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Posted: Nov 05, 2009 3:15AM By Jeff Fletcher (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Phillies, MLB Playoffs, World Series

NEW YORK -- This was not the type of World Series that the
Phillies are going to spend much time replaying in their minds. Not long after they watched the
Yankees celebrate on the field, taking the title that they won last year, the Phillies were already in full shoulder-shrug mode.
Regrets? Not really.
"They got the hits and we didn't,"
Jimmy Rollins said. "Simple. There's no science other than that. Get a hit or you don't. And they did."
Posted: Nov 05, 2009 2:45AM By Terence Moore (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Phillies, Yankees, World Series

NEW YORK -- The biggest World Series choke involved the
New York Yankees, but they won back then in 1996 over the gasping
Atlanta Braves.
The
Yankees won this time, too. It's just that they did so to avoid sliding toward the brutal end of the second-worst choke in World Series history.
On a clear Wednesday night in the Bronx, with
Hideki Matsui's sizzling Mizuno bat and various pinstriped chants warming the November chill inside the newest version of Yankee Stadium, the home team got a 7-3 victory over the
Philadelphia Phillies. It also got a 27th world championship for the franchise.
Plus, it got these current
Yankees off the hook.
Posted: Nov 05, 2009 2:10AM By FanHouse Newswire (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Yankees, MLB Playoffs, World Series

NEW YORK (AP) --
Alex Rodriguez grabbed the World Series trophy and wouldn't let go.
After the
New York Yankees regained the title for the first time in nine years, after the podium presentation before a delirious crowd of 50,315 christened the new ballpark with a title in its first year, A-Rod was the one to carry the trophy back to the clubhouse. He raised it high, showing it off to the fans, a triumph for the team and for himself.
"Look, a lot of people ran the other way. My teammates and coaches and organization stood right next to me. And now we stand together as world champs," he said a few minutes later in the clubhouse, under a shower of Moet & Chandon and Armand de Brignac. "It's been a special year. I know it started rocky for us."
Posted: Nov 05, 2009 1:25AM By FanHouse Newswire (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Yankees, MLB Playoffs, World Series

NEW YORK (AP) -- Hundreds of
Yankees fans poured into the streets of New York early Thursday to celebrate the team's 27th World Series championship, a party that extended uptown and began building hours earlier when the crowd at Yankee Stadium danced and sang to the music even before the first pitch.
Fans in Yankees jerseys and hats who watched the 7-3 victory over Philadelphia at sports bar Stout spilled out onto 33rd Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues early Thursday in Manhattan. Greeted by an NYPD van, several patrol cars with lights flashing and officers standing on street corners, they remained well-behaved.
Posted: Nov 05, 2009 12:13AM By Andrew Johnson (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Yankees, MLB Awards, MLB Playoffs, World Series

Hideki Matsui was named the Most Valuable Player in the 2009 World Series after a record-setting performance in the decisive Game 6.
Matsui drove in six of the
Yankees' seven runs in their World Series-clinching victory, staking New York to an early lead with a two-run homer off of
Pedro Martinez in the second inning and falling a triple short of the cycle. His six RBI were the most by any player in a World Series clincher. Five others -- including Reggie Jackson -- held the record of five RBI previously.
"It's awesome," Matsui said through a translator of his achievement. "Unbelievable. I'm surprised myself.
Posted: Nov 04, 2009 6:30PM By Andrew Johnson (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Phillies, Yankees, MLB Live Blogging, MLB Playoffs, World Series

