Lee Impressive in Home Debut as Phillies Beat Rockies
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Newly acquired Phillies lefthander Cliff Lee again lived up to his newly annointed ace billing on Thursday by pitching seven fine innings as catcher Paul Bako clubbed a fifth inning solo homer off of Colorado’s Aaron Cook to break a 1-1 tie. 2nd baseman Chase Utley and centerfielder Shane Victorino each collected an RBI while Brad Lidge recorded his 21st save striking out 2 in the ninth inning. Lee was impressive in his home debut as the Phillies beat the Rockies by a 3-1 score to take 2 games of their 3 game series.
With the win, the Phils lead both Atlanta and Florida by 7 full games on the NL East division race. The Marlins dropped into a 2nd place tie by blowing a 6-0 lead over Washington as the Nationals scored 4 eighth inning runs to break an 8-8 tie enroute to a 12-8 win. Both the Braves and the 4th place Mets, who are 10 1/2 games behind the Phils, play later on the West Coast.
Lee spotted the Rockies a first inning run as the lead-off and 2nd hitters doubled and singled to place runners at the corners. 1st baseman Todd Helton made the game’s first out by sacrificing in the run on a flyout. Then Lee got a strikeout and a fielder’s choice groundout to end the inning. From there, Lee cruised through the next six innings, only working up a sweat in the fifth inning as opposing pitcher Cook reached on his [Lee’s] own fielding error and a 2 out single which put runners on 1st and 2nd base. But Lee got Helton on a grounder to shortstop to retire the side.
Meanwhile, in the bottom of the first, shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who missed hitting for the cycle for lack of a homer, doubled. Victorino grounded out moving Rollins to 3rd base where Utley drove him home with the tying run on a sacrifice fly to centerfield.
Bako led off the fifth by breaking the tie with his solo shot, his 1st homer as a Phil and his 1st of the season. After Lee grounded out, Rollins tripled to right centerfield. He scored as Victorino reached on a fielder’s choice when 2nd baseman Clint Barmes threw wild to the plate after fielding Victorino’s bouncing grounder. Amazingly, Barmes and the Rockies were not charged with an error on the play.
Nursing a 3-1 lead, Lee retired the last 6 Rockies’ hitters he faced after shortstop Troy Tulowitzki’s lead-off single in the sixth.
Lee’s line for the game was 112 pitches over seven innings. He gave up the first inning run, 6 hits, walked 1 and struck out 9 to record his 2nd win as a Phillie and to even his season record at 9-9. Cook also provided the Rockies with a five inning quality outing throwing 73 pitches and giving up 3 runs, including Bako’s homer, on 7 hits. He walked none, but didn’t strike out anyone either. However the Rockies provided him no offensive support. Rockies relievers held the Phils off the bases over the final 3 innings, except for a 2 out seventh inning walk issued to pinch hitter Ben Francisco.
Reliever Ryan Madson and closer Brad Lidge each threw a scoreless inning, each giving up a single, but nothing else to preserve the win.
AP sports writer Rob Maaddi’s game recap indicates that Happ’s complete game shutout on Wednesday has had it’s impact on the Phillies’ front office:
Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said J.A. Happ isn’t going to the bullpen to make room for Pedro Martinez. Amaro also indicated the team could employ a six-man rotation when Martinez comes off the DL.
For the scores of all of Thursday’s games, click here.
Next into Philly are those Florida Marlins for a 3 game weekend series. In Friday’s opener, a sizzling hot Joe Blanton is opposed by Ricky Nolasco. Saturday’s game 2 is an all-too-frequent battle of lefthanders as Cole Hamels is opposed by Sean West.
For all of Friday’s and Saturday’s games, click here and here.
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