The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Yankees 6-1 in a drizzly New York to win the opening game of the 2009 World Series in the early hours of this morning. 

While MLB’s previous free-to-air TV host Five was showing a third-rate piffling show called Super Casino, the Phillies’ Cliff Lee was dealing.  He pitched a complete game against the potent Yankee batting lineup, striking out ten and conceding just one late unearned run, whilst also making two nonchalant fielding plays that had everyone not connected to the Yankees grinning from ear-to-ear.  Lee’s opposing number, and former team mate in Cleveland, CC Sabathia also pitched a strong game, giving up four hits over seven innings; however he made two mistakes to Chase Utley and the Phillies’ second baseman dispatched both of them into the seats for solo home runs. 

Philadelphia added four more runs in the final two innings off the Yankee bullpen, but ultimately it was a cushion that Lee didn’t need.  Despite a typical display of the Yankees’ never-say-die spirit in the bottom of the ninth, led by a Derek Jeter single as so often has been the case over the years,  the Bronx Bombers could only muster a single run on a throwing error by Jimmy Rollins.  Breaking up the shutout was the only bright spot for the home crowd, one cheered a little more heartily than usual because of the identity of the person who chucked the ball away.  That moment apart, the Yankee fans were left trudging away from their spectacular new stadium with the knowledge that their team had been outplayed.  Philadelphia’s one-nil advantage is fully deserved and sets up the rest of the series perfectly for us neutrals.

The lack of coverage on British terrestrial TV meant that the MLB International feed with Dave O’Brien and Rick Sutcliffe wasn’t available to us (maybe that’s the feed that was shown on ESPN America?), so FOX were our broadcasters via MLB.tv.  Joe Buck and Tim McCarver kept the annoying moments to a minimum and offered a neat little feature at the start of the game by showing us the pitch types and grips used by the two starting pitchers, something that the MLB International production has done in the past, if my memory serves me correctly.  Sabathia was shown gripping a four-seam and two-seam fastball alongside a cutter and a change-up; Lee displayed a four-seamer, change and a ‘spiked’ curveball.  That last pitch was a Yankee-killer on the night.  Lee showed he had a great feel for it right out of the gate by flipping a beauty to Jeter with his second pitch of the game and he used it to strike out Jorge Posada to end the contest in the ninth. 

I’ve always been tickled by the way in which pitches can be seen in different ways by different people.  Some batters will confidently tell you that Sabathia doesn’t throw a cutter and that it’s really a slider, while the commentators regularly referred to Lee’s cutter even though that wasn’t one of his pitches showcased in the above mentioned feature.  I guess the difference between some of these pitches is slight and what you call them doesn’t really matter.  It’s when and where they are thrown that counts.

That was highlighted by the two pitches that Sabathia would love to be able to take back.  The left-handed Chase Utley stands very close to the plate and a left-handed pitcher like Sabathia is always going to try and throw the fastball in under his hands because that’s clearly going to be a very difficult pitch for Utley to get around on and hit if you locate it well.  It’s a classic case of strengths and weaknesses being so close to each other.  Sabathia knows that if he gets those pitches right then Utley will struggle to do much with them, but if he misses then he’s in trouble.  Throw it too far inside and you’re likely to hit him, as happened to Utley more times in the 2009 regular season than any other player in the Majors, putting a runner on in front of Ryan Howard.  If you don’t throw it far enough inside and get too much of the plate, you’re putting the ball right into Utley’s wheelhouse.  The latter happened twice in Game One: Posada set up inside, Sabathia’s fastball drifted into the middle of the plate and Utley smacked it into the right-field seats. 

The margin between success and failure at the highest level of baseball is breathtakingly small.  That’s the intense thrill of the competition that players, managers and us fans feed on and enjoy so much.

Despite Lee’s masterful performance, had a few plays turned out differently then the game might have ended in the Yankees’ favour and that’s how this ultra-talented New York team will look at it.  Sabathia could have jammed Utley twice.  The unusual double-play turned by the Phillies in the fifth after Matsui’s lead-off single, one that has prompted a few scoring queries for me to put to Joe once I’ve finished writing this article, was nearly missed by the umpires.  Raul Ibanez might have grounded out to Robinson Cano with the bases loaded yet again in the eighth, as he did in the first inning, rather than send the ball past him to double the Phillies’ 2-0 lead.  Of course, had Ibanez struck the blow in the opening frame then who knows what would have happened next.

There are potentially six more games left in this World Series and the Yankees undoubtedly have the class to turn it around, but  the Phillies have struck a significant opening blow. They are guaranteed to head back to Citizens Bank Park at least with the series level at 1-1 and with the chance to reel off three wins to win the series at home, as Rollins cheekily predicted.  Lee struck out Alex Rodriguez three times as the third baseman went hitless (how long before people are saying he can’t handle the pressure of the World Series? One more 0-fer performance I bet), the Phillies’ hitters inflicted damage on the Yankee bullpen and beat the Yankee’s one ‘banker’ starting pitcher. 

Joe Girardi is now relying on the ace-type A.J. Burnett showing up tonight, while Charlie Manuel will be hoping that the New York crowd’s taunts will inspire Pedro Martinez to put on a vintage performance.  Hopefully both pitchers will be at their best and we can enjoy another well-played, exciting game.  First pitch is set for 23.57 GMT once again.

The World Series lineup was set in the early hours of this morning as the New York Yankees completed their 4-2 ALCS victory over the Los Angeles Angels with a 5-2 win.  Fans of the long ball should be in for a treat as this is just the third time in MLB history that the top two home run-hitting teams from the regular season have matched up in the Fall Classic.  More importantly, the contest will be between the best team from each league (admittedly Dodgers fans might argue with that, but it’s a close-run thing either way), which isn’t always the case owing to the unpredictable nature of best-of-five and best-of-seven series.

The New York Yankees’ triumph is in some ways a public relations problem for MLB.   It’s a simple story to write that the Yanks have bought their way to the World Series.  At $208m, their payroll is $63m higher than the second highest (the Mets) and $97m more than what the defending champs have spent.  The huge contracts that they dished out to Sabathia, Teixeira and Burnett over the offseason can be cited as prime examples of a big-money team simply blowing their competitors out of the water in the pursuit of success.  It was the baseball equivalent of Chelsea Football Club parking their tanks on the lawn and firing £50 notes at their rivals, as ex-Arsenal Vice-Chairman David Dein once memorably put it.   Those competitors are always going to cry foul in response (the Brewers’ owner Mark Attanasio was particularly vocal about the task teams like his face), but that reaction can also spill over to baseball fans and onlookers in general.  We can accept that some teams will always have more than others, but the financial disparity between the Yankees and the rest may begin to look insurmountable and if that’s the case, does anyone else really stand a chance?  Continue reading →