Phil-Lee Steals Game 1 Show, Literally

PHILADELPHIA -- The wind howled through Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday afternoon, with gusts up to 50 mph that had all two world championship banners flapping nonstop.

Cliff Lee? Unflappable. At least until the ninth inning.

Leading the Phillies over the Rockies 5-1 in the opener of their NL Division Series, Lee came within a strike of becoming the first pitcher in nine years to throw a complete game shutout in his postseason debut (the Mets' Bobby Jones did it in 2000).

"His nerves are ice, I think, all the time," Phillies reliever Scott Eyre said.

"He just never let off the gas," added Jimmy Rollins.

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But with two out in the ninth, a runner on second and a 0-2 count on Troy Tulowitzki, Lee got out of character for a moment.

"The crowd got pretty fired up," Lee said, "so I took a little second to look around and soak it all in. But then I threw three straight balls and one down the middle that went in the gap [for an RBI double].

"Maybe it cost me a run, but we still won."

Who can blame Lee for wanting to scan the largest crowd in stadium history, all waving towels while chanting "Let's go Lee!" and appreciate the moment?

Twenty-six months ago, he was in Triple-A. He got back to the majors in September 2007, but the Indians left him off the postseason roster that year.

In favor of Aaron Laffey.

"This is my next opportunity to do it," said Lee, who came back in 2008 to win the AL Cy Young Award, making him so good Cleveland had to trade him. "That's in the past. I'm not even thinking about that at all. I'm looking forward.

"Even today['s game]. It's over already."

He said that at 6:08 PM Eastern time, 42 minutes after he had thrown his 113th pitch, a 94 mph fastball that struck out Garrett Atkins.

Lee had two men on base at the same time once, in the first inning. He went to a two-ball count on just nine of 32 batters, and only four of those went to three balls (none walked).

"He was just having his way with the strike zone today," Colorado's Brad Hawpe said.

"He got really, really good as the game went on," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said, "and to the point where by the third inning, I don't know if he missed a spot. But we certainly didn't have very many good swings off of him beyond the third inning, and we certainly didn't get too many good pitches to swing at. He was pretty much on the corners."


Lee raised some concerns in phickle Philly down the stretch as he went 2-4 with a 6.13 ERA. But that may have been little more than bad luck; he struck out 35 and walked only four in that stretch, and over those five weeks he had the highest batting average on balls in play in the NL.

Then on Wednesday he justified Charlie Manuel's decision to start him in Game 1.

"He handled the whole flow of the game pretty good," Manuel said.

Manuel had about 17 bodies in the home bullpen at one point, but the Phillies needed none of them. They found their closer, for a day, and his name was Cliff Lee.

He made the bullpen questions moot by pitching the first NL postseason complete game since Jose Lima (!) for the 2004 Dodgers.

From the second inning through the ninth, Lee retired 21 of 22 batters. On a total of 77 pitches.

"He comes right at you," said Phillies left fielder Raul Ibanez, whose RBI double in the fifth scored the game's first run. "He makes the other team swing the bat. And whatever happens, happens fast."

Speaking of fast -- well, not really -- Lee even became the fourth pitcher ever to steal a base in the postseason, and the first since John Smoltz swiped three in the early 1990s.

After Lee singled leading off the third, first base coach Davey Lopes tipped him off on a way to get a good jump off Ubaldo Jimenez.

So Lee swiped his first base since ... "probably American Legion," as he said.

"I thought, 'What the hell is he doing?'" said Manuel, who forgave Lee once he explained Lopes' advice.

Reminded he has one fewer stolen base than Lee this postseason, Rollins rolled his eyes and said, "I know, right?"

"[Lee] was just having his way with the strike zone today"
-- Rockies outfielder Brad Hawpe Rollins said Jimenez seemed to be affected by the aggressiveness on the bases.

And, according to the shortstop, during their inevitable march to a division clincher, the Phillies had been waiting for this day to find another gear.

"It's finally here," he said. "We can go out and finally let the wins actually count for something. Rather than just 1-0 or 0-1. If you win, that's one less win that you need to go to the next round.

"Now winning feels like we're doing something, rather than just moving the win-and-loss column up."

The Phillies played like the did a year ago, going 4-for-11 with men in scoring position, catching all the wind-blown popups and runnng the bases well.

And all the time, Lee did what he came to Philadelphia to do -- anchor the pitching staff and put them in command of a series.

"We've been in this position before," Tracy said, "trust me, more than once."

But the Phillies have won eight straight postseason games at Citizens Bank Park, and in Game 2 on Thursday they will start Cole Hamels, who in three home playoff starts last year was 2-0 with a 1.71 ERA.

"Now," Rollins said, "we've got somebody to push Cole."