2009 American League Championship Series

The Yankees held home-field advantage because they had a better regular-season record than Los Angeles Angels. The series, the 39th in league history, began on October 16 and ended on October 25.

The Yankees won the series four games to two, and went on to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 4–2 in the World Series.

Summary

New York Yankees vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

New York won the series, 4–2.

† Game 6 was originally scheduled to be played on Saturday, October 24, but was postponed because of rain.

Game summaries

Game 1

On a blustery night where the official game time temperature was 45 °F (7 °C),^[9] starter CC Sabathia limited the Angels to one run on four hits and a walk in eight innings, striking out seven in a 4–1 Yankee win.^[9]

The Yankees staked Sabathia to a 2–0 lead in the bottom of the first on an Alex Rodriguez sacrifice fly and an unusual RBI infield single from Hideki Matsui. Matsui hit a short popup to the left side of the infield, but there was a miscommunication between third baseman Chone Figgins and shortstop Erick Aybar and the ball fell in for a single, enabling Johnny Damon to score from second.^[9] Vladimir Guerrero set up the Angels' only run in the top of the fourth, hitting a high fly ball to deep left field that looked to be a home run but bounced in front of the fence for a double instead, possibly due to the windy conditions. Guerrero scored two batters later on Kendrys Morales' single. The Yankees added a run in the fifth on Matsui's second run-scoring single of the night, and a pair of Angels errors led to New York's fourth run in the sixth. After reaching base on a walk, Melky Cabrera advanced to second on John Lackey's errant pickoff attempt.^[9] Derek Jeter then singled up the middle, but Torii Hunter overran the ball, allowing Cabrera to score without a play at the plate.^[9]

Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth, recording his 36th career postseason save.^[9]

Game 2

Once again, the Yankees struck first in the second inning. After Nick Swisher worked a two-out walk—his first in this postseason—Robinson Canó hit his first career postseason triple to deep right-center field to score Swisher. In the bottom of the third, Derek Jeter hit a solo home run to right field to give the Yankees a 2–0 advantage. The Angels fought back in the fifth. After

Alex Rodriguez's 11th-inning home run was his second late-inning game-tying home run in this postseason. Both were off the opposing team's closer (the Minnesota Twins' Joe Nathan, in ALDS Game 2).

Game 3

For the third game in a row the Yankees scored first, this time on Derek Jeter's leadoff home run off Angels starter Jered Weaver. They extended their lead on solo home runs by Alex Rodriguez in the fourth inning and Johnny Damon in the fifth, both off Weaver. Yankees starter Andy Pettitte held the Angels scoreless until the fifth inning, when he yielded a solo home run to Howie Kendrick in the fifth. The next inning, Vladimir Guerrero hit a two-run home run, also off Pettitte, to tie the game. The Angels took the lead in the seventh, thanks to Kendrick's one-out triple and Maicer Izturis' sacrifice fly, both off Joba Chamberlain. However, a Jorge Posada solo home run off Kevin Jepsen—the sixth in the game—tied it again in the eighth.

Another Angels' gaffe proved costly. In the eighth inning Abreu led off with a double but attempted to stretch it into a triple. An alert Jeter called for the ball at second and tossed to Mark Teixeira who was covering second, since Robinson Canó was in the outfield, to tag Abreu for the out.

For the second consecutive time in the series, the Yankees and Angels played

Game 6 was originally scheduled to be played on Saturday, October 24, but was postponed because of rain. Angels gaffes once again proved costly. In the top of the second, baserunner Vladimir Guerrero ran too far from first base on a fly ball out and was doubled off. The game remained scoreless until the top of the third inning when Bobby Abreu singled home Jeff Mathis, who singled to lead off and moved to second on a groundout, to give the Angels the early lead. The Yankees left six men on base in the first and second innings before they finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth after Johnny Damon lined a two-run single with the bases loaded off of Joe Saunders to give them the lead for the remainder of the game. A single reloaded the bases before Alex Rodriguez walked to force in another run. Saunders was then removed in favor of Darren Oliver, who pitched 2+2⁄3 shutout innings. This remains to date the Angels last post-season victory.

World Series in six games. It was the fifth overall ring for the Core Four era Yankees (fourth for Posada who was left off the playoff roster in 1996) and the first for star players such as Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, and Hideki Matsui

. It was the team's 27th World Series and their last to date.

In regards to Matsui, on December 16, 2009, the

2009 World Series MVP agreed to a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim worth $6.5 million. Matsui told Yomiuri Shimbun that he "loved the Yankees the best" but that he no longer felt valued and when his agent called to negotiate, "The Yankees had nothing prepared [in terms of contract conditions]." He made up his mind to sign with the Angels quickly. "I really felt their high expectations of me," he said.^[12]

On April 13, 2010, Matsui returned to Yankee Stadium as a member of the Angels and received his championship ring and a long standing ovation.

The 2009 American League Championship Series marked the end of the most successful era in Angels franchise history. From 2002 to 2009, they made six postseason appearances, which was highlighted by the by team winning the 2002 American League pennant and World Series. Before 2002, they had been to the postseason just three times in franchise history (1979, 1982, and 1986), never winning a postseason series. From 2010 to 2022, the Angels made the postseason just once (in 2014) and have not won a postseason game since Game 5 of the 2009 ALCS.

Notes

1. ^ "Yankees 5, Angels 2: Yankees Win A.L.C.S., 4-2". New York Times. October 25, 2009. Archived from the original on October 27, 2009. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
2. ^ "WS games to start 40 minutes earlier". ESPN.com. May 18, 2009. Archived from the original on May 20, 2009. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
3. ^ "Boxscore:LA Angels vs. NY Yankees - October 16, 2009". MLB.com. Archived from the original on October 20, 2009. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
4. ^ "Boxscore:LA Angels vs. NY Yankees - October 17, 2009". MLB.com. Archived from the original on October 21, 2009. Retrieved October 18, 2009.
5. ^ "Boxscore:NY Yankees vs. LA Angels - October 19, 2009". MLB.com. Archived from the original on October 22, 2009. Retrieved October 19, 2009.
6. ^ "Boxscore:NY Yankees vs. LA Angels - October 20, 2009". MLB.com. Archived from the original on October 24, 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
7. ^ "Boxscore:NY Yankees vs. LA Angels - October 22, 2009". MLB.com. Archived from the original on October 26, 2009. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
8. ^ "Boxscore:LA Angels vs. NY Yankees - October 25, 2009". MLB.com. Archived from the original on October 27, 2009. Retrieved October 25, 2009.
9. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Associated Press (October 16, 2009). "Sabathia cools off Angels as Yankees grab Game 1". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on October 23, 2009. Retrieved October 17, 2009.
10. ^ Castrovince, Anthony (October 21, 2009). "Umpires shaky on several Game 4 calls". Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim official website. Archived from the original on October 25, 2009. Retrieved October 23, 2009.
11. ^ Caple, Jim (October 20, 2009). "Umpire errors a real embarrassment". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on October 24, 2009. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
12. ^ "Former Yankees Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon Find Success on Opening Day as 'New Guys'". NESN.com. April 6, 2010. Retrieved February 27, 2021.

External links

• 2009 ALCS at Baseball-Reference
• 2009 ALCS at ESPN