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The Yankees were the better team.
After Game 6 of the World Series, I don't think there can be much argument about that, and I'm as die-hard a Phillies fan as you'll find.
I'm not saying the Phils had zero chance to repeat; the team didn't come close to playing its best baseball, for sure. But the Yankees themselves had a lot to do with that.
Here are some of the areas that made a critical difference:
• Starting pitching. The fact that the Fightin's didn't win any World Series games started by hurlers not named Cliff Lee reveals a lot.
Last postseason, the Phillies had strong starting pitching almost across the board, with Charlie Manuel using a four-man rotation of Cole Hamels, Brett Myers, Joe Blanton and Jamie Moyer without interruption.
2009 was a very different story, with the rotation — outside of Lee — being a major question mark. It didn't cost the Phils against the Rockies and Dodgers, because those teams had pitching issues of their own, but a tremendous offensive club like the Yankees will make you pay for that kind of shortcoming.
And pay the Phillies did. In the final four games of the series, the Bronx Bombers scored eight, seven, six and seven runs, respectively.
You can't be giving up that many runs and expect to win the World Series. It's that simple.
• Mariano Rivera. No, he didn't look unbelievably dominating and strike out every hitter he faced. But the greatest closer in postseason history did save several games, blew no leads and gave up no runs.
The Phillies had some chances against him, especially in Game 2 when he was protecting a 3-1 lead over the final two innings. In the eighth, the Fightin's put two baserunners on with one out, but Rivera got Chase Utley to hit into a double play. Not only did that end the inning, but it prevented cleanup hitter Ryan Howard from batting in an RBI situation.
In other words, Rivera was like the 2008 version of Brad Lidge, only Rivera does it (with very few exceptions) year after year after year.
If the Yankees had a World Series flaw, it was some of their other bullpen guys, including Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes. But the Phillies didn't get much chance to exploit that because CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte and A.J. Burnett usually pitched deeper into games than the Phils' starters did.
• Clutch hitting. The Fightin's scored 27 runs in the World Series, which averages out to 4.5 a game. And they scored at least four runs in four of the six games. During the regular season, the Phillies' record when they plated four or more runs was outstanding.
But that wasn't good enough against New York. The Yankees' team batting average in the Fall Classic wasn't much better than the Phils', but they had more clutch hits and several guys who really came through offensively — Hideki Matsui, Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon and Jorge Posada.
Even the starters who didn't hit consistently, like Mark Teixeira and A-Rod, contributed at key times.
The Philadelphia lineup lacked a similar offensive balance. With the tough left-handed pitching the Phillies faced, they needed more production than they got from right-handed hitters like Jayson Werth and Pedro Feliz and the switch-hitters at the top of order.
It'll be interesting to see what decisions the front office makes in the offseason, because as good as the Phillies are, they have to improve if they want to reclaim that championship mantle.
