TOP OF THEIR GAME

These New York Yankees Have A Winning Way

By Peter Lawrence

I'M LIVING IN BASEBALL'S EMPIRE. And to Yankee haters I say, "Stuff it!"

I should have bet money as I rightly predicted that the New York Yankees would take home the prize in game 6 of the 2009 World Series.

How I feel for fans in other cities when they hear the New York media pitching phrases like "First World Series since 2003" and "First championship after a 10-year drought."

Take for example, the Phillies. Before last season, the defending champs hadn't seen a World Series since the early 90's -- and hadn't won one since 1980.

And just weep if you're a Cubs fan. Though that team has come close in recent history, Chicago's lovable losers haven't played a World Series since a bomb was dropped onHiroshima.

And the last time they won it all? Just before William Howard Taft became President of the United States.

There's no secret that there's lots Yankee haters out there. No doubt their loathing grew stronger last night as Yankees manager Joe Girardi hoisted the Commisioner's Trophy in the air in front of a packed house at the brand new Yankee Stadium last night.

I've been following the Yankees' last four championship teams. And with the possible exception of the morally questionable Roger Clemens (whom I was never a huge fan of), these teams were all made up of guys with heart and pride, great respect for one another and the game of baseball.

All of them had -- and have -- an overwhelming sense of what it means to be a team. In interviews, everyone from Bernie Williams and Tino Martinez to Alex Rodriquez and CC Sabathia have effusively praised their fellow pinstripers.

We are one entity. We play together and we win together. This is the Yankee way.

We play baseball the same way we've played it since the Babe first trotted around the bases at the old Polo Grounds. So don't tell me the Yankees don't deserve to win again.

We did it. We did it at home. We did it like we did it in 1996, with Andy Pettitte and Mo Rivera on the mound, Jorge Posada behind the plate and Derek Jeter covering short. We did it with superstar Alex Rodriquez playing the way we always knew he could. And sweetest of all, we did it against Pedro Martinez.

Last night as the aging hurler's fastballs got slower and slower -- and the bat of eventual World Series MVP Hideki Matsui got hotter and hotter, and I couldn't help but smile to myself as Pedro was pulled from the game in the fourth inning. At that moment, we'd chalked one up for the good guys.

You see, the Yankees don't need to go to the media and start backbiting like Pedro Martinez, Jimmy Rollins and so many others.

Nope. No dirty pool in New York.

Us? We just play baseball.

We may have the biggest payroll in the game, but we spend it on class, finesse, and reverence. We deserve the win.

Peter Lawrence bustles down Broadway in an Empire state of mind. You can email him at PLawrenceNYC@gmail.com.