THIS was not the Twins and Angels running silly around the bases. This was a composed team with a killer on the mound, a leader at shortstop and a big bat at second base.
The 6-1 victory at Yankee Stadium in Game 1 of the World Series last night at the Stadium puts the Phillies right where they need to be, up 1-0 on the road. They are not afraid of the big bad bully or the ALCS MVP CC Sabathia or the $1.5 billion jetport ballpark.
Mystique and Aura aren’t yet in this Yankees lineup, and a lot of fans bailed early.
The Phillies play in a small park, too and know how to win those games. Two Chase Utley home runs and quick Cliff Lee weaving his magic on the mound and the defense of Jimmy “Nostradamus” Rollins can carry a team a long way.
“[Lee] dominated our lineup,” said Alex Rodriguez, who went 0-for-4 and struck out three times.
This will be a great series, if the Yankees are up to the battle against the defending world champions.
“We play hard and we play to win,” Utley said calmly. “I don’t feel like we’re intimidated. We all have confidence.”
Rollins put the Yankees on notice that the Phillies are going to stand up to them. The Phillies, the NL champs, are more like an AL club than the Twins or Angels, two teams the Yankees steamrolled earlier.
“We’re both good teams, that’s why you play a series,” Johnny Damon said. “They kicked our butts today.”
Every game has a tone-setting play, and this one came in the fifth when the hobbled Hideki Matsui bounced a single up the middle to lead off the inning against Lee. The Yankees thought they were going to break through.
Then Robinson Cano lifted a bloop to short. Rollins made it look as if he was going to let the ball bounce and go for the double play. Rollins outsmarted the Yankees and Matsui. He caught the ball in the webbing of his glove as he placed the glove on the dirt. Matsui was completely fooled, though the second base umpire made the out call.
Matsui was doubled off first, the call was questioned, the umps got together, and the double play stood. That’s smart baseball. That’s the kind of play Derek Jeter would make. That’s winning baseball.
For all the Yankees fans who think that Rollins was just running his mouth saying they would win in five, that’s not the case. Rollins said during the World Baseball Classic that the Yankees were a target, and the Phillies were ready to take it to them in the World Series.
The Yankees offense is not as threatening as the Phillies’ right now because the Yankees are getting little from their corner outfielders, Damon and Nick Swisher. When Damon popped to Lee with Jeter on first in the sixth, Lee stood there and caught the ball off his hip as if to say, “That’s all you got?”
“A pretty simple catch,” Lee said of the play.
A pretty simple game.
Now the Yankees have to turn to A.J. Burnett to show some toughness tonight in Game 2 at the Stadium. Is he capable?
He will be up against Pedro Martinez, whose best days are behind him, but Pedro still has the strong belief that he is the best.
“I don’t know if you realize this, but because of you guys in some ways, I might be at times the most influential player that ever stepped in Yankee Stadium,” he told the media yesterday.
Babe Ruth happened to walk in old Yankee Stadium so Pedro is living his baseball fantasy, but it gives you a peek inside the Phillies’ mindset.
They’re going after the Yankees. They play hardball.