Phillies Take Game 1 of World Series, Lee Pitches Gem
October 29, 2009 by Staff
Filed under All Sports
Forget about Alex Rodriguez’s hot streak.
Who cares if CC Sabathia has dominated in the playoffs?
And who said playing in the New Yankee Stadium would be an advantage for the home team?
Cliff Lee of the Philadelphia Phillies walked into Yankee Stadium as cool as the other side of the pillow. And when he walked out of the stadium tonight, he walked out with a win, a complete game and 0 earned runs allowed. As a result, the Phillies now have 1 game lead in the 2009 World Series after beating the Yankees 6-1.
As for the Yankees? They walked out embarrassed.
While many people said that Lee and Sabathia were equally hot coming into the World Series, there were still those that suggested that Sabathia had the advantage because he had been facing American League Pitching all post and regular season long. Surely, Sabathia had was in many respects was a wonderful game and definitely a quality start. In fact, Sabathia’s final line was 7 innings pitched, 4 hits, 2 runs and 6 strikeouts. It’s hard to complain about that unless…
Unless the opposing pitcher, Lee, goes 9 innings, 6 hits, 0 earned run and 10 strikeouts. Advantage, Cliff Lee.
Sabathia’s 2 earned runs weren’t the result of a series of bad pitches either. In fact, after he cooled down after the first inning, CC probably only threw 2 bad pitches all night. Unfortunately, both of those pitchers with 2 outs in the inning and they were driven to right field and out of the park by Chase Utley, who joins Babe Ruth as the only two left-handers in Major League Baseball history to hit 2 World Series Homeruns against left-handed pitching in the same game.
As for the hitters, there were some notable performances. Derek Jeter was clutch again; going 3 for 4 and scoring the Yankees lone run in the game (which came off a Jimmy Rollins throwing error). No other Yankee reached base more than once, and the Yanked 3, 4, 5 and 6 hitters went a miserable 2 for 15 against Lee.
The Phillies were a good bit better at the plate. The Phillies 1, 2 and 3 men got on base 7 times, and of course the 3 man, Utley, had his 2 homeruns and a walk as well.
A questioned asked by many prior to the game was which team was best prepared to rebound from a loss? Many said the Yankees, because it was believed that they have the better pitchers. But the Phillies touched up the bullpen tonight, including sending Phil Hughes back to the dugout when he came on and gave up 2 runners (which eventually scored) without recording any outs. Not to mention, if Sabathia was the best pitcher the Yankees could throw at the Phillies and they scored 6 runs, what might they do against the ever-inconsistent A.J. Burnett?
I don’t know, but we’ll find out. Game 2 is tonight in the Bronx, weather permitting. But based on how the Phillies played last night, neither rain nor frigid temperatures are going to affect them.
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- Phillies Beat Dodgers 10-4, Will Defend World Series Title
- Phillies Take Game 1, But Dodgers Prove Meddlesome
- Cliff Lee Continues to Impress for the Phillies
