For all their powerful batters and the most prolific scoring lineup in baseball, the New York Yankees’ sluggers fell off a Cliff in the opening game of the World Series.
Cliff Lee, that is.
The confident Philadelphia southpaw struck out 10 without allowing a walk in pitching the defending World Series champions past the Yankees 6-1 on Wednesday in the first game of Major League Baseball’s best-of-seven championship final.
“To be successful at this level you have to be confident, go out there and think you are going to get everybody out,” Lee said. “I try not to go over the edge and rub things in and be cocky, but I definitely have confidence.”
The 31-year-old American fielded a hard-hit grounder behind his back in the eighth inning, then easily made the throw out to first, shrugging his shoulders as if it the remarkable play was nothing special while teammates laughed.
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was impressed by the fielding effort but more excited about Lee’s throwing, which silenced a team that produced 915 runs and 244 homers. The effort could earn Lee another start in game four on Sunday.
Providing the early run support to give the Phillies a boost was Chase Utley, the All-Star second baseman who hit solo home runs off Yankees starter C.C. Sabathia in the third and sixth innings to put Philadelphia on top.
Utley had been 0-for-7 for his career against Sabathia with five strikeouts before pounding him at Yankee Stadium, joining Yankee icon Babe Ruth as the only left-handed hitters with two homers in a Series game off a lefty pitcher.
“He works the count and he is patient at the plate,” Manuel said. “He finds ways to get on base.”
Utley reached base safely in his 26th consecutive playoff game, breaking the mark he shared with Baltimore’s Boog Powell.
“You try to put good at-bats together and see what happens,” Utley said. “I was able to squeak one over the fence early in the game. Obviously any time you can hit a home run it gives you confidence for the next time. So that was a good thing.”
Utley was as impressed with Lee as the Yankee batters who were baffled by the Philadelphia ace.
“He has been outstanding,” Utley said. “He works both side of the plate, mixes in breaking stuff and he is a competitor. I’m definitely glad he’s on our side.
■MARTINEZ CHARM FAILS
AFP, NEW YORK
On the eve of his latest bid to deny the New York Yankees a World Series crown, pitcher Pedro Martinez sought to make peace with the Bronx supporters who have booed him for years.
But the 38-year-old Dominican right-hander, former ace of the arch-rival Boston Red Sox, likely botched the charm offensive by saying: “I might be at times the most influential player that ever stepped in Yankee Stadium.”
The fabled ballpark played host to 26 World Series champions, the greatest success streak in US sport, and such Yankee legends as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio.
All Martinez did was arouse the ire of the Yankee faithful, who figured to boo him yesterday when he took the mound for Philadelphia in the second World Series game at Yankee Stadium.
“Coming against the Yankees in a World Series, in a Phillies uniform, it’s just a special day,” said Martinez, who sat out the start of the season before joining the reigning World Series champion Phillies at mid-season.
Martinez, who last pitched in the World Series in 2004 with the Red Sox, is 12-13 with a 3.41 earned-run average in 38 career outings against the Yankees, most of them in emotional outings in the Bronx.
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