Philadelphia Phillies lefthander Cliff Lee took the mound to begin Game 1 as Yankees stadium bustled, anticipating the start of the World Series. The relaxed 31-year old looked in at catcher Carlos Ruiz, nodded his head yes, and pumped in a fastball that New York Yankees captain and leadoff hitter Derek Jeter fouled off. His outing was underway, and what an outing it would be for Lee.
Jeter fouled off a tumbling curveball and then swung through a filthy slider for strike-three; three pitches, one out. Johnny Damon watched Jeter go down easily and, judging by Lee’s command of the first three offerings, knew he would be tough to beat. So, the Yankees left-fielder bunted. Lee gobbled it up and fired to first.
It was an odd decision by Damon. Usually, a bunt would come out of desperation, in the latter innings when behind and in need of a spark. But Damon knew something his fellow teammates would soon find out, and tried to jump-start his team the only way believed possible. Why else would he bunt as the game’s second hitter?
The power was due up for New York, but where New York saw power, Lee saw opportunities to create swings and misses. He had the repertoire, location, and ability to change speeds with regularity to baffle the American League champions. Without a nervous bone in his body, he stuck to his game-plan, intimidated, and mowed the clean-cut and exorbitantly rich Yanks down.
Mark Teixeira was up after Damon. He managed to work the count, force a couple of balls out of Lee, but in the end was sent back to the dugout shaking his head just like Jeter before him. The first baseman swung mightily at two-straight fastballs, biting Lee’s bait to end the frame.
Alex Rodriguez began the bottom of the second inning the way Teixeira ended the first. Lee started him off with two fastballs perfectly placed. Rodriguez stared at both, walked out of the box, and pondered what pitch would come his way. It was another fastball, and all the third-baseman could do was foul it back. Lee missed barely low with a fourth fastball, then disposed of his guessing opponent with a slider that dipped in and out of the strikezone and evaded his bat.
Lee had another five pitch at-bat, this time against Hideki Matsui after Jorge Posada had singled. In that five-pitch at-bat, he used his five different pitches. He missed with the first two, a two-seam fastball and a slider, but then battled back with a four-seam fastball for a called strike, a loopy curveball that was nicked foul, and a changeup woefully flailed at by the designated hitter.
His control was impeccable and his mixture of pitches and change of speeds kept the Yankees off balance. He was having fun, and just getting started. Given a run of support on a solo-shot in the third inning by Chase Utley off New York’s ace CC Sabathia, somehow he managed to improve. Two pathetic fly-balls started the third and a weak grounder ended the frame. He fell behind Teixeira, Rodriguez, and Posada in the fourth and retired all three swinging at strike-three. It was unbelievable–simply magical.
The Yankees had the best record during the regular season and the best offense. They also hit the most homers. All of their accolades were thrown out the window. This was the World Series, a stage their franchise hadn’t reached since 2003. They were lost then, losing to the Florida Marlins in Game 6 thanks to Josh Beckett’s dominant shutout, and were lost in Game 1 against Cliff Lee.
After Utley hit his second homer of the game off Sabathia in the sixth, Lee showed just how laid back he was. With Jeter on first, Damon got well under a fastball and skied it in the middle of the infield. It was headed towards Lee. Usually infielders call off the pitcher in this situation, but he was in total control. He watched the ball reach its peak in the dark New York sky, stuck out his glove and, motionless, made the simplest and most nonchalant catch I have ever witnessed. He showed no emotion as he knead the ball in his hand, but then smiled at Ryan Howard at first base before going back to work.
Teixeira went down quietly, grounding into a force-out, as did the three hitters Lee faced in the seventh. Rodriguez grounded out meekly. Posada tried to turn on a changeup, but dinked it up the first-base line. Lee came over, corralled the forty footer, and tagged the Yankees catcher a third of the way up the line. Posada walked back to the dugout shaking his head. The crowd was silent, and remained that way as Lee exchange balls with the home-plate umpire, chewed his gum, and walked back to the mound. The inning ended after another groundout, this one by Matsui. Lee was a major-leaguer pitching to little-leaguers. It was that easy.
As if he needed it, Lee was given two more runs of support in the seventh as the Yankees bullpen struggled. If New York had a fools hope down 2-0, they were certainly out of the running behind by four. Even still, they tried to get something going in the bottom of the eighth, though it didn’t look like it.
To start the frame, Robinson Cano hit a slider that appeared headed up the middle. Lee’s windup took him to the third-base side of the rubber, but that didn’t stop him from making a magnificent play. He reached behind his back with his glove and stabbed the sure-single out of thin air. Cano stopped dejectedly as Lee, still chewing his gum without a care in the world, tossed to Howard for the out.
His offense tallied two more runs in the ninth, making a Yankee comeback impossible. Lee, just over a 100 pitches, went out to finish what he started. He wasn’t sweating, and wasn’t even glistening. Once he gave up two singles to begin the frame, he motioned to his infielders as if nothing was brewing for New York. He watched shortstop Jimmy Rollins airmail Howard, allowing Jeter to score to end the shutout, but calm, cool, and collected Cliff Lee took little notice. He shook his head ever-so slightly in disappointment, as he wanted the shutout, yet stayed focused and ended the game in fitting fashion.
Rodriguez, with two strikeouts under his belt, notched a third, falling behind 0-2 and then flailed at a changeup. Lee started off Rodriguez with two fastballs, but started off the next hitter, Jorge Posada, with two changeups. Posada, like Rodriguez before him, was in a 0-2 hole. After fouling off a fastball, Lee threw his ’spike curveball.’ The pitch started off in the middle of the plate, then fell of the map. Posada swung, guessing where it might land. He missed, as the ball fell into Ruiz’s glove, which lay on the dirt.
Ruiz popped up, turned his catchers’ helmet around, met Lee, shook his hand, and said “Good job.” Even the celebration was bland between Lee and Ruiz. The Phillies ace, who was their Plan B at the Trade Deadline, had just thrown a complete game in Game 1 of the World Series. Nothing much was made of it by Philadelphia because, well, this was nothing new. What he had done in 12 starts with the Phillies during the regular season, and in three previously this postseason carried over to the biggest of stages–that’s all.
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