As if the first Game 6 in the World Series in six years wasn't enough to whet your appetite, it's
Pedro Martinez in the Bronx, Round 2, on Thursday night. Oh, there's a championship on the line as well as the
Yankees try for the second time to win their 27th championship.
Yes, there will be no shortage of drama as the Fall Classic returns to Yankee Stadium, and the
MLB FanHouse crew will be here to take you from the first pitch to the final out and beyond.
Will the Yankees celebrate or will the
Phillies deliver the best thing all of sports -- a Game 7? Join us after the jump, starting at
7:45 PM ET for a LIVE chat as we find out.
Posted: Nov 04, 2009 11:57AM By Tom Fornelli (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Dodgers, MLB Injuries, MLB Rumors
UPDATE: It seems that Padilla did not shoot himself, but was in fact shot by a shooting instructor.
Full details here.
Los Angeles
Dodgers pitcher
Vicente Padilla is back home in his native Nicaragua now his team's season has ended, and while there he's decided to do some hunting. Unfortunately for Vicente it seems his aim with a gun is a lot like his aim with his fastball. Sometimes he loses control of the thing and ends up hitting somebody.
Though this time it was himself.
Padilla was treated in a hospital on Tuesday after suffering what is being called
a "minor" gunshot wound to his right leg.
Posted: Nov 03, 2009 10:10PM By Jay Mariotti (RSS feed)
Filed Under: MLB

PHILADELPHIA -- This is where they booed Santa Claus but gave a standing ovation to a dog killer named Michael Vick. This is where they taunted Mike Schmidt, maybe the best third baseman ever. This is where Donovan McNabb is viewed as an emotional dishrag, where MIchael Irvin was cheered when he lay motionless on the field, where I saw a woman in an UTLEY jersey tell a guy to "stop being a (p----)," where men are men unless someone wonders otherwise, which means your life is screwed.
It is in this Yuengling-and-cheesesteak culture that
Cole Hamels, a California pretty boy not blessed with the Bruno/Rocco/Angelo first name like many Philly tough guys, decided to commit parochial suicide. Shelled again in Game 3 of the World Series, he emotionally unraveled afterward, suggesting very strongly that he wanted his season to end right then and there. In any town, such an acknowledgment would be viewed as a breach of cowardice. In Philly, where the home team trailed only 2-1 at the time, Hamels is being called a sulker, quitter, crybaby, wimp and (p----) of the worst ilk.
Posted: Nov 03, 2009 7:30PM By Ed Price (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Phillies, Yankees, World Series

NEW YORK --
Hideki Matsui couldn't be a big part of the
Yankees offense the past three World Series games because there was no DH for the games in Philadelphia.
As for
Robinson Cano and
Mark Teixeira, what's their excuse?
Actually, Teixeira was glad to offer up an excuse.
"Unfortunately, during these playoffs, it's been tough to get into a rhythm," Teixeira (hitting .172 in the postseason) said Tuesday before the
Yankees worked out. "When you're in a rhythm during the season, you're going to fail seven out of 10 times. When you're not in a rhythm, you're going to fail a lot more than that. And unfortunately for me, that's kind of been the case right now."
Posted: Nov 03, 2009 7:08PM By Jeff Fletcher (RSS feed)

NEW YORK -- Cole Hamels may still have to fight a public perception that he's not ready to pitch a possible Game 7 of the World Series, but his manager apparently has no qualms about giving him the ball. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel isn't saying ...
Posted: Nov 03, 2009 6:56PM By Pat Lackey (RSS feed)

In a surprising piece of mid-World Series news, the Tampa Bay Rays and Pittsburgh Pirates have agreed to a trade this afternoon. Tampa will send second baseman Akinori Iwamura to the Pirates in return for relief pitcher Jesse Chavez. According to the ...
Posted: Nov 03, 2009 12:15PM By Matt Snyder (RSS feed)

As the Yankees prepare for Game 6 of the World Series at home Wednesday, short reliever (at least for the postseason) Joba Chamberlain may be a bit distracted by an off-field issue. His mother, Jackie Standley, pleaded no contest to felony drug ...
Posted: Nov 03, 2009 6:00AM By Andrew Johnson (RSS feed)

Playoff Pulse is our morning rundown of the night that was and the night that will be during the MLB postseason.
Looking Forward ...
Much will be made in the lead-up to Game 6 of another Yankees starter -- Andy Pettitte -- going on three days' ...
Posted: Nov 03, 2009 2:23AM By Jeff Fletcher (RSS feed)

PHILADELPHIA -- Phillies hitting coach Milt Thompson didn't need any detailed analysis to get his players to understand what they needed to do differently against A.J. Burnett.
The game plan might as well have consisted of one word: "Swing."
...