When reality not only matches but exceeds the hype, you get Cliff Lee at Yankee Stadium on Monday night.
Affixed Godlike status for his perfection in October, Lee entered Game 3 of the ALCS as a mixture of Sandy Koufax, Whitey Ford, Warren Spahn and Andy Pettitte, the all-time winner in the postseason.
Then the Rangers lefty pitched as good as any of those stud hurlers in an 8-0 victory over the Yankees and Pettitte that was witnessed by a disappointed gathering of 49,840 who left the Stadium looking forward to the day Lee signs a massive free agent contract with the Yankees this offseason.
Lee’s masterpiece nudged the Rangers into a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 affair that continues Tuesday when the Yankees firmly cross their fingers A.J. Burnett can help get them even. Tommy Hunter starts for the Rangers.
This was the 20th time in 41 ALCS that it was tied, 1-1. Of the previous 19, the Game 3 winner of a tied series advanced to the World Series 14 times.
Lee gave up two singles in eight innings, fanned a career-high 13 and out-pitched Pettitte, who gave up a first-inning, two-run homer to Josh Hamilton and three singles afterward.
Because Lee threw a season-high 121 pitches, Rangers manager Ron Washington called for rookie closer Neftali Feliz to work the ninth after the Rangers scored six runs in the top of the inning against Boone Logan, David Robertson and Sergio Mitre for an 8-0 bulge.
On most nights, Pettitte’s seven-inning stint, in which he allowed two runs and five hits would have been enough. Yet all it got the veteran lefty was his first postseason loss since 2005 when with the Astros he was beaten by the Cardinals in Game 1 of the NLCS. Pettitte never faced a batter with a runner in scoring position.
Lee is 7-0 in the postseason; 3-0 this year. He certainly wasn’t the cure for the Yankees’ ALCS hitting woes with runners in scoring position. They entered the game 4-for-23 (.174) in the clutch and went 0-for-3.
Lee didn’t allow a base runner until walking Mark Teixeira in the fourth. Jorge Posada’s soft single with two outs in the fifth was the Yankees’ first hit. Brett Gardner led off the sixth with a single to center.
With Darren Oliver and Darren O’Day, each of whom helped torch Game 1 for the Rangers, throwing in the bullpen, Lee retired the Yankees in order in the eighth, striking out Posada looking to start the frame and Gardner staring at a 0-2 pitch to end it.
Gardner opened the sixth with a single to center that stirred the crowd Lee had put to sleep. When Lee’s first two pitches to Derek Jeter were outside the strike zone, the noise increased. Gardner swiped second on a called strike to Jeter that evened the count, 2-2. Lee muted the crowd by fanning Jeter for the first out. It was Lee’s 10th punch out and was followed by ground ball outs by Nick Swisher and Teixeira that advanced Gardner to third and stranded him there.
After Hamilton’s two-run homer in the first, Pettitte retired 14 of the next 15 batters through the fifth inning. The lone runner was Michael Young, who reached on an infield single in the third with two outs.
Lee was ahead of Teixeira, 1-2, with two outs in the fourth but walked him. Teixeira’s time on the bases didn’t last long when Alex Rodriguez hit the next pitch into the left-center field gap that was run down by Nelson Cruz to keep the no-hit bid intact.
Hamilton’s homer put the Yankees in a 2—0 hole and was the fifth time in six postseason games the Yankees trailed.
With one out, Pettitte jumped head of Young, 0-2, but went to a full count before Young singled to right. Pettitte’s 2-1 pitch to Hamilton, an 84-mph cut fastball that didn’t move, landed in the right-field seats. It was Hamilton’s second homer in three ALCS games; he clubbed a three-run homer off CC Sabathia in the first inning of Game 1, which the Yankees rallied to win 6-5.
