Postseason baseball severed ties with the Rockies nearly three weeks ago. It was a cold night in Denver, players’ bitterly disappointed.
With all the hankies now wrung out, Wednesday’s World Series opener revealed a simple truth about the break up, Rockies: It wasn’t you, it was them. The Phillies are really good, bordering on dynastic.
The Yankees have spent $1.4 billion on players since their last title in 2000. The Phillies spent a drizzly, chilly evening reminding the Yankees that there’s no guarantee that this year’s check won’t bounce.
The Phil-Lees suffocated New York 6-1, taking a baby step toward becoming the first National League team to repeat since Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine in 1976.
The stars or villains, depending on your prism, were pitcher Cliff Lee (a complete-game) and second baseman Chase Utley (two home runs). Sound familiar, Rockies’ fans? Lee pitched like he was double parked on 161st Street, allowing just six hits, while striking out 10. The Yankees’ lone run was unearned, courtesy of a Jimmy Rollins’ throwing error.
Lee worked fast and wouldn’t give the Yankees’ hitters anything to work with. He threw his cut fastball inside for strike one. He threw it outside for strike one. And just when the Yankees looked like they might actually get a good swing against him, he mixed in a knuckle curve and threw a Vulcan-paralyzing changeup as he outdueled former Cleveland teammate CC Sabathia (seven innings, two runs)
He is 3-0 in the playoffs, deprived only once of a win this postseason, Game 4 of the National League division series against the Rockies. He had the kind of night that winds up not on highlights, but in hardback books.
Forget the strikeouts and the meek outs, his most impressive work might have come with his glove. He caught Johnny Damon’s popup in the sixth while turning his head, and all but closing his eyes. And he snared Robinson Cano’s eighth-inning hopper behind his back.
After throwing to first baseman Ryan Howard for the out, Lee shrugged his shoulders, conjuring up images of Michael Jordan after his sixth three-pointer against the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1992 NBA Finals.
Lee required little help, but received a boost from Utley in what was nothing short of a statistical anomaly. His third-inning home run was the first allowed to a left-hander by Sabathia in 121 2/3 innings at the new Yankee Stadium. For those wondering, it’s just like the old Yankee Stadium, except in high def.
Utley, a stick in the Rockies’ side for his illegal knee shot in Game 3 of the division series, swatted another home run in the sixth. That ball looked like it might reach the subway tracks. Probably the person least surprised was Garrett Atkins. He has worked out for years with Utley since their days together at UCLA.
“That’s pretty impressive. CC isn’t easy to hit, especially for lefties. And that second one was a bomb,” Atkins said Wednesday. “His swing is so short and quick and powerful. And he never swings at pitches out of the zone.”
It would be easy to dismiss this as just a single win. But history mocks that idea. The team that has been victorious in the first game of the World Series has won 11 of the last 12 fall classics.
And this wasn’t exactly a Cliffhanger.
