Lee's dazzling as Phillies defeat Yankees in Game 1
NEW YORK _ On Oct. 22, 2008, Chase Utley's power, combined with the brilliance of an ace pitcher, enabled the Phillies to open the World Series with a win.
In the year since, much has changed for the team. The Phillies have lived for 12 months as defending champions, gaining in fame and self-assurance. But while the ace is different in 2009, and the series opponent higher-profile, the script seemed familiar on Wednesday night.
Cliff Lee, the Phillies' coping mechanism for Cole Hamels' disappointing year, followed three dominant performances in the division series and National League Championship Series by outpitching his good friend CC Sabathia. Lee allowed just one earned run while pitching a complete game, and the Phils defeated the New York Yankees, 6-1, in Game 1 of the 105th World Series.
The lefthander also played sharp defense, snagging one pop-up with a basket catch while standing comically still, and later snaring a hard liner behind his back.
Utley, who hit a first-inning home run to open the series against Tampa Bay last year in a game that Hamels controlled, hit two solo homers off Sabathia on Wednesday night. Raul Ibanez effectively sealed the win with a two-run single in the eighth, and the Phils added two in the ninth.
The Phillies did not solve Sabathia immediately. At 8:01 p.m., on a damp, 51-degree night that followed a very rainy day, Jimmy Rollins attempted to surprise his fellow Bay Area-native Sabathia by bunting the first pitch of the Series.
Had Rollins known that he would push the bunt toward first base and be tagged out, and had he seen the trouble Sabathia would encounter throwing strikes later in the inning, he may have made a different decision. It did not begin immediately: Shane Victorino followed Rollins with a pop-up, and Sabathia appeared ready to breeze through the first.
But Utley drew a walk, and Ryan Howard moved him to third by doubling to the right-field corner. Jayson Werth walked to load the bases, and Sabathia went to a 3-1 count on Raul Ibanez. Ibanez bounced to second, stranding three runners, but Sabathia threw 25 pitches, and just 12 strikes, in a difficult inning.
Lee's initial World Series inning was far breezier; the Phils' ace threw 11 pitches while retiring three straight batters, and striking out Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira. That forced Sabathia right back onto the field.
He looked momentarily as shaky as he had in the ominous first, beginning with three straight balls to Ben Francisco. But the lefthander quickly recovered his command, inducing three groundouts in a nine-pitch inning.
As the rain built from a mist to a heavier drizzle, Lee allowed his first hit of the night in the bottom of the second, a single by Jorge Posada, although the catcher did not score.
When Utley homered in the third, it benefited the Phillies in a number of ways: Not only did it give them a 1-0 lead, but it also punctured the groove that Sabathia appeared to be developing. And Utley's nine-pitch at-bat, which came with none on and two out, further elevated Sabathia's pitch count.
Utley fouled off five pitches before poking a ball over the right-field wall. It was the first home run Sabathia had allowed to a lefthanded batter at Yankee Stadium all year, and by the end of the inning, the Yanks' ace had thrown 58 pitches.
Lee did not labor at all. On just his 31st pitch of the game, he retired Nick Swisher on a pop-up to begin the bottom of the third. As he did when Posada singled, Lee pitched around a two-out double by Jeter, and once again pushed Sabathia from the dugout minutes after he arrived there _ although this time the Yankee retired the Phils in order.
Lee continued to handle the Bombers, despite numbers that did not predict an effective performance. Several Yanks had enjoyed productive careers against Lee before Wednesday night: Jeter was a lifetime .407 hitter off the Phils starter; Alex Rodriguez, .333; Teixeira, .391.
But they collected many of those hits before Lee grew into a Cy Young Award winner in 2008, and a postseason ace this October. In the fourth, Lee struck out Teixeira, Rodriguez, and Posada in order.
After a settled Sabathia again retired the Yankees in order, Lee allowed a leadoff single to Hideki Matsui in the fifth. The Yankees' designated hitter was quickly erased when Rollins snagged a low liner from Robinson Cano, touched second in an apparent decoy play, and threw to Howard at first.
With Rollins scampering across the infield and telling Howard to tag a seemingly confused Matsui, who acted as if he had already been erased in a groundout double play, the first baseman obliged. After a brief meeting, the umpires correctly ruled it a double play.
By the sixth, no Phillie had reached base since Utley's home run _ until Utley sent another shot to right, this one deeper, with one out in that inning. The Phils had just three hits, but they led, 2-0. That was the score when Sabathia left after seven.
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