I’m not saying that Lee can’t be beat in penalty kicks, either. Cause I have no idea. But it wouldn’t surprise me that much if it proved to be true. Lee homered in the seventh last night, driving in what would prove to be the winning run, and threw eight shutout innings as the Phils topped the Dodgers 2-1.
After allowing one run in 42 innings in June, Lee had an off July in which he threw to a 4.91, but has now thrown 15 shutout innings to start August.
With the win, the Phils improve to 11-1 over their last 12 games. They have allowed more than three runs in a game once in their last nine times out. They’ve gotten six quality starts in a row and quality starts in 12 of their last 15 games.
The Phillies are 76-40 for the year after beating the LA Dodgers 2-1 last night. They are 36 games over .500 for the first time on the year and lead the NL East by 8 1/2 games.
Lee got the start for the Phillies and went eight shutout innings, allowing four singles and two walks. He struck out ten and dropped his ERA on the year to 2.83.
Dee Gordon led off the bottom of the first and singled. He stole second before moving up to third on a bunt single by Jamey Carroll. Lee struck Andre Ethier out swinging 2-2 and Matt Kemp out swinging 1-2. Carroll stole second before Lee got Aaron Miles to pop to Howard in foul territory and leave both runners stranded.
No run for the Dodgers after putting men on first and third with no outs. Big strikeouts for Lee of Ethier and Kemp.
Lee struck out Tony Gwynn and Rod Barajas setting the Dodgers down in order in the second.
He threw a 1-2-3 third with a 1-0 lead.
He struck Ethier and Kemp both out again in a 1-2-3 fourth.
Casey Blake started the fifth with a single, but Lee struck Barajas and Gwynn both out behind him. The pitcher Ted Lilly grounded to second for the third out.
Dee Gordon led off the bottom of the sixth and put down a beautiful bunt between the mound and first base. Howard made a great play, fielding the bunt and diving to tag Gordon for the first out. Carroll followed that with a single to right, but Lee got Ethier on a ground ball to second and Kemp on a popup to first to end the inning.
Lee pitched the seventh with a 2-0 lead. He walked Barajas with two outs, but struck Gwynn out behind him to leave Barajas at first.
Switch-hitter Eugenio Velez hit for Lilly to start the ninth and Lee walked him on a 3-2 pitch. Gordon was next and aggravated a right-shoulder injury fouling off a pitch during his at-bat. Trent Oeltjen hit for him and grounded into a double-play that cleared the bases. Lee struck Carroll out to end the inning.
Madson started the ninth with a one-run lead and gave up a leadoff single to Ethier. Kemp followed with a ground out to third with Ethier forced at second for the first out. Righty Juan Rivera hit for Miles and grounded to second for the second out with Kemp moving up to second. Blake was next and he singled into left. Kemp scored from second, cutting the lead in half at 2-1. Madson struck Barajas out swinging 1-2 to end the game.
Madson threw 17 pitches in the game and has thrown for two days in a row. He gets hurt by the leadoff single by the lefty Ethier in this game, but he’s fared well against lefties for the year. They are hitting just 206/296/296 against him for the season.
The Phillies lineup against lefty Ted Lilly went (1) Rollins (2) Victorino (3) Utley (4) Howard (5) Pence (6) Mayberry (7) Ruiz (8) Valdez. Mayberry in left with Ibanez on the bench against the lefty. Valdez at third with Martinez on the bench and Polanco sidelined with a sports hernia.
Rollins and Victorino singled back-to-back to start the game, putting men on first and second with nobody out for Utley. Utley hit a liner to short and Gordon made a fantastic play, short-hopping the ball, tagging Rollins and tossing to second to complete the double-play. It left Utley on first with two outs. He stole second before Howard grounded to Blake at first to set the Phillies down.
The Phils went in order in the second.
Valdez led off the third with a single and Lee bunted him to second with the first out. Rollins was next and he blooped a 1-1 pitch over Blake at first that rolled and rolled in right. Valdez scored from second to put the Phils up 1-0 and Rollins had a double. Victorino was next and was hit by a pitch, putting runners on first and second. Utley grounded to the pitcher with Victorino forced at second for the second out and Rollins moving up to third. Howard grounded to short for the third out.
Two hits in two at-bats for Rollins — this one got the job done even if it wasn’t particularly majestic. Lee gets the bunt down to move Valdez up to second. He would come through with the bat later in the game as well.
Ruiz reached second on an error by Carroll with two outs in the fourth, but Valdez flew to right behind him.
Rollins walked with one out in the fifth, but Victorino popped to third and Utley flew to center to leave him at first.
With one out in the sixth, Pence singled into center on a ball deflected by Carroll at second. Mayberry was next and grounded to the pitcher for the second out, with Pence moving up to second. Ruiz grounded to second to end the frame.
Valdez grounded out to start the seventh. It brought Lee to the plate and he hit a 2-0 pitch out to right, putting the Phils on top 2-1. Rollins and Victorino went down behind him.
The Phils went in order in the eighth and again in the ninth.
