By JAY COHEN
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK(AP) -- For a guy who was hundreds of miles away, George
Steinbrenner still managed to dominate the World Series.
Talk about a fitting tribute.
The frail owner was in Tampa, Fla., when New York beat
Philadelphia 7-3 on Wednesday night to secure another
championship, but there's no doubt the outcome brought a smile
to his face.
"He's the reason we're here," captain Derek Jeter said. "First
of all, we wouldn't be in this stadium if it wasn't for him. We
wouldn't have this group together if it wasn't for him. This is
a special moment. We all tried to win it for him. He deserves
it."
It was the 79-year-old Steinbrenner's seventh crown since he
bought the team in 1973 and first since turning over the
day-to-day operations to his son, Hal, last November.
"Dad, I know you're at home watching with mom," Hal Steinbrenner
said after accepting the championship trophy. "This one is for
you."
George Steinbrenner has made few public appearances since his
health deteriorated in recent years. He attended the first two
games against the Phillies, returning to the new Yankee Stadium
for the first time since opening day.
Hal and his brother Hank talked to their father during the
clinching game.
"He's happy now," Hank Steinbrenner said. "Like I said, he was
just, I say teary-eyed, emotional, very emotional."
Long after the players filed off the field, there was a picture
of the trophy and the message "BOSS, THIS IS FOR YOU" displayed
on the massive videoboard in center.
"He built this ballpark for us," Game 6 winner Andy Pettitte
said. "He put this team together. He set a standard for us to
uphold. These guys embraced it, and that makes it even sweeter
to accomplish what we did."
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TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE: Ryan Howard broke out of his World Series
slump, but it wasn't enough for the Phillies to force a Game 7.
Howard hit an opposite-field, two-run homer to left off Andy
Pettitte in the sixth inning to cut New York's lead to 7-3, but
that was it for the Philadelphia offense. The big first baseman
batted just .174 (4 for 23) against the Yankees with a
Series-record 13 strikeouts.
"They just got hits in clutch situations," Howard said.
"Obviously, it hurt us. I'm not disappointed. I'm proud of what
we've done."
Howard, who was MVP of the Phillies' NL championship series
victory over Los Angeles, finished with 17 RBIs in the
postseason, tying the National League record set by San
Francisco's Rich Aurilia in 2002 and equaled by Florida's Ivan
Rodriguez in 2003.
"I feel cool. The only thing I can do now is go home and relax
and come back for spring training," Howard said. "That's just
the game. Sometimes you got it. Sometimes, it's not."
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MORE FOR FOUR: The last Yankees championship team and the
current one has four things in common: Derek Jeter, Andy
Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera.
The core four have been there for the team's last five World
Series titles.
"The funny thing about those four guys is the team in the 1990s
couldn't have won without them, and the team now couldn't have
won without them," said Paul O'Neill, another star of the four
title-winning teams and a current Yankees broadcaster. "I don't
think you'll ever see that again, four constants like that."
The lone holdovers from the mid-1990s, when the Yankees began
their run of four titles in five years, were all involved in New
York's 7-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in the
clinching Game 6.
No player had won five titles with one team since Yogi Berra (10
titles), Mickey Mantle (seven) and Whitey Ford (six) did it as
Yankees in 1962, according to STATS LLC.
They've gone from brash 20-somethings to stars pushing 40, but
their contributions have not diminished over the years.
"I've been blessed because I have four guys, we played for 15
years together," Rivera said, "and we have accomplished
everything together."
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RECORDS: Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira was hit by a pitch
in the third inning Wednesday night, tying two World Series
records.
Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez each were plunked three times
against the Phillies, joining Pittsburgh's Max Carey in 1925 as
the only players to be hit three times in a single Series.
The 2009 Yankees, 1909 Pirates and 2001 Diamondbacks are the
only clubs with six HBPs as a team in a Series.
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READY FOR ANOTHER RUN: The Phillies dropped to 2-5 in the World
Series and left the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds as the only National
League team to win consecutive championships since 1923.
With a strong core of Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jimmy
Rollins, Philadelphia could be return to the World Series soon.
"We've got a good team, and we love to play baseball," manager
Charlie Manuel said. "It's been really enjoyable to coach and
manage our team because of who we've got on our club. I'll tell
you something, we will be back."
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AP Sports Writer Howie Rumberg contributed to this report.
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