Cliff Lee certainly wasn't bothered by his lack of previous postseason experience. Pitching in his first playoff game, the Phillies lefthander threw a six-hit complete game as the Phillies beat the Colorado Rockies, 5-1, today in the opener of their National League division series at Citizens Bank Park.
The Phils will send last year's World Series MVP, Cole Hamels, to the mound in Thursday's Game 2 at 2:37 p.m. Aaron Cook will take the mound for Colorado.
There was some debate as to whether to go with Lee or Hamels in Game 1, but once again manager Charlie Manuel pushed the right postseason buttons, something that happened frequently during last year's World Series championship.
The win was also the Phillies' first over Colorado in the postseason after the Rockies completed a three-game sweep in the 2007 NLDS.
Neither a swirling wind nor a Rockies offense that belted 190 home runs seemed to bother Lee, who seemed to feed off the energy of a record Citizens Bank Park crowd of 46,452.
Lee struck out five and didn't walk a batter. He threw 113 pitches, 79 for strikes.
For the Phillies, Jayson Werth went 2 for 3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Raul Ibanez was 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a run scored and Ryan Howard went 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI.
Each Phillies starter got at least one hit, including Lee.
The Phils opened the scoring with two runs in the fifth inning off righthander Ubaldo Jimenez, who suddenly lost his command and never regained it.
Werth got things started with a leadoff walk.
Ibanez, playing in his first postseason game since 2000 when he was with Seattle, then drilled an RBI double down the first-base line. Following a groundout for the first out by Pedro Feliz, catcher Carlos Ruiz delivered an RBI single and went to second when the ball got by rightfielder Brad Hawpe.
There was no further damage, but Jimenez labored through a 35-pitch inning after throwing 46 in the first four innings.
The next inning, things didn't go any better for Jimenez.
Chase Utley led off the sixth with a single, stole second, and scored on Ryan Howard's double to left field that Carlos Gonzalez appeared to chase down before crashing into the wall. Werth then crushed an RBI triple that was just out of the reach of centerfielder Dexter Fowler.
That would end Jimenez's afternoon. Ibanez greeted reliever Joe Beimel with an RBI single, increasing the lead to 5-0.
Jimenez, who was 15-12 with a 3.47 ERA in the regular season, pitched five-plus innings and allowed five runs (all earned) on nine hits. He struck out four and walked one.
Lee actually had to get out of a first-inning jam. With runners on first and third and two outs, he got Garrett Atkins to pop out to Shane Victorino in center field to end the inning.
On most days it would have been a routine short fly ball, but with the wind blowing, every ball hit into the air was an adventure.
Rockies catcher Yorvit Torealba led off the second inning with a double down the third-base line. With one out, second baseman Clint Barmes flew out to right field.
Torealba then took off for third base, but was thrown out on a two-hopper by Werth. Torealba didn't like the call and the replays showed that he had a good argument.
Lee certainly did his best to spark the Phillies. In the third inning, he hit a two-out single up the middle and then stole second base.
It was the first stolen base ever by a Phillies pitcher in a postseason game.
Lee then came close to being picked off second base, barely getting back in time. Jimmy Rollins struck out to end the inning.
Unlike his counterpart Jimenez, Lee continued to get stronger as the game progressed, at one point retiring 16 consecutive batters.
Colorado scored its run in the ninth on Troy Tulowitzki's two-out RBI double. It was obviously too little, too late for the Rockies. Source philly.com
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