BY MARK SPECTOR
sportsnet.ca
NEW YORK -- You can play a long, long big league career and never run into the sheer mass of historic opportunity that presented itself in Game 1 at new Yankee Stadium Wednesday night.
Babe Ruth? Boog Powell? Don Newcombe? All those ghosts of Yankee World Series’ past?
Anyone who wanted to etch their name into baseball’s history books, this was the place and this was the night, baby.
It was the first World Series game played at the new yard, and the seam heads had their pens poised to record every "first this" and "first that," with 50,207 witnesses on hand.
Of course, here in the Bronx, they would have preferred to paint those memories in pinstripes. But in a proud baseball town on a significant baseball night, it was the Philadelphia Phillies who laid claim to all the memories with a 6-1 victory, as this beautiful, $1.5-billion baseball palace broke her World Series maiden in the Yankees’ 40th trip to the Fall Classic.
The first World Series home run and first multi-homer Series game at the new ballpark goes to Philadelphia second baseman Chase Utley, only the second left-handed hitter in Series history to take a lefty (CC Sabathia) deep twice in a game. With that, he joins Babe Ruth, who beat up on southpaw Bill Sherdel way back in 1928.
"Guess that’s pretty good company," said Utley, who swings the bat with much more flair than he speaks.
The first absolutely dominant World Series pitching performance belongs to lefty Cliff Lee, the Phils’ second-place prize in the Roy Halladay sweepstakes at the trading deadline. Lee struck out 10 -- whiffing Alex Rodriguez three times -- and gave up one, crummy unearned run.
"I don’t know if there is any one way to get him out," Lee said of A-Rod. "Really this whole lineup, you’ve got to be unpredictable, mix speeds, mix locations and don’t get into patterns."
Lee walked no one, the third time in Series history a pitcher has fanned 10 without issuing a free pass. Pittsburgh’s Deacon Philippe -- ever hear of him? -- and Brooklyn’s Newcombe are the other two.
"He’s pitching very well but the one thing is he can’t pitch every day," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi, seeking the silver lining after his hitters were schooled by Lee.
"When we got him I knew he was good, I’d seen him before," drawled Phillies manager Charlie Manuel. "But if you want to know the truth, I didn’t think he was as good as he’s been. He pitched a hell of a game. And went through a real good lineup."
The first World Series win at the new stadium ironically goes to the franchise that has lost more games than any other North American professional sports franchise, the Philadelphia Phillies. They celebrated their 10,000th franchise loss in 2007, but aren’t thinking about losing now, with Pedro Martinez taking the hill Thursday against A.J. Burnett in another dandy match-up.
"Now we’ve got a chance to take both of them, and go home to Philly in a really good spot," Lee said.
Utley took Sabathia deep to right field twice in the game, both solo shots, and has now reached base in each of his last 26 straight post-season games. That too is a new record, breaking the old mark of 25 games held by Baltimore’s Boog Powell (1966-71).
More pertinent however is that Utley’s were the first home runs by a left-handed hitter allowed all season by Sabathia, a metaphor for where this series is going, with Game 2 on Thursday.
For so many in this Yankee-centric universe, the Phillies had morphed from the defending World Series champs into the Washington Generals in the days leading up to Game 1. Sure, the Yankees have reel upon reel of Lou Gehrig and Reggie Jackson in the Fall Classic, but this Yankees roster hasn’t been here in six years.
This was a stern and stunning reminder about which team has conquered lately -- the Phillies have gone 19-5 over their past 24 post-season games -- and which one is going to have to ramp its game up a notch against Martinez in Game 2, or risk going into Philly with a debilitating deficit.
Oh, and one more record: The Yankees have never been shut out in Game 1 of a World Series.
The Philadelphia Phillies nearly erased that record too.
