Phillies Fade Into New York Night

NEW YORK – Finally, there was life in Ryan Howard's bat, energy in his words. "Come on man, let's go," he shouted upon crossing the plate, as if adding a hardy exclamation point to his two-run homer in the sixth inning would spark whatever the defending champions had been missing since they took a brief World Series lead way back in October.

The Philadelphia Phillies brought the bravado, for sure. On the eve of the Fall Classic, Jimmy Rollins made one of his many extemporaneous observations, saying on the Jay Leno Show, of all places, "If we're nice, we'll let it go six. But I'm thinking five. Close it out at home." So here's the first lesson, to any budding big leaguers: try not to mouth off when playing the wealthiest, hungriest, most talent-stacked team on the planet.

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On a wintry, raucous night in the Bronx, the New York Yankees captured their 27th World Series title, beating the Phillies, 7-3. The last out of Game 6 came at 11:50 PM ET Wednesday, when the incomparable Mariano Rivera threw his 41st pitch of the evening. Shane Victorino, playing despite a bruised right finger, battled through a gutsy final at-bat, fouling off cutter after biting cutter, until his groundout sealed the inevitable.

Nine years removed from their last ticker-tape parade, there will be another one through the Canyon of Heroes, probably on Friday, as millions of New Yorkers line the downtown streets and hail the Yankees as they wave from flatbed trucks. Yankee haters will mock the excess, the fans' cocky entitlement, but there is no denying this collection of ultra-millionaires in old-world pinstripes epitomizes everything a modern team is meant to be.

"They just beat us on all levels," admitted Rollins, as the party outside the visitor's clubhouse reached a level not heard in these parts since 2000. "Fair and square, they are the legitimate champions."

But the more reporters poked, the more Rollins snapped at the bait. "Do I think we're the better team? I really do," Rollins said. "They just executed. I think we weren't playing bad, but they were playing that much better. They got the hits, we didn't. It's that simple."

The Phillies buckled across the board: Starter Pedro Martinez, effective in Game 2, lasted only four innings Wednesday night, victimized by the flashback strokes of Hideki Matsui; Chase Utley, Mr. November, went without a homer in Game 6; Howard decided to show up, albeit briefly, before ducking like a turtle back into his shell and notching his 13th strikeout, a World Series record.

And there was Charlie Manuel, hardly enjoying his finest managerial moment. Manuel, as loyal as a pup liberated from the pound, left Martinez in to face Matsui in the third inning, after Matsui had taken Pedro deep in the second with a two-run homer that snuck inside the right field pole. Matsui had worked back from an 0-2 count in that at-bat, and now the bases were loaded one inning later, the count again 0-2, Martinez pitching against the same team in back-to-back starts for the first time this season.

Lefty J.A Happ was up in the bullpen, ready to replace the laboring Martinez, who could barely hit 88 on the radar. Manuel chose to stick with Martinez, hoping guts and guile would prevail over power. Somewhere, Grady Little screamed at his TV.

Martinez, the self-declared "old goat," had vowed to get by on survival skills and "frog's blood," which must be a concoction he mixes up under the mango trees, but the high fastball he threw to Matsui was ripped to centerfield, scoring two runs for a 4-1 Yankee lead. Matsui (Mr. November-san), with his aching knees and uncertain future (he won't be joining the Seattle Mariners to join Ichiro, a prediction we can guarantee), finished the Series with a ridiculous .615 average (8-for-13), three homers and eight RBI, along with a shiny MVP trophy he dedicated to all the good folks in Japan.

"They just beat us on all levels. Fair and square, they are the legitimate champions."
-- Jimmy Rollins "When he got there, Pedro, he knows how to pitch. He's got experience, he knows how to pitch and everything, and you know, I had to let him face that guy, " Manuel said later. "Also when we were down, if Matsui got a hit, of course, but we can go down 4-1 and we can definitely rebound there. But I had to let him -- it wasn't time for me to take him out.

Said Martinez, as he left Yankee Stadium, probably for the last time as a player: "It's over with and he got me and that's it." Was this it, his last call after returning to baseball in late summer, when the Phillies signed him for the rest of the season? Martinez had hinted he would retire if Philadelphia won the World Series, but now he would only say reporters should come find him at his Dominican ranch over the winter, and maybe he'd have an answer.

As Martinez hedged, and as Manuel attempted to put a positive twist on Philadelphia's downward spin, the revelry in the $1.5 billion House that George Built grew to a fever pitch. Amidst a sea of popping flashbulbs and corporate feng shui (no bunting brought over from the old digs across the street -- that would get in the way of advertisements), the Yankees' new guard, led by Joba Chamberlain and Nick Swisher, took a flag-waving celebratory romp around the warning track. Rivera told the crowd he was thinking of retiring but now he just might stay another five years. After declaring the trophy was right back where it belongs, Derek Jeter said it was in spite of hearing "a lot of predictions," a dig presumably aimed at Rollins. Manager Joe Girardi, the No. 27 between his shoulder blades a season-long reminder of the Yankees' quest, jokingly told family members he reckons his job is now safe.

These were the Phillies one short year ago, all delirium and muscle-flexing promise. Drenched in champagne and joy, they dreamed out loud of building a dynasty.

So what happened? They took a 1-0 Series lead, stealing Game 1 in the Bronx behind Cliff Lee's masterpiece. But in Game 4 in Philadelphia, Johnny Damon singled and stole second and third -- on the same play -- and the Yankees jumped ahead, three games to one. Something shifted within the Phillies after that Damon play. They grew tight, lost their typical feistiness and joie de vivre. The psyche of Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge turned into running distractions, seemingly more of a concern than the Yankee lineup. Howard looked like a lost victim in a Cold Case rerun.

Howard's home run in the sixth off Andy Pettitte offered momentary hope. It was nice of Howard to join the Series, his dinger putting the Phillies within four runs, with a wobbly Yankee bullpen still to come. When Chamberlain left with two Phillies on base and two outs in the seventh, left-hander Damaso Marte came in to face Utley, a threat to get on base however possible. With his fourth and fifth homers in Game 5, Utley tied Reggie Jackson's single 1977 World Series record, but Marte got the dangerous Utley out on a checked swing, a call that signaled it was time for the plastic to be readied in the Yankee clubhouse.

There's no disgrace in losing to the Yankees, winners of 103 games in the regular season and the most decorated team in modern sports. (Wealthiest too, if you haven't heard.) It was certainly different for the Phillies last October, with Tampa Bay on the other side, but the American League wasn't bound to be without the Yankees at the top of the heap for long.

"I'll tell you something, we will be back," Manuel promised. "As MacArthur said, I guess, we will be back."

Something tells us, so will the Yankees.