Rollins 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. Over his last seven games he’s 8-for-27 with five walks and a .406 on-base percentage.
Victorino 1-for-3. 371/467/640 in his last 107 plate appearances (which have included a little more than two weeks on the DL).
Utley was 0-for-4 and left five men on base. 3-for-his-last-16 with three singles.
Howard 0-for-4 with a strikeout. 3-for-his-last-21 with a walk, a double and 11 strikeouts.
Pence 1-for-4 and struck out twice. 3-for-his-last-11 with a walk. The Phillies are 10-1 in the game he’s played with them this year. He’s hitting 356/388/556 in 49 plate appearances for the Phils. Likes to dive a lot.
Mayberry 0-for-4. 6-for-his-last-21 with four home runs. He hasn’t drawn a walk in his last 57 plate appearances.
Ruiz 0-for-4 with a strikeout. 3-for-his-last-18 with three singles.
Valdez 1-for-4 with a single. 250/298/338 in 572 plate appearances with the Phillies over the last two seasons.
Vance Worley (8-1, 2.35) faces righty Chad Billingsley (10-9, 4.17) this afternoon. Billingsley has allowed 15 runs in 24 innings over his last four starts, throwing to a 5.63 ERA. Lefties have had a lot of success against him for the year. They haven’t hit for a ton of power, but have a .272 batting average and a .372 on-base percentage against Billingsley for the season. Worley has allowed more than two runs in a start just once in his last nine outings. The Phils are 11-2 in the games he’s started this year.
August 10th, 2011 on 11:11 am
An awful lot of 0-fers in that text you just wrote. Good thing Lee is auditioning for the lead in The Babe Ruth Story.
And yeah. I was hopeful for more, but the infield subs really are not bringing enough to the table. Think Mike Schmidt would come back for 10 weeks? Even now he’d bring more pop to the order. Of course, he’d want to hit cleanup, so there’d be issues. But still…
August 10th, 2011 on 11:20 am
Pence can’t even homer in a game where the pitcher does it? Come ON!
August 10th, 2011 on 11:36 am
Totally. Over the last one games, Pence is on pace to hit zero home runs the rest of the season, be outhomered by Lee 46 to 0 and reach base on a single deflected by Jamey Carroll 46 more times. Those are the kind of numbers that should concern all of us.
I think the third base thing is kind of serious. Even if Polanco has surgery and comes back, I don’t feel confident that we won’t be seeing a lot of Valdez and Martinez at third the rest of the way. That’s not good news for the Philles.
August 10th, 2011 on 4:19 pm
Perhaps Dom Brown should learn 3rd. Fast.
August 10th, 2011 on 5:27 pm
I cringe just to think of him flailing about at ground balls. I think left might be the right place for Brown. I would like to see him back with the team soon, cause I still think he’s going to be an exciting hitter. My suggestion for the Phillies third base problem is that they get a third baseman. I think it’s elegant in its simplicity. But I’m not holding my breath.
August 10th, 2011 on 8:05 pm
Any thoughts about who? When? How?
August 10th, 2011 on 9:06 pm
I don’t think they are going to get one. I think it’s Polanco back at the end of the season and Martinez/Valdez until he comes back. I think they would need to get pretty creative to come up with a legit 3B at this point. Actually a little sorry that Ronnie Belliard retired in June. But I’ll get over it. Pete Orr? Not exciting, but it would give the Phils a little more offensively.
August 10th, 2011 on 10:46 pm
It does look like this team is in final form. I forgot a out Pete Orr. If for some reason Polly is not able to really play (I understand sports hernias can be lingering), you may well see RAJ try something besides the two we have. This team is all in; hard to imagine them not trying something if Polly cannot play.
Meanwhile, the offense that couldn’t certainly has been, and for some time now. See the following from MLB.com: “Remember the days when the Phillies’ offense was the team’s Achilles heel? Well, the Phillies have scored 186 runs since the end of June, which are the most for any team in the National League. They are averaging 5.31 runs per game in that span, which are 0.43 runs per game better than the St. Louis Cardinals, who rank second in the league in that stretch.”
August 11th, 2011 on 12:09 pm
Wither Charlie Hayes?
Orr may not be a bad idea. I don’t think we’ll know enough about Polly’s condition before the end of non-waiver trades to acquire anyone new (like, say, Wright).
August 11th, 2011 on 12:09 pm
And by non-waiver, I mean waiver. Obviously.
August 11th, 2011 on 12:49 pm
Is Puddin’ Head Jones available? What about Dick (don’t call me Richie) Allen??
August 11th, 2011 on 1:47 pm
David Wright, Puddin’ Head, Mike Schmidt, sign ‘em all up I say. The whole thing makes me a little nervous. Just a little, though, cause they’ve still got about 45 games to figure it out and the Phils are 37 games above .500.
Puddin’ Head has been dead for 28 years, but I don’t really see how he could make things that much worse.
August 11th, 2011 on 3:39 pm
So that means he’s not on anybody else’s roster, right?
RIP Puddin’ Head.