world series 2009 game 6 result

Home -> Group -> Sports

world series 2009 game 6 result

Update | 9:05 p.m. A-Rod strikes out looking (Joe West will call those pitches on that side of the plate, as long as they are down), but here comes Matsui, looking for his third home run against Martinez … or just a base hit. — DW

Update | 9:01 p.m. Martinez just hit Mark Teixeira to load the bases with one out in the third inning, with A-Rod coming up. Even before that, J.A. Happ was warming up. — DW

Update | 8:53 p.m. Note to Joe West: home plate is the white thing in the ground in front of the catcher. It is 17 inches wide. — DW

Update | 8:50 p.m. The Phillies get one back as Jimmy Rollins hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Carlos Ruiz, who had tripled with one out.
And how about the bounce on Ruiz’s triple? It hit the wall in right-center and then scooted back toward center with Brett Gardner running back after it. It looked as if he was chasing a white mouse. Pettitte gets Victorino to pop out, but it’s 2-1, Yankees, now. — DW

Update | 8:48 p.m. The Japanese reporters that cover Hideki Matsui are obsessed with knowing whether the Yankees will re-sign him for next season. I can’t blame them. If Matsui is not with the Yankees, the reporters who have covered him in New York for the last seven seasons will not stay here, either. If Matsui’s address changes, their addresses will change, too.

Before Matsui even finished rounding the bases with his two-run homer in the second inning, I thought of those reporters who have politely asked me if I think the Yankees will bring Matsui back. When I asked General Manager Brian Cashman about Matsui toward the end of the season, he was noncommittal. Matsui’s solid postseason will help him, but his inability to play the outfield will hurt him. The Yankees don’t want to clog the D.H. spot with one player. — JC

Update | 8:47 p.m. I’m a bit confused. I like the Fox graphic toy that shows pitch speed at release and at home plate, and then the batter’s reaction time. But can you calculate reaction time if you don’t swing? A few pitches before Hideki Matsui hit his two-run homer in the second inning, a pitch from Pedro Martinez was timed at 83 m.p.h. at its release and 76 m.p.h. at the plate. Matsui’s reaction time was then displayed at .463 of a second. But he didn’t swing. He moved slightly. Maybe Godzilla exhaled with great vim and vigor. — RS

Update | 8:35 p.m. Designated hitter Hideki Matsui took Pedro Martinez deep again in a classic at-bat. Martinez was ahead, 0-2, before Matsui worked the count full in an eight-pitch at-bat and then sent a tailing fastball high and over the middle of the plate into the stands. Alex Rodriguez walked and scored in front of Matsui, who also homered off Martinez in Game 2. The Yankees really should bring this guy back, knees or no knees. — DW

Update | 8:31 p.m. During the workout Tuesday, some of the Yankees dismissed the idea that the Phillies had put some pressure on them by winning Game 5. In fact, Jerry Hairston Jr. said the Yankees were pleased with their overall accomplishments in Philadelphia.

“Do you know how good those guys play at home?” Hairston said. “For us to go there and take two out of three against a great team, the defending champs in a hostile environment, that’s a big plus for us, a big positive.”

But the Phillies are better on the road. They come into the game with a 4-2 road record in the postseason. They also had a better record on the road in the regular season than they did at home, going 45-36 at Citizens Bank Park and 48-33 on the road, including a 2-1 record at Yankee Stadium in May. — DW

Update | 8:27 p.m. Statistics can be expressed in interesting, if dubious, ways. In the second inning, Fox’s Tim McCarver said that one thing that Yankees pitchers have done was “neutralize” the Phillies’ left-handed bats. “Except for Chase Utley,” he added. Quite a big exception, considering that Utley’s six-hit output includes five home runs.

I would have been interested in hearing the Phillies’ combined average against Yankees left-handers, but McCarver added only that the Phillies’ left-handers were hitless in their last 12 at-bats against tonight’s starter, Andy Pettitte. (What about before that?) Not much nourishment in those stats. — RS

Update | 8:24 p.m. Is Pedro Feliz not reading what we’re writing? He just swung at a high pitch that would have been a ball (with Joe West’s strike zone) and fouled out to the catcher Jorge Posada, stranding Jayson Werth at second in the top of the second inning. What are they doing in that Phillies clubhouse between innings, reading scouting reports? Watching TV? Get online, boys. — DW

Update | 8:18 p.m. The Phillies are 1-1 in their last two Games 6s. In 1980 they beat the Kansas City Royals to win the World Series and bring on the Royal Philadelphia Mounted Police, and in 1993 Joe Carter hit the winning home run in the ninth inning to give the Toronto Blue Jays their second consecutive championship. — DW

Update | 8:15 p.m. The plate umpire Joe West’s strike zone looks low and inside to lefties. A couple of pitches to left-handed hitters just above the belt and on the outside edge were called balls. Two pitches inside to Utley were strikes. A good, old-fashioned National League strike zone. — DW

Update | 8:13 p.m. That was an amazing first inning for Pedro Martinez: 13 pitches, no fastballs. He threw first-pitch changeups to Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira, and 10 in all. Might be a sign of no fastball command, or might be that Martinez is planning to incorporate that pitch a little later. With him, you never know. — BS

Update | 8:11 p.m. Pedro Martinez is taking his sweet time, but he got through the first inning in order. He’s looking extremely deliberate with every pitch. He still has that classic changeup, though, which he used to strike out Johnny Damon. — DW

Update | 8:08 p.m. Andy Pettitte just showed how to pitch to Chase Utley without feeding him only breaking balls. He started Utley off with a slider that was high and outside, but came right back with a four-seamer that tailed over the plate for strike one. On a 1-1 count, Pettitte threw another four-seamer, jamming him, and Utley grounded into a double play. — BS

Update | 8:06 p.m. No worries for Pettitte in the first inning. Shane Victorino reached on an infield single, but Chase Utley hit into a 4-6-3 double play. Pettitte pretty much went after Utley, at least with a runner on first. Here comes Pedro. — DW

Update | 7:56 p.m. We’re under way at Yankee Stadium as Jimmy Rollins just grounded out to shortstop. The atmosphere is electric, especially with Pedro Martinez pitching. As he walked into the dugout from the bullpen while Andy Pettitte was warming up, Alex Rodriguez jogged over and gave him a high five.