NEW YORK — Every Yankees fan remembers Hideki Matsui’s six-RBI explosion in Game 6 of the 2009 World Series. It was the kind of performance that made the MVP vote a formality. Matsui’s bat clinched the 27th championship in franchise history, and nobody argued the award.
Nobody except the man who managed that Yankees team.
Joe Girardi had a different name in mind. A Dominican lefty reliever who had posted a 9.45 ERA during the regular season. A pitcher who spent three months on the disabled list. A guy the Yankees almost left off the postseason roster entirely.
His name was Damaso Marte. And on Feb. 14, the day he turned 51, the story of what he did during that October run deserves another telling.
A regular season nobody wanted to remember
The Yankees acquired Marte from Pittsburgh in July 2008 along with Xavier Nady. New York sent four prospects to the Pirates, including Jose Tabata and Ross Ohlendorf. The left-hander was supposed to be a weapon against left-handed hitters. His career numbers backed that up. He held lefty batters to a .195 average and .575 OPS over 898 plate appearances across 11 MLB seasons.
But the 2009 regular season was a disaster. Marte dealt with shoulder inflammation after pitching for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic. He gave up nine earned runs across just 5.1 innings in his first seven outings. The Yankees placed him on the disabled list in early May and sent him on a long rehab assignment through the minor leagues.
He did not return to the big league Yankees roster until late August. By then, his ERA sat at an unsightly 9.45. His opponents batted .360 against him before the DL stint. Most relievers with those numbers do not sniff a playoff roster.
Marte later admitted the moment nearly broke him.
“It was tough to get used to that city,” Marte said, per SABR. “The fans, the journalists. Every time you pitched badly, you’d hear it from the fans. There was a time leading up to that World Series in which I lost confidence, but, thank God, I was able to come through when the team needed me.”
Girardi reveals his secret weapon against the Phillies
The Yankees gave Marte a spot on the postseason roster largely because of one thing: his ability to neutralize left-handed bats. Minnesota had Joe Mauer and Jason Kubel in the ALDS. The Angels had dangerous lefties in the ALCS. And the Phillies? They had Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, two of the most feared left-handed hitters in baseball.
Marte’s first playoff outing was shaky. He gave up two consecutive singles to the Twins in Game 2 of the ALDS before being pulled. It looked like the regular season version had followed him into October.
Then something clicked for the Yankees reliever. After that rough outing, Marte retired all 12 of the remaining batters he faced across the rest of the postseason. He did not allow a hit, a walk, or a run in his final seven appearances.
In Game 1 of the World Series, he entered with two runners on in the eighth inning and struck out Utley. In Game 3 in Philadelphia, he punched out Howard and Jayson Werth. In Game 4, he got the final out of the seventh inning to keep the score tied.
Then came the crowning moment. In the clinching Game 6 at Yankee Stadium, Joba Chamberlain had allowed two baserunners in the top of the seventh. The Yankees held a 7-3 lead, but the Phillies were chipping away. Girardi called on Marte. He faced Chase Utley and struck him out on three pitches. Then he got Ryan Howard. Three pitches. Strikeout. Six pitches total to retire the two most dangerous hitters in the Philadelphia lineup.
Phillies pinch-hitter Matt Stairs acknowledged the performance after Game 6.
“He’s surprised us a little bit,” Stairs said. “He’s pitching us really well. We’ve been able to get to Hughes and Chamberlain, but Marte has done the job for them.”
Girardi’s bold MVP call still resonates
Years later, ex-Yankees manager Girardi laid out his case later on MLB Network. His words were direct and unequivocal.
“When we think about the 2009 World Series, we think of Hideki Matsui, who was the MVP,” Girardi said. “But, to me, the MVP in that World Series was Damaso Marte.”
Girardi then detailed his reasoning.
“The Phillies had really good left-handed hitters. In the top of the eighth inning of Game One, the first two batters get on and I bring in Damaso and he strikes out Utley and I go, ‘Uh, oh!’ Then Game Three in Philly, he strikes out Howard, he strikes out Jayson Werth. I’ve got a super weapon here. Then Game Six. There’s two on in the top of the seventh, and he strikes out Utley.”
“Damaso Marte was the unsung hero of that World Series, and I’ll never forget it,” the former Yankees skipper added.
From the streets of Santo Domingo to a life of purpose
Marte’s road to the Yankees bullpen started in poverty. He was born on Feb. 14, 1975, in Santo Domingo. His mother was 16 at the time. He was raised by an older relative he calls his second mom.
“My mom, the one who raised me, sold tea in the streets to make ends meet,” Marte told SABR. “It was very tough growing up. We sometimes had no food and sometimes had to sleep in the streets.”
He started playing baseball at age 12 near Estadio La Normal, the oldest ballpark in the Dominican Republic. The Seattle Mariners signed him for $2,500 when he was 17. Over 11 MLB seasons with the Mariners, Pirates, White Sox and Yankees, Marte compiled a 23-27 record with a 3.48 ERA, 533 strikeouts and two World Series rings.
Shoulder injuries ended his career after the 2010 season at age 36. He never pitched in the majors again.
Today, Marte is a pastor at the Ministerio Refugio de Fe y Esperanza in Santo Domingo. He preaches to roughly 160 people each week. He also runs a children’s foundation called Fundamas that provides food, school supplies and financial support to hundreds of kids in the Dominican Republic.
“Yes, I chose the decision to kind of go to church and follow that path,” Marte told MLB.com in 2025. “Become a pastor and be a spiritual leader of the people. It’s gone very well for me, my family and my kids.”
He also admitted he still thinks about the game.
“I miss baseball a lot,” Marte said.
Yankees fans who remember October 2009 would probably say the feeling is mutual. Hideki Matsui earned the trophy. But Damaso Marte, the guy with the 9.45 ERA who struck out Utley and Howard on six pitches in the clincher, earned something no plaque can capture.
He earned his manager’s MVP vote. And for those who watched it unfold, he earned something even rarer: a permanent place in Yankees postseason lore.
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