Yankees stars, from left, Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira celebrate after the final out of Game 6. (Nick Laham/Getty Images)The New York Yankees are back in the World Series, thanks in large part to some of the key guys who got them there last time.
Andy Pettitte pitched 6 1/3 strong innings, Derek Jeter drew three walks and scored a run, and Mariano Rivera worked the final two innings for the save as New York captured the American League pennant with a 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday night in the Bronx.
The Yankees got all the runs they needed in the fourth inning of Game 6, when Johnny Damon singled home a pair of runs and Alex Rodriguez brought in another with a bases-loaded walk.
Rodriguez, who's off to the first World Series of his career, drew three of his team's nine free passes on the night. Maligned for his past October failure, the rejuvenated slugger is batting .438 with five home runs and 12 RBIs in this year's playoffs.
"I couldn't be more excited," A-Rod said. "I feel like a 10-year-old kid."
L.A. closed within one on Vlad Guerrero's RBI single off Rivera in the eighth. But New York got the run right back when Scott Kazmir — the third man out of the Angels bullpen behind ineffective starter Joe Saunders — collected Melky Cabrera's sacrifice bunt attempt and chucked it into right field.
Three batters later, Mark Teixeira supplied more insurance with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to deep centre.
"At times we played good baseball. At times we shot ourselves in the foot," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia, whose team has won five of the last six AL West titles but hasn't been able to return to the World Series since winning it in 2002.
Sabathia named MVP
The Yankees' victory returned the 26-time champions to the World Series for the first time since 2003, when Pettitte, Jeter, Rivera and company were upset by the Florida Marlins. That capped a run of six Fall Classic appearances in eight years — including four championships — under former manager Joe Torre.
New bench boss Joe Girardi, a catcher on New York's 1996, '98 and '99 title teams, will try for his first ring as a manger starting Wednesday night, when the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies roll into town.
CC Sabathia, named the AL Championship Series MVP after winning both of his starts with just two runs allowed in 16 innings, is expected to start Game 1 against Cliff Lee. The former teammates on the Cleveland Indians have won the last two AL Cy Young Awards.
The Yankees will get one fewer day of rest than they ought to have after Game 6 was played a night later than scheduled due to heavy rain on Saturday.
"Any time you play this point in the season, every round gets more and more difficult. They're the defending world champs. We want to enjoy this tonight, we'll worry about Philly tomorrow," Jeter said.
Errant Saunders yanked early
The skies were clear and the temperatures relatively mild Sunday night when the Angels got to Pettitte in the third inning.
Catcher Jeff Mathis led off with a double to the gap in right-centre and two outs later Bobby Abreu stayed back on a breaking ball and slapped it through the right side to plate the game's first run.
The lead didn't last long. Saunders' one-out walk to Jeter in the fourth loaded the bases, and Damon cashed in two runs with a single to centre. Teixeira beat out an infield hit to load the bases again, and a cautious Saunders issued his fifth walk of the night to the red-hot Rodriguez, forcing in another run.
That was enough for Scioscia, who went to the bullpen for Darren Oliver — last seen coughing up three runs without recording an out to let the Yankees back into the Game 5 thriller than L.A. eventually won.
What a difference three days can make, though. Oliver induced Jorge Posada into an inning-ending double play, then worked seven more outs of one-hit, shutout ball. His final pitch of the night produced another big twin killing — this one off the bat of Teixeira with two runners on and one out in the sixth.
Pettitte pitched into the seventh, leaving the mound to an ovation from the sellout crowd at the new Yankee Stadium. The 37-year-old lefty allowed just one earned run on seven hits while striking out six and walking only one.
A pumped-up Joba Chamberlain got a pair of groundouts to end the inning before giving way to Rivera to start the eighth.
Baseball's all-time post-season saves leader gave up his first run of these playoffs on the Guerrero single, but settled down to work a vintage perfect ninth, getting pinch hitter Gary Matthews swinging on a high fastball to end the game.
"You bring him in, you feel like the game's over," Pettitte said of Rivera. "He's the best."
