The New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim four games to two in the 2009 ALCS, clinching their 40th pennant with a 5-2 win in Game 6 at Yankee Stadium on October 25, 2009. CC Sabathia won ALCS MVP, and Game 2 ended on a Maicer Izturis error in the 13th after A-Rod's tying homer.
For most of the decade, the Angels were the team I least wanted to see in October. Not Boston. Anaheim.
The Team That Owned Us
The Angels knocked the Yankees out of the 2002 ALDS in four games and did it again in the 2005 ALDS in five. Mike Scioscia's teams ran, bunted, took the extra base and generally made the Bombers look like they were wearing ski boots.
This version was a 97-win AL West champ that had just swept Boston, finishing it off with three runs against Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth inning of Game 3 at Fenway. They'd also spent the whole year playing for Nick Adenhart, the rookie pitcher a drunk driver killed in April, hours after he'd thrown six scoreless innings against Oakland. That's a team with a reason.
The 2009 Yankees had won 103 games, moved into a new ballpark and swept Minnesota in the ALDS. On paper they were better. On paper they'd been better in 2002 and 2005, too.
Game 1: CC and the Popup
It was a raw, freezing Friday night in the Bronx, and the Angels played like they couldn't feel their fingers. They made three errors, and the ugliest play of the night didn't even count as one. In the first inning, Hideki Matsui lifted a nothing popup to the left side and Erick Aybar and Chone Figgins let it drop between them. Johnny Damon scored from second. Yankees 2-0.
Sabathia didn't need any more help. He went eight innings and allowed one run on four hits, a Kendrys Morales single that scored Vladimir Guerrero. Mariano Rivera closed it out. Yankees 4, Angels 1.
Game 2: Thirteen Innings in the Cold
Game 2 lasted 5 hours and 10 minutes, and I'm pretty sure a few people in the upper deck are still out there thawing.
Robinson Cano tripled home Nick Swisher in the second, and Derek Jeter homered in the third. A.J. Burnett carried the 2-0 lead into the fifth, when the Angels tied it on an Aybar single and a Burnett wild pitch. Then nobody scored for five innings.
In the top of the 11th, Figgins singled off Alfredo Aceves to bring home Gary Matthews Jr., and the Angels had their first lead of the series. It lasted half an inning. Alex Rodriguez led off the bottom half against Brian Fuentes, the major league saves leader, and hit it out to right. Tie game.
This was the A-Rod who'd tied ALDS Game 2 against Joe Nathan eight days earlier. The October choker label he'd carried since 2004 was disappearing one swing at a time.
In the 13th, Jerry Hairston Jr. singled off Ervin Santana to lead off. A bunt and an intentional walk later, Melky Cabrera chopped one toward second. Izturis tried to throw across his body for a force at second, and the low throw skipped past Aybar. Hairston came around to score. Yankees 4, Angels 3.
Izzy just tried to do too much. You're not going to turn two.
For years, the Angels had been the team that made those plays. (I won't pretend I felt bad.)
Game 3: Mathis, Aceves and the Second-Guess
Out in Anaheim, Jeter led off Game 3 with a homer off Jered Weaver, and A-Rod and Damon added solo shots for a 3-0 lead. Then Andy Pettitte gave it back. Howie Kendrick homered in the fifth, Guerrero hit a two-run shot in the sixth, and Kendrick tripled off Joba Chamberlain and scored on a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Angels 4-3.
Jorge Posada tied it with a homer to center off Kevin Jepsen in the eighth. Rivera wiggled out of a bases-loaded mess in the tenth.
Then came the 11th. David Robertson got the first two outs, and Joe Girardi took him out for Aceves, who'd given up the go-ahead run in Game 2. Kendrick singled. Jeff Mathis, a catcher who didn't exactly scare anyone, doubled off the wall in left-center. Angels 5, Yankees 4.
Girardi heard about that one for a while. He deserved to.
Game 4: Sabathia on Short Rest
Girardi brought Sabathia back on three days' rest, and the big man answered with eight more innings of one-run, five-hit ball. A-Rod hit a two-run homer in the fifth, his third straight game with a homer, and Damon added a two-run shot in the eighth. Yankees 10, Angels 1.
The umpires had a night they'd like to forget. Dale Scott called Swisher safe on a pickoff at second when he was out. Tim McClelland called Swisher out for leaving third base early on a fly ball when he hadn't. And in the fifth, Mike Napoli tagged both Posada and Cano off third base, and McClelland only called Posada out. (That's how you get expanded replay.)
The blowout made it 3-1 Yankees, so the umpiring became a footnote. Imagine the calls going the other way in a one-run game.
Game 5: The Nine-Run Seventh
Burnett gave up four runs in the first inning of Game 5, and John Lackey cruised through six. Then Scioscia pulled Lackey with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh after 104 pitches, and Lackey let him have it, right there on the mound, with the TV cameras rolling.
Darren Oliver's first pitch went for a three-run double by Mark Teixeira. Matsui singled in the tying run, and Cano tripled in two more. Yankees 6-4. Somewhere, a clubhouse attendant was icing champagne. (Never ice the champagne early.)
It didn't last. Guerrero singled in the tying run in the bottom of the seventh, and Morales singled off Phil Hughes to put the Angels back in front. Nine runs scored in that inning, which took nearly 45 minutes. With the bases loaded in the ninth, Fuentes got Swisher to pop up on a full count. Angels 7, Yankees 6.
