What Are Yanks Doing to George?

NEW YORK -- This was a lousy way for the New York Yankees to hug somebody they supposedly love.

You had their listless ways at the plate. Then, if you combine that with a couple of mindless pitches by CC Sabathia and a shoddy bullpen, they spent Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium playing the opener of the World Series as if they wish to choke whatever life is left inside of the ailing George Steinbrenner.

OK, Cliff Lee is pretty good, but he isn't that good.

Is he?

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"He cuts the ball, and he sinks it," said Johnny Damon after he was among the many Yankees who looked absolutely pathetic against Lee during their 6-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. "The ball was going in different directions, and he's learned how to pitch through the years. He's a former Cy Young Award winner, and we knew going in that it was going to be tough against him."

Yeah, but even if the Yankees weren't playing this World Series for Steinbrenner, neither Lee nor anybody else should have made baseball's most prolific slugging team all season look this inept throughout the evening.

Where was Damon? Missing until the end. Mark Teixeira? Nowhere to be found. The same went for Alex Rodriguez, the other Bronx Bomber who bombed in the middle of the Yankees' lineup. If you take away the three hits from Derek Jeter, their always energetic leader, Lee held the Yankees to harmless singles by Jorge Posada in the second and Hideki Matsui in the fifth.


Damon did follow a Jeter single in the ninth with one of his own, and the Yankees eventually scored their only run of the game. Other than that, they stunk against a pitcher who clowned them along the way to a complete-game victory. In the sixth, when Lee casually stuck his glove out for a basket catch of Damon's pop fly, the only thing missing was circus music in the background. He also had his behind-the-back snag of Robinson Cano grounder that he tossed to first for an out.

And, yes, Lee was splendid during the postseason (2-0, 0.74 ERA) prior to this start. It's just that the Yankees had all of those celebrated hitters. They also had their own Cy Young Award winner on the mound in Sabathia, but he wasn't as potent or as clutch as Lee, his former teammate with the Cleveland Indians.

This isn't to say that Sabathia was shaky. He was solid after allowing four hits and two runs in seven innings. Still, with a world championship at stake in the long run, and with Steinbrenner not getting any younger while spending one of the few games this season at the new ballpark he had built, and with your pitching counterpart embarrassing your hitters, you can't make mistakes.

Instead, Sabathia made two of them.

To the same person.

Even though Chase Utley loves pitches that are low and on the inside part of the plate, that's exactly where Sabathia delivered a 3-2 pitch that flew off of Utley's bat over the right-field fence in the third inning. Worse, on an 0-2 pitch in the sixth, Sabathia opted not to waste a pitch to Utley, and the result was a ball over the middle of the plate that Utley crushed farther into the night than the one before.

Those two solo homers produced the only runs the Phillies would need, and now all of that other stuff for the Yankees seems silly. For instance: As often is the case whenever they play a World Series game in the Bronx, they threw more at their opponent than just gifted players and stifling fans. There were the ghosts, represented by those pinstriped monuments beyond the wall in center field.

Then there were the shadows, represented by Yogi Berra, the greatest among the living Yankees. He joined First Lady Michelle Obama, Second Lady Jill Biden and a war veteran for the ceremonial first pitch.

There also was that not-too-subtle message on the scoreboard that said above the interlocking NY logo: "Win it for the Boss."

This pursuit of a 27th world championship for the Yankees is mostly about Steinbrenner, but only if you believe manager Joe Girardi, who keeps speaking of doing this for "Pops." Jeter has made similar comments as team captain, spark plug and future member of those shadows and ghosts.

Is there pressure on the Yankees now?

"Nope," Jeter said, daring anybody to disagree. "We handle every game exactly the same. I would have said exactly the same thing had we won." Added Posada, who was the catcher during the parade of five Yankee relievers that allowed four runs, five hits and three walks in the final two innings, "It is what it is today. We'll get them tomorrow."

Talk is fine.

Action is better.