The 2009 World Series unfortunately ended up as one that Phillies fans would like to forget. However, the first game of that series not only got the attention of the New York Yankees and made most people stand up and realize that the Phillies were for real, but the pitching of one Cliff Lee was enough for it to make the Top 25 list at number 16.
Moment #16: Cliff Lee dominates the Yankees-Game 1, 2009 World Series-October 28, 2009
Coming into the 2009 World Series, most people wrote the Phillies off as just a speed bump to the mighty New York Yankees. While the Phillies had won the World Series just the year before, they hadn't had to face any team the caliber of New York, and it was supposedly just a matter of time until the Yankees made the Phils melt under their gaze.
The main story heading into Game 1 was the pitching matchup. The last two American League Cy Young Award winners would be facing off, as C.C. Sabathia took on Cliff Lee. Sabathia was literally New York's biggest free agent signing of the offseason, and he dominated throughout the regular season, finishing the year with a 19-8 record. He had also appeared to remove the ghosts of his past two playoff trips, posting a 3-0 record with an ERA just above 1.00 in the first two rounds. Meanwhile, Cliff Lee had fallen off a bit after his remarkable 2008 season, but a midseason trade to the Phillies seemed to be just what he needed. He won his first five starts with the Phils, then tapered off at the end of the season, finishing his half season in Philadelphia with a 7-4 mark. Though there were questions about how he would pitch in the playoffs, he quickly answered them all with a complete game victory over the Rockies in Game 1 of the NLDS and a ten strikeout performance against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the NLCS.
Still, most people thought just the mere factor of playing in New Yankee Stadium against C.C. Sabathia would be enough for Lee to revert back to the pitcher he was during the regular season. What they got instead was a pitching performance for the ages. Things started out on the right foot, as Lee struck out Derek Jeter on three pitches. He followed that up with a strikeout of Mark Teixeira to end the inning. The second inning went just as well, as he struck out Alex Rodriguez, then worked around a one out single by Jorge Posada by striking out Hideki Matsui and getting Robinson Cano to ground out. Chase Utley would put the Phillies ahead with a solo home run in the top of the third, and Lee was in cruise control after that. He would strike out seven through the first four innings, including striking out the side in the bottom of the fourth. Utley would homer again in the top of the sixth for the last run Lee would need on this night.
The Yankee fans that paid thousands of dollars to see their team run over the Phillies instead watched one of the newest Phillies dominate the best lineup in baseball during the regular season. Lee wouldn't strike out another batter until the eighth inning, but still managed two amazing plays in between strike outs. First, he made the most nonchalant catch ever on a pop-up by Johnny Damon in the bottom of the sixth inning, then he made an incredible behind the back play on a ground ball by Robinson Cano in the bottom of the eighth, and he followed that up with his eighth strikeout of the night on the next batter. The Phillies would add insurance runs in both the eighth and ninth innings, and though Lee lost the shutout in the bottom of the ninth, thanks to a Jimmy Rollins throwing error, he simply reached back and struck out Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada to end the game. Yankee Stadium was stunned, and though it wouldn't hold, the Phillies had taken a 1-0 lead in the World Series.
Even though this game is less than two months old, I still can't believe how well Cliff Lee pitched that night. He took a New York team that hit .283 as a team during the regular season and was hitting over .250 in the postseason, and held them to just six hits and one run. Alex Rodriguez had dominated pitchers during the playoffs up to that game, he went 0-4 with three strikeouts. In total, Lee struck out 10, didn't walk a batter, and didn't even allow a baserunner to get to third base until the ninth inning. Not only that, but he cleared out most of Yankee Stadium by the bottom of the eighth inning, and there were more Phillies fans than Yankee fans left by the time the last out was recorded.
Unfortunately, the great effort that Lee had during Game 1 wouldn't carry over through the rest of the World Series. The Yankees would take the next three games, coming from behind in two of them, before the Phils were able to take Game 5 behind another solid effort from Cliff Lee. However, the Yankees would close out the series in Game 6, denying the Phillies back to back championships, and leaving most of us with just the memories of that one night in late October, when a pitcher from Benton, Arkansas, silenced just about everyone in Yankee Stadium during the World Series. It was a performance that I'd never seen before on a stage very few people ever get to perform on, which is why it finished so high on this list, even if the Phillies did end up losing the World Series.
The best part about this moment? Cliff Lee is still under contract for next season, meaning that this could happen again.
We return to the lovely Eagles vs. Cowboys rivalry for moment #15 tomorrow. Amazingly enough, it's Freddie Mitchell's second showing on this list, as his only catches seemed to be important ones.
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