Phillies' Lee Aces His First Playoff Test

Phillies 5, Rockies 1

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 7 -- Out in the Philadelphia Phillies' bullpen Wednesday afternoon, the flags overhead were flapping in a stiff wind, and an occasional hot dog wrapper would come blowing through. But otherwise, for eight solid innings, nothing moved. Once in a while, a reliever would stand, stretch, maybe windmill his throwing arm for a few seconds -- you know, just in case. But then he would sit back down and gaze towards the mound, just another awed spectator watching Cliff Lee dominate the Colorado Rockies.

Lee, the Phillies' lanky left-hander, threw the first pitch of the 2009 postseason at 2:38 p.m., a strike that begat a flyball, the first of Lee's 27 outs. At 5:26 p.m., with the Phillies' bullpen finally warming in the ninth, he threw his 113th and final pitch, a 94-mph, no-chance fastball for a swinging strike three, punctuating it with one understated fist-on-glove clap and a man-hug with his catcher.

As simple as that, the Phillies took Game 1 of the National League Division Series, 5-1, over the Rockies at Citizens Bank Park, and Lee, with a six-hit, no-walk complete game, validated the defending champions' decision to import him this summer from Cleveland, at a steep cost in young talent, precisely for moments such as these.

"Absolutely amazing," Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino said of the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner. "That's just what they brought him here for."

Two years ago, Lee was left off the Indians' postseason roster following an excruciating season that included a 6.29 ERA and a humbling trip to the minors. Now, he is Philadelphia's savior, swooping in to rescue a makeshift starting rotation and a ragtag bullpen -- a shell of the peerless unit that won the World Series just 12 months ago -- with his nine dazzling innings, and the promise of more to come.

"He got really, really good as the game went on, to the point where [beyond] the third inning, I don't know if he missed a spot," Rockies Manager Jim Tracy said. "We certainly didn't get too many good pitches to swing at. He was pretty much on the corners."

While Lee, 31, was mowing down the Rockies, the Phillies' unrelenting offense, which appeared helpless against Rockies flamethrower Ubaldo Jiménez his first time through their order, began battering him the second time through. Jayson Werth walked at the end of an eight-pitch at-bat leading off the fifth inning, and Raúl Ibáñez doubled him home. Two batters later, a Carlos Ruiz single made it 2-0.

"With a guy who's that dominant," Victorino said of Jiménez, "you just want to run his pitch count up, get him out, get into their bullpen."

Tracy had a chance to get Jiménez out of the game, because the pitcher's spot in the order was due to lead off the top of the sixth. But Tracy let his ace hit, a move that backfired when Jiménez failed to record an out in the bottom half of the inning, with the Phillies getting three-quarters of the way to the cycle against him -- a Chase Utley single, a Ryan Howard double, and a Werth triple, the latter two wind-aided. By the time the inning ended, it was 5-0.

"He's a guy who's been the ace of your staff all year long," Tracy said of Jiménez. "I don't think that's a very good message to send to a guy -- that after they scratch two runs off him that you remove him from the game."

As it turns out, the three additional runs the Phillies scored off Jiménez didn't matter, given the way Lee was pitching. At one point, he retired 16 straight Rockies batters, throttling the NL's most potent offense (a .784 OPS). He needed little help from his fielders -- who did well enough simply in catching the ball, given the windy conditions and the late-afternoon shadows -- but when he did need them, they delivered, such as when Werth, in right field, threw out Rockies catcher Yorvit Torrealba trying to advance to third on a fly ball.

In the Phillies' bullpen -- where closers have lost their jobs, set-up men have been snatched away by injury, and various starting pitchers have begun taking up residence to provide support -- the relievers sat on benches, with their hands shoved into the pockets of their sweatshirts. They ate sunflower seeds and cracked jokes.

"It was getting pretty goofy down there," said Phillies reliever Scott Eyre, "and we're a goofy bunch to begin with."

Only in the ninth inning did anyone stir. As Lee ascended the mound, Ryan Madson, the set-up-man-turned-closer-by-default, began to warm up. So did lefty J.A. Happ, one of the starters sent to the pen as reinforcements.

With two outs in the ninth, and an 0-2 count to Troy Tulowitzki, the crowd of 46,452 began chanting, "Let's go Lee! Let's go Lee!" and Lee, he admitted later, stepped off the mound to "soak it all in." Bad move. Tulowitzki doubled into the gap, costing Lee the shutout.

But the game was still his, and four pitches later, so was the win. In the clubhouse after the game, he carried the game ball in his left hand. Just as he had over those nine brilliant innings, he appeared as if he knew exactly where it was going.