10 World Series Observations

Congratulations to the New York Yankees again for successfully utilizing a lack of salary cap in baseball to utterly destroy parity in the game winning another World Series Championship. They proved to be the better team in a matchup of juggernaut offenses. The Phillies proved to be a worthy opponent, but just didn’t have the pitching to contend with the Yankee starters + the living legend that is Mariano Rivera. rather than bore you with a recap or sit here and spout off some analysis as to why the series went the way it did, I have ten observations that I’ll share:

1) Chase Utley could be the best offensive second baseman ever. This guy had a monumental series, and if it wasn’t for Godzilla coming out of nowhere in game 6, Utley might very well have been given MVP honors, even if his team didn’t come back to win the Series.

2) I mentioned this in a post earlier this week, but Johnny Damon is a pesky SOB of a hitter. I’ll be willing to bet that he was in the top 3 batters who saw the most pitches in the Series, if not #1. I underestimated his talents and I think he would be a leadoff hitter on any other team, although he works perfectly as a #2 hitter in NY.

I have a newfound respect for this guy.

3) Mariano Rivera might pitch until he’s 60. He’s about to turn 40 later this month, and he’s still the best closer in the game today. He looms in the bullpen and his team knows that if they can get to him it’s over. What an unbelievable weapon.

4) Charlie made some questionable decisions that proved costly in Game 6. I know – it’s easy to criticize someone after the fact when things go wrong. And to be honest, I disagree with Charlie a lot of the time and he ends up proving to me that he knows exactly what he’s doing. But there is absolutely no way that Chad Durbin should have ever entered the game last night. When all of your options are available, you don’t go to a guy who has been terrible and inconsistent all season. Also, I know Charlie was in a tight spot, but I don’t think I would have batted Victorino second. He managed to get a base hit early in the game, but it still seemed obvious to me that his hand was still creating problems for him.

5) Joe West was all over the map last night. His strike zone was consistently changing, he was calling people out on check swings, and he was allowing what seemed like 20 minutes to go by between pitches. Fortunately, he was equally terrible for both sides, but still, you can’t have that kind of inconsistency in such an important game.

6) Alex Rodriguez has successfully shaken all the negativity surrounding his career. After starting off the season fielding press conference after press conference to answer questions about his steroid use, he found a way to focus on stifling the critics and actually played well in the postseason. Isn’t it funny how winning changes things?

7) Ryan Howard emerged from his slump too late. The Big Man struggled in the series, to say the least. Baseball is a crazy game. Without Howard the Phillies don’t make it to the Series, and then they do get there and he struggles. Credit the Yankee pitchers for knowing how to pitch him.

8) Hideki Matsui saved his best game for last and proved to be the secret weapon in this series. You can’t plan for a night like that. And because he single-handedly provided enough offense for the win, he became the first DH to earn himself an MVP. I thought he was a piece of garbage all season (mostly because I had drafted him for a fantasy baseball team and he was terrible), but he certainly got the last word.

Godzilla was firing on all cylinders last night.

9) Joe Girardi evaded certain death through Andy Pettite’s gutsy performance. If Pettite did not win this game, Girardi would have been on a flame broiled hot seat this morning, as the Phillies would have forced a Game 7 against a guy that has yet to beat them in the postseason. New Yorkers would have called for his head after deciding to stick to a three man rotation throughout the playoffs. But being a manager in NY comes with a lot of scrutiny, and once you start listening to the fans, you’re sitting with them. Girardi let his horses do the work and it turned out to be the right move.

10) It was a great, evenly matched series between two great teams. You don’t always get the two best teams in the Series, but this time it was definitely the case. And those of you who wanted to see more games between these two, don’t worry – it’ll be the same matchup in 2010.

Charlie told the media his team would be back, and the Philly faithful believe him.