NEW YORK - The Yankees were tired of trying to hit Cliff Lee's pitches for nine innings. They had exasperating at-bats. But even after a 6-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of the World Series, the Yankees could not escape Lee. They spent most of their postgame talking about him, too.

"Don't overthink things," Alex Rodriguez said. "It was a dominant pitcher that dominated our lineup and probably would have dominated any lineup."

Although some Yankees were willing to praise Lee and say that this was only one game in the series, Lee's brilliant performance had to make them wonder if this one game would have additional ramifications. Lee, a former Cy Young Award winner, is now the pitcher the Yankees do not want to see.

Lee allowed no earned runs, struck out 10 and walked none in a complete game. If the Yankees cannot solve him, this series will become much more difficult for them to win.

"There's no doubt," said Rodriguez, who struck out three times in four at-bats. "We're going to have to figure out a way to beat him."

Johnny Damon, who was 1 for 4, said Lee's "ball was moving all over the place."

Mark Teixeira, who was 0 for 4, said Lee tossed cut fastballs, changeups, curveballs and sliders, and pinpointed them, too. Teixeira said it seemed as if Lee "had command of five, maybe six pitches."

"When you're pitching that well, it doesn't even matter who you're facing," Teixeira said. "It was just him and the catcher."

Dave Eiland, the Yankees' pitching coach, said Lee's outing was the best game pitched against them this season. In the fourth inning, Lee whiffed Teixeira, Rodriguez and Jorge Posada, using a fastball, a changeup and a curve to send three elite hitters back to the dugout.

"He was on," Posada said about Lee. "He was on his game today."

Along the way, Lee also caught Damon's pop-up in a carefree way. Lee acted as if he were catching a Frisbee on the beach. Lee also fielded Posada's dribbler to the mound and slapped him in the buttocks to make the tag.

Although Damon said making an out in that way was "no laughing matter," he did not say Lee was showing him up. Posada dismissed the notion that Lee's tag on him was anything unusual.

Lee sprinted on and off the mound in every inning and worked quickly once he started pitching. The Yankees did not get two runners on base in the same inning until the ninth and did nothing to disrupt Lee's rhythm.

"He seems," Rodriguez said, "like he's been in a rhythm for the last year and a half."

Because Lee was in a rhythm and silenced the Yankees, Thursday is critical for them. Teixeira said he had confidence the offense would rebound because "Cliff Lee is not pitching." But Pedro Martinez is.

"It's big," Rodriguez said. "We need to win and take it to Philly 1-1. It's a seven-game series. Today was tough."