Lee, Phillies probably got it right

PHILADELPHIA

Another full house here at Citizens Bank Park Sunday night. A real full house. Not one of those Yankee Stadium "Yeah, I have the tickets, but it's freezing out and who wants to pay $35 for parking, anyway?" deals.

Cliff Lee spent a few minutes pregame with a group of special-needs children who wore "Lee's VIPs" T-shirts and gained access to the field. Later, he endured a 34-pitch first inning without allowing a run to the Mets before settling down.

You can see why the lefthander turned down the Yankees in the offseason. What the Phillies lack in majesty and history compared with the Yankees, they more than match in fan intensity and opportunity to excel.

"I still get people on the street saying, 'Thanks for getting Cliff back,' that sort of thing," Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said before the game. "But really, the people they should be thanking are the people in the stands. They should be thanking themselves. They're the ones who helped bring him back."

It's hard to fault the Yankees for failing to land Lee. They went after him aggressively in the winter in free agency, and if they had increased their offer (seven years for $148 million) any more, it would have been irresponsible. Shoot, they probably dodged a bullet by having Lee turn them down, removing one more potential albatross from a Bronx-based ledger full of them.

Which makes what the Phillies did with Lee all the more impressive. After foolishly trading him to Seattle following the 2009 season, they laid in the weeds last winter as the Yankees and Rangers publicly competed for Lee's services. By the time industry folks realized that the Lee sweepstakes featured more than two teams, Lee and the Phillies had agreed to a more palatable five-year deal worth a total of $120 million (with a vesting option for 2016).

The Phillies didn't simply improve by adding Lee to an already fantastic starting rotation featuring Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. They enhanced their reputation, both within Major League Baseball and here in Philly, by the stealth way in which they brought back the 32-year-old.

"We like to try to do our business as privately as possible," Amaro said. "I think that's the way you ought to try to do things. It seemed to work out better."

The Phillies set franchise records in home total attendance and average attendance for each of the five previous seasons, and last year, they sold out all 81 home games for the first time. Their total of 3,647,249 paced the NL in 2010 and placed them second overall to the Yankees (3,765,807), and they can boast 137 straight sellouts dating to last year.

With four straight NL East titles, two pennants (2008, '09) and a World Series title ('08) in the books, they're on a heck of a run. Consider that Lee chose the Phillies as a free agent, and Halladay and Oswalt waived no-trade clauses to come here.

Charlie Manuel, the Phillies' folksy manager, smiled before the game when asked what he thought of Lee's return so far.

"I think we'll keep him," Manuel said. "I think he's going to work out here for us."

"You sure you don't want to sleep on that?" I followed up.

"I think he helps me sleep at night," Manuel responded.

The rest of the city, however, is more awake to baseball than ever.