Yankees create no excitement, and now pressure's on

NEW YORK -- First World Series dance for the new joint in the Bronx, the House That Jeter Built, or Steinbrenner, or whatever the construction company was, and a guy from Philadelphia played the part of Babe Ruth.

With Chase Utley jacking two bases-empty home runs against CC Sabathia on a rain-soaked evening that fell just a wee bit short of YES! Network specs, the Yankees produced a 6-1 clunker that surely made the deserted old stadium across 161st Street shudder on its deathbed.

On second thought, I don't think it really was rain. I think it was tears from old Yankee Stadium, now shrouded in black as it awaits the wrecking ball. Maybe those ghosts Derek Jeter spoke of didn't all quite make it across the street after all. You know how crazy the taxi drivers are around here. Splat!

A Yankees team that scored more runs than any team in the majors this year failed to land a single significant blow against Philadelphia ace Cliff Lee until the game was well out of hand.

And despite the tabloids' virtual coronation of the Yankees in the frenzied hours leading up to this series (sample Daily News cover headline: "It'll be Heaven When the Yanks Win 27"), really, it was business as usual around here.

Forget, for a minute, the propaganda relating to the Yankees' inspirational quest to win the 27th World Series crown in franchise history.

The reality of Wednesday night's drubbing by the Phillies is this has become business as usual around here in October.

The Yankees now have lost four consecutive World Series games, and seven of their past nine going back to 2001.

Somewhere, team radio broadcaster/buffoon John Sterling must be choking on his "Thuuhhhh."

Thuuhhh Yaannk-eeees ... don't win?

"What it boils down to is they're the best team we've played all year," said Jeter, who collected three of the six hits allowed by Lee, as the Yankees licked their wounds afterward. "They're in the World Series for a reason.

"No disrespect to any team we've played this year, but they're the defending champs."

While the pinstripes and pageantry were the same as in past World Series, the atmosphere wasn't. This $1.2 billion palace is sweet and all. It's monstrous, certainly big enough to house the numerous egos, not to mention the vaults needed to store the $400-and-some million the club committed last winter alone to Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira.

But what it gains in girth, it lacks in soul. When the Yankees came off the field after batting practice, there was no reaction at all. None. In the old place -- and in most stadiums -- that's when the first swell of emotion from the crowd begins.

There were numerous empty rows in the rich-man seats behind home plate and down the baselines throughout the game as the caviar crowd dined in the restaurant underneath.

With the Yankees down 4-0 in the seventh and then 6-0 in the top of the ninth, there were several thousand empty seats. Yes, it was cold and yes, it was soggy. But last anybody checked, the Yankees did lead the majors this year with 15 walk-off wins. And, this is the World Series.

"I thought it was the same," the ever-diplomatic Jeter said of the first World Series game in the new place and how it stacks up against the old cathedral. "The fans were into it.

"But you can put the World Series anywhere in New York and it would be fun."

You know who gets extra credit on this night? The creatures who packed the bleachers on either side of the center-field scoreboard, hollered until they were hoarse and kept the cheap seats packed until the end. That's who.

Joe Girardi (left) can't pitch CC Sabathia in every game, so his managerial skills will be put to the test in Games 2 and 3. (AP)

But as for Jeter saying the fans were into it ... what about all the empty seats in the late innings?

"Six-oh will do that to you," Jeter said.

Lee unplugged much of the emotion beginning very soon after first lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden walked off the field following pregame ceremonies.

"The scoreboard said he was at 91, 92 with his fastball," left fielder Johnny Damon said. "The TV actually said he was at 94, 95.

"I'm not sure which one was correct, but the ball was definitely getting on us and going in different directions."

Lee spent the night sending the Yankees in different directions, too. Especially their swings. He whiffed 10, including seven in the first four innings. Throwing a cut fastball that bore in on right-handed hitters all evening, Lee fanned Teixeira in each of his first two plate appearances and Alex Rodriguez in each of his first two plate appearances.

Lee was a one-man highlight show, catching Robinson Cano's bouncer up the middle behind his back on his follow-through to lead off the eighth. After throwing Cano out at first, Lee grinned.

Asked if he noticed and saw any humor in the situation, Damon demurred.

"It's no laughing matter," Damon said. "This is a very serious time, and we know he pitched very, very well."

Oh, whatever happened to the joyous Damon, the whiskey-swigging, self-proclaimed Idiot from Boston in 2004? That guy wouldn't be caught dead being All Serious. He would have loosened up, had some fun and figured out which way Victoryville is.

Kind of like, you know, the Phillies did.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool," Lee said of his basket catch, grinning.

A-Rod went 0 for 4 with three whiffs, and didn't get the ball out of the infield in his other at-bat against Lee (a ground ball to third).

Were all those postseason accolades premature?

Was a New York Post photo caption Wednesday referring to A-Rod as the "former playoff choker" false optimism?

Will Our Man rise back up again and make Rudy Giuliani and Kate Hudson proud?

He'd better. Because the Yankees now are caught up in a Cliff-hanger like they haven't seen in quite some time in 2009.

They assumed first place in the AL East for good by July. They cruised through September after beginning the month with a 6½-game lead in the East.

They swept Minnesota in the Division Series and swiped a 2-0 lead against the Angels in the AL Championship Series.

But one game into the World Series, against the defending world champions and a club Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins declared would beat them in five games, the Yankees officially now are knee-deep in their stiffest test yet.

It's only one game, and the Yankees are deep and expensive, so it's not anywhere near catastrophic yet.

But given their surprisingly thin rotation and inordinate dependence on Sabathia, the situation is serious. In what likely will remain a three-man rotation, any time Sabathia doesn't win, it dangerously shifts the pressure elsewhere.

"I don't think you need to overthink tonight," Rodriguez said. "Tonight, it was a dominant pitcher on the mound. He probably would have dominated any team in baseball.

"I don't think you need to worry about it too much."

A.J. Burnett, you're up next against the fabled, often fabulous Pedro Martinez.

Whaddaya got?