The Yankees needed some help.

Sure, they'd won 103 games during the 2009 regular season and mashed their way to the World Series, but they were now facing a very tough Philadelphia Phillies team -- the reigning champs.

And the Phillies dominated the Yanks in Game 1 at Yankee Stadium, 6-1. Cliff Lee was transcendent -- firing a complete-game six-hitter. He struck out 10 and, on MLB's grandest, most pressurized stage, acted as if he had not a care in the world.

"You gotta remember, Game 1, we got dominated," Nick Swisher recalled in a recent phone call. "Cliff Lee came in there and absolutely dominated us. Jimmy Rollins started talking a little bit, you know, 'Phillies in five.' You knew Game 2 would be a huge game. If we had lost Game 2 at home, that would've been one of those things: Down 2-0 to a great team. In my mind, that would've been extremely hard to come back from."

So, before Game 2, the Yankees decided they needed something to put the momentum back on their side.

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It didn't involve adding some extra hitter who'd been hiding in the clubhouse all year or asking George Steinbrenner to come down and yell at the team until they woke up. It was a simple invite to a couple of dear friends to take the field before Game 2.

When it was released on Sept. 29, 2009, "Empire State of Mind" immediately became a hit.

It reached the tops of music charts all over the world, it won two Grammys and it was picked as one of the best songs of the year by almost every critic who critiqued.

And with Jay-Z's masterful verses highlighting New York City landmarks and Keys' catchy, booming chorus, the song became a ballad for NYC. For those who lived there or for those who wished they did.

It also, of course, became an inspiring song for the city's most famous team: The Yankees.

"That song was like our anthem," CC Sabathia told me. "It came out around this time in '09 and just kinda became the anthem of our season."

"Yeah, that was the anthem of our entire 2009 playoff run," Swisher said.

Derek Jeter even used it as his walkup song.

So, why not have the two all-time greats perform the track before Game 2 and try to boost the team's morale?

About half an hour before the Yankees took the field, with a sold-out crowd already in their seats and both teams on the edge of their dugout seats, that's just what happened.

"Bro, I got goosebumps right now just thinking about it," Swisher said.

The performance lasted only about four minutes, but the Yankees -- a team with some of the most famous athletes in the world -- were floored.

Jeter couldn't believe what was happening.

Mariano Rivera may still be smiling to this day.

Ramiro Peña made sure he was chronicling every second on his personal camcorder -- but also maybe didn't want anybody to see him doing it?

"To have that played out [at Yankee Stadium], that was pretty dope," Sabathia said.

"We were like ... 'Is this really happening?'" Swisher said. "I just remember the electricity. The excitement."

New York-born Keys and Jay-Z were, of course, also pumped to be asked to perform at Yankee Stadium during the Fall Classic -- with the latter even invoking the great Joe DiMaggio days before taking the stage.

Sabathia admitted that hearing that song, a song that already meant a lot to the team, in that moment, was definitely a motivating factor. It meant the world to them. Swisher agreed.

"This was exactly what we needed," Swisher told me. "This was the boost we needed in the right direction. Not only was it them just coming out and performing, it was New York coming together as one. It was crazy. You felt the energy shifting."

Sure enough, on the field, the Yankees responded extremely well to the pregame concert: They beat old nemesis Pedro Martinez in Game 2 by a 3-1 score and then won two straight in Philly. They scored five on Lee in Game 5 in a losing effort but then, in Game 6, beat Pedro again to take home their 27th World Series title.

"Obviously, in my mind, I think that 2009 team was one of the greatest teams ever assembled," Swisher said. "For us to be able to come out and win that game and to go on and win that World Series, it was awesome."

"Really, it's about inspiration, it's about hope," Jay-Z said of his song to the Daily News before the Yankee Stadium appearance. "I think that's what connects with people."

For one October in the Bronx, that's exactly what it meant.