by Bob Klapisch

MLB Playoff Central

	Phillies vs. Yankees Yankees win 4-2
Game 6: Yankees 7, Phillies 3 Rosenthal: Yanks cash in with title Kriegel: This title was all business Morosi: Phillies will be back Klapisch: Pettitte shows his worth Matsui's 6 RBIs win him MVP Photos: See the best from Game 6 Video: Rosenthal, elated Yanks chat

The former third baseman evoked a loud, appreciate ovation from the Yankee Stadium crowd. Of course he did — everyone understood why Brosius was there and why the connection was so strong. Even before their Series-ending, 7-3 triumph over the Phillies on Wednesday night, the '09 Yankees were drawing comparisons to the '98 edition, ranking them as one of the best in franchise history.

Are they? It's close enough to begin this discussion. One major league executive said before the postseason: "This might be the best team of the last 30 years." The Yankees flattened everyone in their path — Twins, Angels, Phillies — and the Series ended up, for once, with the best team as the decisive winner.

Still, there's a subtle difference between one-season dominance and once-in-a-generation greatness. The '09 Yankees fall short of the '27 and '61 teams for the sheer blow-away factor, and the '98 club won 11 more games. But this was clearly the best Yankees team of the decade and more talented than any of the other championship clubs of the Joe Torre era.

One talent evaluator said: "The way to look at this club is to say they were very, very good — excellent in some respects. The older players all played much younger than their years, and everyone played up to their potential."

Fair point: The postseason is notorious for killing off good clubs that slump at the wrong time. And we've seen plenty of expensive rosters, loaded with talent, that never get past September.

That's what makes this '09 roster so unique among its predecessors: It clicked exactly as it was supposed to. And unlike the '98 team, these Yankees were able to absorb three major superstars without experiencing culture shock.

Free agents CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira all assimilated instantly — a practically unheard-of phenomenon in New York. It usually takes a full summer to drown out the steady drumbeat of tabloid craziness. The city's talk-radio chatter can be corrosive, even poisonous, if a player listens too closely. It has bothered stars before, notably Randy Johnson in 2005 and even Tino Martinez and Jason Giambi upon their respective arrivals in 1996 and 2002.

But that wasn't the case in the '09 clubhouse. There were two reasons for that: Much of the public's attention was focused on Alex Rodriguez, beginning in spring training with his confessions of steroid use, followed by questions of his long-term durability after hip surgery. All of it was enough to create cover for the newcomers.

Still, Sabathia, Burnett and Teixeira would've never flourished if it hadn't been for the wide berth created by Joe Girardi. There was a healthier, less tense tone in the clubhouse, as the manager realized he'd been trying (too hard) to separate himself from Torre's legacy.

Girardi will never be a folk hero in New York, but his competence and remarkable work ethic won him points with his players. For whatever Girardi lacked in imagination and charisma, he compensated with intelligence and preparedness. Girardi was better at his job in 2009 than in 2008, and therefore made it easier for the out-of-towners to feel welcome.

Torre had no such issues to tackle in '98, when the team's core — Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Paul O'Neill, David Cone and Mariano Rivera, among others — were already fully indoctrinated. It was a crisp, professionally-run clubhouse then as it is now, but Torre never had to worry about his players overreacting to New York's excesses.

Still, the Yankees were tested in the most critical moments. Unlike the '98 Yankees, who were challenged only once in the playoffs (Game 4 of the ALCS), the '09 team faced three potential trouble spots along the way.

The first was Game 2 of the Division Series, when Joe Nathan was closing out what would've been a Twins' 3-1 victory. Had he preserved that lead, the Yankees would've gone to the Metrodome tied 1-1, and who knows what was next? But Rodriguez destroyed Nathan with a two-run homer, tying the game and sending it into extra innings, where the Yankees eventually won, 4-3.

The Yankees were also in danger of losing the home-field advantage in the AL Championship Series, down 3-2 in the 11th inning of Game 2, before A-Rod beat Brian Fuentes with a 0-2 fastball that he deposited over the right-field wall. The Angels were never really the same, and neither were the Phillies after Johnny Damon literally stole Game 4 with his back to back ninth-inning stolen bases.

The Yanks celebrate their 1998 Series title. (Jeff Haynes / Getty Images)

The Phillies used all their firepower, and even though they pushed the Yankees harder than the Twins and Angels, they met with the same fate. The Yankees didn't even have to find a makeshift fourth starter, yet they still had a surplus of talent. The National League champions simply couldn't match that.

In this case, the Yankees' wealth was spent exactly the way it was supposed to be. GM Brian Cashman knew he needed Sabathia and Burnett to replace Mike Mussina and, ultimately, Chien-Ming Wang, and by executing that offseason game plan, regardless of its cost, the Yankees had the right calculus for a championship.

Sabathia, Burnett and Teixeira went crazy in the clubhouse Wednesday night, just as first-timers naturally do, but Game 6 will still be remembered for the old guard's full-circle journey. The last four players left from '96 all played a role in the Series-ending triumph: Pettitte won it, Rivera closed it, and Jeter and Posada were on the field for the final out.

Yankees fans found themselves in a decade-long time tunnel in the eighth and ninth innings, as Rivera crushed the Phillies one batter at a time. With a four-run lead, the sense of inevitability was overwhelming, if not intoxicating. Half a dozen Yankees jumped the dugout fence, pouring onto the field before Robinson Cano's throw had landed in Teixeira's glove for the final out.

This was the Yankees' night, their Series, their year. With a four-run lead and history staring them in the face, Jeter said, "the game (was) over."

The Phillies had no chance of coming back. Not against this team. Not against Rivera. Jeter said, "Come on, we could've played another nine" and the result would've still been the same. That's called perfect from an almost-perfect team.

Bob Klapisch can be followed on Twitter.