Start spreadin' the clues: Why Yanks won

Free-agent prizes, Girardi's choices offer glimpse of title

Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com

NEW YORK -- Years from now, New York will still be talking about how great Godzilla was on Nov. 4, 2009. Yankees fans will recall each of Hideki Matsui's hits with impeccable clarity. That's what happens when you almost single-handedly seal a championship, when the sport's Commissioner hands you the World Series Most Valuable Player trophy.

The last memories remain the most vivid.

But before there was Matsui's classic Game 6 performance, there were five other games played under the lights at two hitter-friendly parks, the world watching each pitch, each swing.

Each game had its moments, its momentum, its own mojo. Each led its way to No. 27. Each took the Yankees closer to earning another championship for The Boss until at 11:51 p.m. ET, George Steinbrenner had it.

This Series was much more than Matsui, much more intriguing than the 7-3 score of Game 6 might indicate. So when exactly was this series won, and how? What were the early clues that suggested it would be another ring for New York and not a repeat for Philadelphia? To those questions, it's critical to revisit the steps this Yankees club took along the way.

You could surely argue that this championship, in some ways, was won before the 2009 season even began. In a span of 22 days last winter, New York added three pieces and $50.5 million to its '09 payroll. (That alone was more than the Padres, Marlins and Pirates spent on their season payrolls).

CC Sabathia went on to win a Major League-high 19 games and another three in the postseason. Mark Teixeira may have hit just .136 in the World Series, but his mere presence in New York's lineup changed its dynamic. And A.J. Burnett capped off a 13-win season with a stellar start in Game 2 of the World Series before struggling in Game 5.

There's no question the money factor was one of the Series' deciding factors.