
| 1982 | MIL | STL | L |
"I've had the opportunity to close out the two previous rounds and it's exciting," Pettitte said during Tuesday's batting practice session. "I just feel very fortunate to have this opportunity to be on this team with a great group of guys and hope I can throw a great game for us and give us another chance to win a championship."
Pettitte started the last Game 6 at (old) Yankee Stadium -- a 2-0 loss to the Marlins, resulting in a Florida title. In fact, it will be the third straight time he has been the Yankees' starter in a World Series Game 6, having taken losses in the two previous occurrences. The D-backs pounded Pettitte in winning, 15-2, in that game of 2001.
Teams with a 3-2 World Series advantage are just 5-8 in Game 6. Only one of those eight teams to lose Game 6 went on to clinch. Phillies fans have plenty of hope.
The Yankees can become the first team since the Twins in 1991 to win a World Series with only three starters. Back then, it was Jack Morris, Kevin Tapani, Scott Erickson, Morris, Tapani, Erickson and Morris. For these Yankees, it is CC Sabathia, Burnett, Andy Pettitte, Sabathia, Burnett and Pettitte -- with Sabathia ready to go on short rest again for Game 7.
Alex Rodriguez already has the Yankees' all-time record for most RBIs in a single postseason with 18. While noting that the postseason was expanded to two rounds in 1969 and to three rounds in 1995, one has to acknowledge the possibility of some spectacular individual numbers -- especially if Rodriguez has two more games. It's the same A-Rod who finished the regular season with a three-run homer and a grand slam.
For the first time since 2003, the World Series has been extended to at least six games. The previous five World Series had ended in four (three times) or five (twice) games, the longest such streak in history. The previous longest was four straight from 1913-16. Florida defeated New York in six games in 2003. The last six World Series have ended in fewer than seven games since the Angels defeated the Giants in 2002. That matches the longest such streak in World Series history, previously done from 1913-18.
"I think these next two games could get really interesting," said Charlie Manuel, who could become the first Phillies manager to win more than one World Series title.
Will it be two, as he predicts? Will the Yankees clinch in six?
No matter how you look at it, this World Series is assured of a place in history. There will be records everywhere, there will be remarkable ratings, there will be drama that no one could have predicted. Now it is time to watch it all again on FOX, starting with Mary J. Blige's much-anticipated national anthem on Wednesday, and then the games everyone is talking about. When it's all over and someone throws a parade, it will be time to tell the stories that are certain to last for many years to come.
Mark Newman is enterprise editor of MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
