Sports

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

By Paul Sokoloski psokoloski@timesleader.com
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NEW YORK – He waited 10 years in his native Japan and spent six more seasons in New York dreaming of becoming a world champion.

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The New York Yankees Hideki Matsui holds the MVP trophy after Game 6 of the World Series Wednesday.

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So Hideki Matsui wasn’t about to let any more time pass him by.

In what may be his final season with the New York Yankees – and his last shot to win a World Series – Matsui came up so big in it that he was named the series MVP.

His six RBI Wednesday tied a World Series record and gave the Yankees all the offense they needed to dispose of the Philadelphia Phillies in six games with a 7-3 victory.

Matsui began his big night with a two-run homer off Phillies starter Pedro Martinez before adding a two-run single and two-run double later in the game.

All that production was nice, Matsui said. But the Japanese slugger insisted his performance paled in comparison to the feat of his team winning its 27th world title.

“My first and foremost goal when I signed with the Yankees was to win the world championship,” Matsui said through an interpreter.

He may not get another chance.

With his contract expiring after the season and with his mobility to play the outfield limited by creaky knees, Matsui is headed for the uncertainty of free agency as a guy who’s now primarily a designated hitter. And the Yankees can find plenty of those elsewhere, and may be reluctant to bring back an aging, one-dimensional player for big money.

“I have no idea right now,” the 35-year-old Matsui said.

He certainly had a clue in the World Series.

Matsui socked three home runs, including two off Phillies starter and old Yankee nemesis Pedro Martinez that gave the Yankees the go-ahead runs in two victories during the series.

His MVP suggests Matsui wound up being the player who influenced the outcome the most.

“Certainly, I was happy to be able to hit and contribute to this win,” Matsui said. “But us winning the championship is such a great feeling.”

He wasn’t alone in that thought.

“It’s just so gratifying,” said Yankees reliever Phil Hughes, who began the season in Triple-A as a starting pitcher for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees and ended it with a World Series celebration in New York. “We worked so hard all year. We just never gave up. I’m so happy right now. I wish I could describe it.”

His boss found the words express New York’s delight.

“The joy is the same, but it’s a different type of joy,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who also celebrated a world championship in New York when he helped the Yankees win two titles in the 1990s. “As a player, it’s what you dream about ever since you were a little boy. As a manager, you still have that joy. But the joy is for everybody else. Because you know, as a player, what it takes to win a championship.”

Matsui realizes that now.

“You can say,” Matsui said, “this would be the best moment of my life right now.”