5 BOROUGH SPORTS

This past fall, the Yankees were able to erase all the nightmare events that occured throughout this decade. After winning their third straight title in 2000, the Yankees had a series of years that was absolute torture for every Yankee fan. After discovering the humanity of Rivera in 2001 and having the ultimate collapse in 2004, it seemed like the franchise was headed in the wrong direction. With more postseason collapses and unnecessary major free-agent acquisitions, the Yankees were digging their own grave. Finally, in 2008, the Yanks hit rock bottom: highest payroll in baseball and didn’t reach the postseason. Finally, GM Brian Cashman started to make the right moves to put together a championship team. With new signees C.C Sabathia, A.J Burnett, and Mark Teixeira, the Yankees had the tools to reach the promise land. After finishing with their best record since 2002 with 103 victories, the Yanks steamrolled through the Division Series against the Twins and the Championship Series against the Angels. Alex Rodriguez, who struggled in the postseason since his Yankee career began, was unstoppable in October. It seemed like every big moment late in the game, A-Rod came through in the clutch with key base hits and crucial home runs.

In the World Series against the Phillies, Philadelphia looked to have control of the series after a magnificent performance by Game 1 starter Cliff Lee. The Yankees, however, stormed back in Game 2 defeating nemisis Pedro Martinez and took two of three in Philadelphia. In Game 4, Johnny Damon and A-Rod came through for the Yankees in the 9th inning to break a 4-4 tie with a Damon double-steal and an A-Rod clutch 2 RBI double. With Hideki Matsui’s MVP performance in Game 6 with six RBI, the Yankees found themselves on top of the baseball world for the first time in nine years.

This entry was posted on February 24, 2010 at 9:43 am and is filed under 5BS Greatest Sports Moments (since 1990), Yankees. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.