Cliff Lee, Pitching and Hitting to Win #3…..(updated)
Posted: August 13, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Atlanta, beer, Blanton, Braves, Chicago, Cubs, Dempster, Eagles, Feliz, Hamels, Howard, Ibanez, Idiot, Idiot Cubs Fan, Lee, Madson, phillies, Police, sweep, TBA, Utley, Vick, Wrigley Field 12 CommentsCliff Lee takes his 3rd straight win as the Ace in the Phillies rotation and
drives the Phillies to a sweep of the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. After suffering the embarrassment of being swept at home last weekend the Phillies issued there own 3 game sweep on the road.
Lee pitched outstanding for 8 innings, like me, most thought Madson would come on in relief at the start of the 8th inning, but he didn’t, Lee came out for the 8th and got through it like an Ace. Lee ended his day after throwing 122 pitches with over 67% of them for strikes, he gave up 1 run on 6 hits and walked 3 batters. It wasn’t till the 4th inning that the Phillies offense gave Lee the lead, he managed to get himself out of a couple of jams during the first 4 innings, it wasn’t till the 5th inning that the Cubs managed t
o drive in a run and that was the only time a Cubs player would cross the plate. He held the Cubs to a 1 for 5 with runners in scoring position, obviously the Phillies defense played a role in this too. Lee seems to like this playing in the NL where he gets to show case his bat swinging abilities, he hit his 2nd double, but was eventually stranded on 3rd at the end of the inning. With the Phillies, Lee is now 3-0 with an ERA of 1.13 through 24 innings as a pitcher, as a hitter he is 3 for 9 (.333) with 2 doubles.
Ryan Madson came on in relief of Lee to start the 9th, he pitched a scoreless inning giving up just 1 walk with 2 strike outs.
The Phillies offense came off of 10 hits and 3 walks, the big offensive
inning was the 4th, when Ryan Howard hit a 3 run home run to the opposite field, this was Ryan’s 1st home run in August, ironic really, I had said at the end of July, that it seems when
Raul Ibanez goes deep then Ryan goes deep and visa versa, and in Wednesday’s game Raul went deep and so Thursday Ryan went deep. In the same inning Pedro Feliz took Dempster deep too, giving the Phillies a 4 run lead. Utley picked up an RBI in the 6th and Feliz picked up another in the 7th giving the Phillies a 6-1 lead that they never relinquished.
The Phillies headed to Atlanta last night to start a 3 game series against the Braves today, before heading home for the only day off between now and the end of August. Joe Blanton is scheduled to start tonight against the Braves, Saturday is an afternoon game and although it’s Hamels rotation spot, it is currently being listed as TBA, have they not announced it yet or are they holding back to the last minute because of a possible problem? I am sure we will find out soon.(update: Hamels is now listed as the starting pitcher for Saturday). It does though, seem to be freaky days of late in Philadelphia sports, everybody has heard by now that Vick signed a 2 year deal with the Eagles, what were they thinking? I am sure they will let us know soon enough.
Still with freaky things, the ‘Idiot Cubs Fan’ turned himself in to Chicago police yesterday, probably wants another 15 minutes of fame, or a beer commercial contract.
Phillies Outside Archive Vault 
Peter: Pitching and hitting is a deadly combo. My Yankees had both last night in their 11-1 victory over the Mariners. I hope they can keep it up! -Virginia
http://southernbelle.mlblogs.com
The look on Lee’s face after that double was priceless…he was so tickled with himself…funny! He made the same face in San Fran when he hit the 1st double. Gotta love this guy!
Jenn
http://philliesphollowers.mlblogs.com/
Virginia- don’t you gete bored watching the Yankees win all the time, gotta give the Rays a chance to catch up a little…LOL
Jenn- he makes me think he should be saying…it’s goooooooddd… like Jim Carrey from Bruce Almighty….
Talk about a great acquisition for the Phillies. Lee has been everything you could ever want and more. He’s going to make your guys very tough to beat in the postseason.
– http://janeheller.mlblogs.com
Cliff Lee’s been doing the pitching and getting on base. I knew Cliff was missing something with the Indians, getting a chance to hit. The Phillies first sweep at Wrigley Fiend since 1984. Amazing
Matthew Tan
http://matt7.mlblogs.com/
Jane- Its a shame he wasn’t with us from the start of this season, had he been likethis at the Phillies all year, he surely would be Cy Young candidate for the NL
Matt7- The sweep was definately sweet and I remember the 84 sweep first series of Phillies baseball I watched…
~peter
Cliff Lee has been beasting it to say the least. Your starting rotation has definitely been upgraded as of late. You guys must have all the confidence in the world that the postseason is ahead!
– Lisa
http://perennialpinstriper.mlblogs.com/
Lisa- post season would obviously be very nice, another WS would be better, but I have a feeling we may have to play the Yankees again to accomplish the repeat…
Thanks for the update on the Chicago fan! Wonder if he’ll get that beer contract…
I agree with Lisa, the move for Lee is really looking like a smart one. I also really like the picture of Ryan Howard, with the sun glinting off his hemelt. Very nice!
http://the3rs.mlblogs.com/
the3rs- he’s got about as much chance of a beer contract as Vick has signing …. oh wait the Eagles did already…more idiots… thanks for the comment
The Indians have neither tonight. (Hitting or pitching)
http://clevelandbaseball.mlblogs.com/
Yeah, Lee kicked the Cubs collective butts yesterday. Wow. You guys won the jackpot picking up this guy. Dempster is a shell of his former self, though. He’s had alot of family problems and that has thrown him off his game big time. Congrats on the win, even if it did come at the hands of the Cubs. You guys deserved it for what that idiot in center field did to Victorino.
http://raysfanboy.mlblogs.com/