He could be forgiven the momentary lapse, even as Tulowitzki drove in Carlos Gonzalez, turning Lee's shutout masterpiece into merely a 5-1, complete-game win. He nailed it shut by striking out Garrett Atkins to end the game and answer forever the question of how he would respond to his first playoff appearance.
"I wanted to give myself a chance to really absorb it and take it all in," Lee said. "Maybe it cost me a run, but we still won, so that's the bottom line."
Lee did more than just reach the bottom line yesterday. By pitching to the end, he also solved the problem of how to deal with the Phillies' inconsistent bullpen - keep the gate closed out there.
Three complete games would be a nice way to go through the series, but that's not likely. Cole Hamels gets the chance to make it two in a row today, though. If the Rockies, who struggled all year against lefthanders, are as hasty as they were yesterday, Hamels will benefit as well.
"Today, I was more staying away from 2-0 and 3-1 counts . . . and staying out of the heart of the plate," Lee said. "That's as simple as I look at it, and that's what you've got to do to be successful - not miss out over the plate much, and if you do consistently, bad things are going to happen. If you're locating and keeping the ball down and out of the heart of the plate, good things are going to happen."
In the last month, as Lee went 2-4 in his final seven starts of the regular season, his pitches were drifting to the outer half of the plate or he found himself falling behind in the count and needed to throw down the middle to avoid walks. In the starts when he did well, it was the reverse, but there was no way to know which Cliff Lee would take the mound. Yesterday, in merely the biggest start of his career, it was Good Cliff.
