M.V.P.


http://www.asahi.com/sports/gallery/091106worldseries/worldseries0645.html



Hideki Matsui hit a two-run home run off Pedro Martinez






“I guess you could say it's the best moment of my life,” he said.





Hideki Matsui, who homered and drove in a record-tying six runs,
was named the Series M.V.P.

Matsui Leaves a Lasting World Series Memory

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/sports/baseball/05matsui.html?ref=baseball


Hideki Matsui does not know if he will ever play another game for the Yankees. The Yankees do not know if he will, either. If Matsui has played his final game with the team, he left the biggest stage in baseball in the same way he moved across it for seven seasons: professionally and exceptionally.


Matsui, the unflappable hitter, had a homer, a double, a single and also drove in six runs to help the Yankees stop the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-3, and win the World Series in six games Wednesday night. It is the first championship for the Yankees since 2000. After seven seasons, Matsui has his first World Series ring.


Even as Matsui tied Bobby Richardson’s World Series record with six runs batted in, he still moved around the field in a disciplined way. After each hit, Matsui barely smiled as he accepted congratulations. After each ovation, Matsui looked straight ahead or at his feet.


The fans chanted, “M.V.P.! M.V.P.!” for Matsui, who started only three games because the teams did not use a designated hitter for the three games that were played in Philadelphia. The fans were right. Matsui won the Most Valuable Player award after hitting .615 with three homers and eight runs batted in.


“I guess you could say it’s the best moment of my life,” Matsui said.


If the Yankees do not re-sign Matsui, he will leave them with a memorable game. Matsui socked a two-run homer and a two-run single off Pedro Martinez in the first three innings to help the Yankees exhale. While Martinez was trying to squeeze another magical performance out of his aging right arm, Matsui would not let him get comfortable.


After Martinez left, Matsui received a standing ovation before his third at-bat and promptly belted a two-run double off J. A. Happ to give the Yankees a 7-1 cushion. As Matsui stood, he received another standing ovation. But Matsui was the most subdued man at Yankee Stadium.


“All I can say right now is I feel great,” Matsui said. “I’m so happy.”


For Matsui, the game bookended his performance against Martinez in his first season in the 2003 American League Championship Series. Matsui belted a run-scoring double off Martinez as the Yankees rallied to beat the Red Sox, 6-5, on Aaron Boone’s homer.


After Martinez walked Alex Rodriguez on four pitches to begin the second, his pace slowed against Matsui. After Matsui fouled off a 3-2 changeup, Martinez tossed a fastball. It was an 89-mile-per-hour pitch, which is about as robust a fastball as Martinez can muster these days, and Matsui drilled into the second deck in right field for a two-run homer.


Matsui said he loved New York and hoped that he gets to stay. In Matsui’s first season, he proved that he was comfortable on baseball’s biggest stage. In what might have been Matsui’s final game with the Yankees, he showed that he can still perform professionally and exceptionally.