Shocking victory? Not with these confident, no-frills Phils

NEW YORK -- The only thing hotter than Chase Utley's bat right now is that Crisco oil stuff in his hair.

The Phillies are apparently undaunted and unafraid either of the Yankees or extravagant hair care products.

Chase the Ace, in one of the more dominant World Series performances of the last few years, walked in the first inning and then hit two booming home runs in a 6-1 win over New York in Game 1. He's reached safely in each of his last 26 postseason games, an all-time record. He passed Boog Powell who had a 25-game postseason streak from 1966-1971.

He became only the second left-handed batter in World Series history to hit two homers off a lefty pitcher in one game since Babe Ruth in 1928. Babe Freaking Ruth.

Utley also set the record for the amount of Soul Glo in a person's hair.

Utley's dominance embodied the Phillies who, on yet another foul weather night here, again showed their sea legs in the Game 1 victory. They demonstrated something that remains a hardcore truth but seems to still be largely forgotten by too many people: There isn't a tougher team in baseball than the Phillies.

There wasn't last year, there wasn't this season and because of that swagger-licious, wholesomely arrogant and unparalleled ability to collapse the trachea of an opponent -- even one as storied as the Yankees -- the Phillies have taken control of this series.

The Phillies even took control of the fans. Utley said Yankees fans were rowdy towards the Philadelphia players until he hit those homers. Then the stadium, filled with 50,207 people, mostly became quiet. Then something else happened.

"... During near the end of the game," Utley said, "I noticed some people left."

The front-runners bolted.

For anyone who really knows baseball, Philadelphia's victory isn't shocking. This is what the Phillies do. They don't give a damn. Meet them in the back alley, bring your boys and your knives, or your pennants, and they'll Muay Thai dropkick you.

Or drown you in hair gel.

This is what the Phillies do.

The Yankees? Their new stadium? Their celebrities? All those rings? All those titles? His Phoniness, Rudy Giuliani, in attendance? The Phillies don't care.

This is what the Phillies do.

The Phillies aren't just like an American League team. They're just like an NFC East team.

It's a noticeable contrast to the uptight nature of the Yankees and their controlling manager Joe Girardi, whose jockstraps seem to get tighter as the situation gets closer.

Yet another scene that illustrated Philadelphia's toughness wasn't solely Utley's production as it was Cliff Lee. Smoking the Yankees all game, Lee casually caught a Johnny Damon pop-up in the sixth, almost half heartedly, drawing a chuckle from his teammates.

Later, Lee caught a one-hopper off Jorge Posada, and then casually ran Posada down, patting him on the butt with the baseball, doing so like it was a spring training game instead of the World Series. He added another beauty in the eighth when he caught a ground ball behind his back.

Philadelphia's Charlie Manuel, the team's manager, continually laughed it up in the dugout like he was watching Larry the Cable Guy at a comedy club.

It was a Philly yuck fest.

"I liked the one behind his back," Manuel said. "The pop-up he tried to pull a Willie Mays."

None of these things were a display of arrogance or disrespect by Philadelphia. It's just the Phillies. This is what they do.

They ... don't ... give ... a damn.

World Series? So what.

"It's been a long time since I've been nervous playing this game," Lee said.

The same statement could be made about the entire Phillies team.

Predators don't get nervous.

Again, their win isn't a surprise. They've been tolerably cocky for some time and it's worked well for them. Jimmy Rollins, before the 2007 season, predicted the Phillies would win the pennant over the Mets. He was right. Last year Rollins said his team would win 100 games. They snagged 103. This year he Nostradamused a Yankees and Phillies World Series. That one worked out, too.

On TV the other night he said the Phillies would win in five games. If the Phillies win the second contest, Rollins might be right about that, too.

Because this is what the Phillies do.

No one should be stunned any longer.