Game 6: Andy, Mo and No. 40
Rain washed out Saturday's game, so Game 6 moved to Sunday night, October 25. The Angels went up 1-0 in the third on a Bobby Abreu single.
In the fourth, Joe Saunders lost the plate. Cano walked, Swisher singled, and after a bunt, Saunders walked Jeter to load the bases. Damon lined a two-run single to center. A-Rod drew a bases-loaded walk later in the inning, and it was 3-1. Saunders lasted 3 1/3 innings and walked five.
Pettitte went 6 1/3 innings and allowed one run on seven hits. It was his 16th career postseason win, breaking a tie with John Smoltz for the all-time record, and his fifth series-clinching win, also a record.
Girardi went to Rivera in the eighth for six outs. Guerrero's RBI single made it 3-2, and for a few minutes everybody in the building remembered 2002. Then the Angels started throwing the ball around again. Kendrick dropped a throw covering first on Swisher's sacrifice bunt. Scott Kazmir threw Melky's bunt over Kendrick's head, and Cano scored. Teixeira's sacrifice fly brought in pinch-runner Brett Gardner. Yankees 5-2.
Mo struck out Gary Matthews Jr. swinging to end it. Pennant No. 40, and the first since 2003.
We want to enjoy this tonight. We'll worry about Philly tomorrow.
What It Meant
Pettitte finished that October as the starter and winner of the clincher in all three rounds, and Sabathia started Games 1 and 4 against the Phillies. Ten days after Game 6, the Yankees finished off Philadelphia in the 2009 World Series for title No. 27.
The ring gets the attention, and Matsui gets the World Series highlight package. But the Angels series was the one that scared me. The Angels had beaten this core twice, and they had the 2009 Yankees in a 7-6 game with the bases loaded in the ninth of Game 5. They didn't finish it.
The Yankees finally did.
| Series Result | Yankees 4, Angels 2 |
| Game 1 (Oct. 16, New York) | Yankees 4, Angels 1 |
| Game 2 (Oct. 17, New York) | Yankees 4, Angels 3 (13 inn.) |
| Game 3 (Oct. 19, Anaheim) | Angels 5, Yankees 4 (11 inn.) |
| Game 4 (Oct. 20, Anaheim) | Yankees 10, Angels 1 |
| Game 5 (Oct. 22, Anaheim) | Angels 7, Yankees 6 |
| Game 6 (Oct. 25, New York) | Yankees 5, Angels 2 |
| ALCS MVP | CC Sabathia: 2-0, 1.13 ERA, 16 IP, 12 K |
| Alex Rodriguez, Series | 9-for-21 (.429), 3 HR, 6 RBI |
| Pettitte, Game 6 | 6 1/3 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K |
| Game 2 Length | 5 hours, 10 minutes |
| Pennant | 40th in franchise history, first since 2003 |
Game 1: Sabathia Sets the Tone
Sabathia allows one run in eight innings, and the Angels make three errors in a 4-1 Yankees win in the Bronx.
Game 2: A-Rod Ties It, Izturis Throws It Away
A-Rod homers off Brian Fuentes to lead off the 11th, and Maicer Izturis's throwing error in the 13th scores Jerry Hairston Jr. Yankees 4, Angels 3.
Game 3: Mathis Walks It Off
After Posada ties it in the eighth, Jeff Mathis doubles home Howie Kendrick off Alfredo Aceves in the 11th. Angels 5, Yankees 4.
Game 4: CC on Short Rest
Sabathia throws eight innings on three days' rest, and A-Rod homers for the third straight game in a 10-1 rout.
Game 5: Angels Survive
The Yankees score six in the seventh, the Angels answer with three, and Fuentes gets Swisher with the bases loaded. Angels 7, Yankees 6.
Rained Out
Rain postpones Game 6 at Yankee Stadium to Sunday night.
Game 6: Pennant No. 40
Pettitte wins his record 16th postseason game, Rivera gets six outs, and the Yankees win 5-2 to reach their first World Series since 2003.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the 2009 ALCS between the Yankees and Angels?
The Yankees won four games to two. They took Games 1, 2, 4 and 6, and clinched the pennant with a 5-2 win at Yankee Stadium on October 25, 2009. It was the franchise's 40th pennant and sent them to the World Series against the Phillies.
Who was the MVP of the 2009 ALCS?
CC Sabathia. He started Games 1 and 4, threw eight innings in each, and went 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA, allowing two runs on nine hits with 12 strikeouts over 16 innings. His Game 4 start came on three days' rest.
What happened in Game 2 of the 2009 ALCS?
The Angels took a 3-2 lead in the top of the 11th, but Alex Rodriguez tied it with a leadoff homer off Brian Fuentes. In the 13th, Angels second baseman Maicer Izturis threw away Melky Cabrera's grounder while trying for a force at second, and Jerry Hairston Jr. scored the winning run. The game took 5 hours and 10 minutes.
When did the Yankees clinch the 2009 American League pennant?
On Sunday, October 25, 2009, after rain postponed Game 6 from Saturday. Andy Pettitte allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings, Mariano Rivera got the final six outs, and the Yankees beat the Angels 5-2.