GANNETT CONTENTONE
Mike Lopresti: Gannett sports columnist
Originally published: October 28, 2009
Phillies' Lee dominates Yankees in Game 1 win
By MIKE LOPRESTI, Gannett
NEW YORK - On the field: The Philadelphia Phillies are taking batting practice before Game 1 of the World Series.
On the Yankee Stadium scoreboard, the mission for the month: "Win it for The Boss."
It is autumn, for New York, and for him.
A chilly, misty wind blows Wednesday night as another Bronxian World Series begins; a tough evening for a 79-year-old man in frail health to be out in the weather. But there George Steinbrenner is, in a third deck box, with his sons and his memories.
A lifetime has been spent this way; watching the Yankees on October nights, chasing more history. Has it really been 32 years since the first championship to have the Steinbrenner name stamped upon it? Time flies when you're having fun, and spending billions.
But time is not always kind. They do not see his scowl anymore, when the ninth inning ends with the wrong team ahead. They do not hear his roar. Nor do they get the special touches the rest of the world didn't see; the notes of support, the words of encouragement.
"We wouldn't be here without him," Derek Jeter mentioned the day before. "We wouldn't have this team if it wasn't for him."
So Wednesday night is special.
The Boss is in the house.
Trouble for the Yankees, so is Cliff Lee.
No public word came from Steinbrenner Wednesday, but we can guess the feelings of the man in the overcoat.
• Crestfallen when Chase Utley sent a CC Sabathia fastball into the right field stands in the third inning for a 1-0 Phillies lead.
• Grumpy as Lee mowed down the Yankees. Lee struck out Jeter. He struck out Alex Rodriguez three times. He fanned the side in the fourth.
• Really ticked off by the sixth, when Utley's second home run made it 2-0.
Apparently Lee and Utley didn't get the memo about this being George Steinbrenner's night.
It ended 6-1, and was an alarming sight for the Yankees. The perfect 2009 postseason record at home soiled, Sabathia beaten, the aura cracked. Lee, in utter charge of the evening, choked the mighty Yankees lineup on six hits
,
and required his outfield to contribute only four putouts in a complete game performance.
Only one victory, but how telling a victory? Jimmy Rollins' prediction of a five-game Philadelphia conquest is off to a promising start. The Phillies are mega-confident, and Wednesday night gave them no reason not to be.
Once, George Steinbrenner would have none of this. He would send vibes to rattle the clubhouse walls. But he was younger then.
The Yankees have not changed much, but his legacy has. They still spend to win. The first free-agent signing - the first down payment on a pennant - was 35 years ago with Catfish Hunter, and there have been 135 more since.
But what of how the world looks at George Steinbrenner? Just when did that view change?
What happened to the mercurial and meddlesome taskmaster, firing pitching coaches and managers with each phase of the moon? The temperamental chief executive?
He aged. But his creation, his baby, his labor of love and money - the modern Yankees - was on amazingly solid ground for the long haul.
It is not easy these days to build good times that last, even with a fat wallet. He and his family have done it, and when the Yankee masses looks at their spiffy new home and the unending victories, how could they not love him? So the image fades away from when he was more zookeeper than baseball owner, less stately and more stormy.
"You realize how hard it is to get here," Andy Pettitte said of the World Series. "No matter how much money you spend, how many people you bring in here, it ain't that easy."
The Boss may not get back in person to this World Series. But he was here Wednesday night, when the past met the present, and a crowd-muting message was sent by a lefthanded pitcher who started the season for the Cleveland Indians.
The Yankees are in a fight.
Contact Mike Lopresti at mlopresti@gannett.com
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ABOUT MIKE
Quote: "Of course, I have to say who won. But I'd better say more. If not, I'm useless. They don't need me. I have to give readers something extra than what they've seen on TV. Or why read?"
Favorite sport: college basketball.
Career: Sportswriter, (Richmond, Ind.) Palladium-Item, 1970-1981; Gannett News Service and Gannett ContentOne, since 1982.
First GNS assignment: Super Bowl XVI.
Born: Richmond, Ind.
Ball State University graduate.
Married since 1976.
In the press box
World Series: 27
Final Four: 28
Super Bowl: 26
NBA Finals: 25
Masters: 25
Olympics: 14
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