[Photo by KEVIN BURKETT]
NEW YORK TIMES: After the fifth inning Sunday night, the Phillie Phanatic delighted the bundled-up crowd at Citizens Bank Park by knocking out a Los Angeles Dodgers fan in a fake boxing match. The skit played out in front of the Dodgers’ dugout, where the mismatch presented only a temporary distraction from the blowout unfolding in front of them. The Phillies pummeled the Dodgers, 11-0, to seize a two-games-to-one advantage in the National League Championship Series. They obeyed the rousing “Beat L.A.” chants that rumbled through the stands in the bottom of the first inning by battering Hiroki Kuroda for four runs and two more in the second. As Kuroda struggled, Cliff Lee, the Phillies’ ace left-hander, delivered another commanding performance, striking out 10, allowing three singles and walking none over eight sparkling innings. What Cole Hamels was to the 2008 World Series champions, Lee is to this year’s team — only better. In three postseason starts (24 1/3 innings), Lee has a 0.74 earned run average, about half a run better than Hamels (1.23) through the same point last postseason. MORE