I apologize for this. I need to get me some computer skills. There's a huge ugly chart (copied straight from this list at Baseball Reference) after you click "read more" below:

Cnt Player            Date          Series G Tm   Opp GmReslt App,Dec    IP   H  R ER BB SO HR Pit Str GmSc IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP   ERA
+----+-----------------+-------------+------+-+---+----+-------+---------+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+------+
    1 Dave Stewart      1989-10-14    WS     1 OAK  SFG W  5-0  SHO9  ,W   9    5  0  0  1  6  0 138  86   82       34 33  1  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   0.00 

    2 Mike Caldwell     1982-10-12    WS     1 MIL @STL W 10-0  SHO9  ,W   9    3  0  0  1  3  0 100  66   83       31 30  1  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   0.00 

    3 Luis Tiant        1975-10-11    WS     1 BOS  CIN W  6-0  SHO9  ,W   9    5  0  0  2  3  0 100  65   78       33 31  2  0   2   0  0  0   0  0  1  0  1  0   0.00 

    4 Bob Gibson        1968-10-02    WS     1 STL  DET W  4-0  SHO9  ,W   9    5  0  0  1 17  0           93       32 31  1  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  1  0  0  0   0.00 

    5 Whitey Ford       1961-10-04    WS     1 NYY  CIN W  2-0  SHO9  ,W   9    2  0  0  1  6  0           88       30 29  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   0.00 

    6 Vic Raschi        1950-10-04    WS     1 NYY @PHI W  1-0  SHO9  ,W   9    2  0  0  1  5  0           87       30 29  0  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   0.00 

    7 Allie Reynolds    1949-10-05    WS     1 NYY  BRO W  1-0  SHO9  ,W   9    2  0  0  4  9  0           88       33 28  1  0   0   0  1  0   1  1  0  0  0  0   0.00 

    8 Johnny Sain       1948-10-06    WS     1 BSN  CLE W  1-0  SHO9  ,W   9    4  0  0  0  6  0           85       33 32  0  0   0   0  1  0   0  2  0  0  0  0   0.00 

    9 Hank Borowy       1945-10-03    WS     1 CHC @DET W  9-0  SHO9  ,W   9    6  0  0  5  4  0           74       37 31  0  0   0   1  0  0   2  0  0  0  0  0   0.00 

   10 Lon Warneke       1935-10-02    WS     1 CHC @DET W  3-0  SHO9  ,W   9    4  0  0  4  1  0           76       35 31  2  0   0   0  0  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   0.00 

   11 Carl Mays         1921-10-05    WS     1 NYY @NYG W  3-0  SHO9  ,W   9    5  0  0  0  1  0           78       32 30  0  1   0   1  1  0   1  1  0  0  0  0   0.00 

   12 Babe Ruth         1918-09-05    WS     1 BOS @CHC W  1-0  SHO9  ,W   9    6  0  0  1  4  0           78       35 32  0  0   0   1  1  0   0  0  0  0  0  0   0.00 

   13 Christy Mathewson 1905-10-09    WS     1 NYG @PHA W  3-0  SHO9  ,W   9    4  0  0  0  6  0           85       31 31  3  0   0   0  0  0   1  0  0  0  0  1   0.00 

A decent throw from Jimmy Rollins on the shoulda-been-double-play ball in the 9th last night, and Cliff Lee (6 hits, 10 strikeouts) pops up at the top of that list (and it becomes the second time in two chances that the Phillies and Yankees produced a WS Game 1 shutout).

Oh, well. As it is, Lee becomes the 20th pitcher to throw a complete game and permit no earned runs in Game 1, the last being Greg Maddux in 1995.That's actually a surprisingly high number, considering there have only ever been 105 Game 1s. 

I'm confident in saying that of the 20, Lee shut down the best lineup (non-era-adjusted; that is, just the most likely to score runs); the 2009 Bombers scored 80 more runs than the powerful Cleveland squad Maddux dominated. There are more impressive Game 1 performances -- Maddux's two-hit, no-walk effort was amazing, and even in the Year of the Pitcher, 5 hits and 17 Ks from Bob Gibson is pretty hard to compete with -- but when you consider the lineup he had to face, this was just an amazing performance, and when you look at this list, it looks to me like it would fit in as one of the three or four best World Series pitching performances of the last 30 seasons (Derek Jeter can probably tell you something about the only one I'm pretty sure would beat it).

I've got to come clean; as convinced as I am that the playoffs are a big crapshoot, I just wasn't expecting this to be much of a series. The Yankees are just a much better team than the Phillies (and that will continue to be true even if the Phillies win the next three games in blowouts). But nobody told Cliff Lee that. This is a huge boost to the Phils' chances, and has really complicated my expectations for the next 5-8 days. Should be interesting.

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