Some thoughts after soaking in the Phillies Game 1 spanking of the New York Yankees:

1. Close your eyes and imagine for a minute that the Phillies do not trade for Cliff Lee before the deadline. Where does this trade rank all-time? Lee is such a perfect fit on this team because, like his teammates, he does not give a shit who he is playing, how many World Series championships they have, or how much bigger their city is, or how many so-called pundits picked the other guys. The Phils may very well still be in for a dogfight in this series, but there is NO National League team that is better equipped to go into Yankee Stadium and knock down the Yanks than the Phillies.

2. The new Yankee Stadium is not nearly the home field advantage that old Yankee Stadium was. The crowds had more of an edge, behind the plate didn’t look like a corporate cocktail party and it was much louder. The sense I got, watching from home, was that the crowd was nervous before the first pitch, let alone when Sabathia struggled in the first.

3. Cole Hamels looks and sounds like a complete tool in those Comcast commercials. Only Mike Richards’ soulless West German BMW commercials are worse.

4. I am still waiting for one of these expert baseball talking heads to mention things other than how stats and platoon splits determine who wins a World Series. Heart counts more than platoon splits. Everyone just assumes A-Rod, perennial October dud before this year, would just parlay his success in the ALDS and the ALCS into World Series glory. Granted, there are still games to be played, but the lack of respect for the Phillies would be really fucking annoying were it not so laughable.

5. The Phillies CANNOT hit the Yankees’ lefty pitching. Don’t check out the box score though, as you’ll be confused by the disconnect.

6. Name the great bullpen pieces for the Yankees that aren’t named Rivera. Did any of them pitch tonight?

7. I know I am stating the obvious here, but winning game 1 was HUGE. The reduction in pressure on Pedro is equal to the increased pressure on AJ Burnett tomorrow night. The “Who’s Your Daddy” chants won’t have the same bite, and Pedro will be able to pitch loose. Game 2 of the NLCS, Pedro pitched pretty good too, right? Right.

8. Joe Girardi is a complete and utter lightweight. of a manager. He wouldn’t qualify as Charlie’s bench coach. Of Cliff Lee tonight, he said, “”One thing, he can’t pitch every day.” Hey Joe, we’re the team that has more than 3 competent starting pitchers to throw. CC in Game 4 at the Bank? Bring it on, Bombers.

10. I cannot imagine how annoying Joe Buck and Tim McCarver must have sounded to Yankee fans. Once they see where the story of the night is going, they beat the living daylights out of it. Tonight it was Cliff Lee. Didn’t annoy me a bit. I wanted to listen to 1210, but the radio is way ahead of the TV feed on both the HD and the non-HD feeds.

11. Is Pedro Feliz’s defense so much better than Greg Dobbs that we have to keep running him out there? I know Dobbs hasn’t been great this year, but the Phillies are winning in spite of Feliz’s atrocious work at the dish.

12. The Phillies are being very economical with their hits. In the 2009 regular season, the Phillies had 1.75 hits for every run they scored. In the postseason, it is taking only 1.39 hits per run for the Phils, who are taking advantage of walks, and small ball in general to score this postseason.

13. Phillies fans are confident tonight. There’s nothing wrong with that. The good news is that the Phillies are not even remotely impressed with themselves. They don’t care until they can pop Domaine Ste. Michelle.