Thursday, October 29, 2009

Total Domination


Unlike that car rental commercial, the Yankees were in the wrong end of "Total Domination" last night. Phillies starter Cliff Lee was nearly unhittable. He allowed an unearned run, four hits, and struck out in tossing a complete game. He also didn't walk a batter.

The Yankees hitters were off balance all night as CC Sabathia did his best to keep his team in the game. Despite not having his best stuff or control, the big man allowed just two runs, both Chase Utley solo home runs, in seven innings of work.

The Phillies scratched across four more against a suddenly very shakey Yankees bullpen. Phil Hughes, David Robertson, and Brian Bruney were chief among those who didn't get their job done.

The Yankees had never been shut out in the opening game of a series, but nearly were last night. They got a run in the 9th, in part thanks to a Jimmy Rollins throwing error. It snapped a streak of 17 scoreless innings by the Yankees in World Series play (they had been shut out by Josh Beckett in the final game of the 2003 series).

Chase Utley joined Babe Ruth as the only left-handed hitters to have a 2-HR game against a left-handed pitcher. The Bambino accomplished the feat against the Cardinals in 1928.

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