Brewers Pound Lee, Club Phillies
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The Milwaukee Brewers got to Phillies lefthander Cliff Lee for 4 runs in the first inning on Friday with the big blow being a 2 out, 3 run homer by centerfielder Mike Cameron. The Phils closed to 4-2 in the fourth inning as 1st baseman Ryan Howard slammed a 2 run single to rightfield off of lefthander Manny Parra scoring runners on 2nd and 3rd. But the Brewers salted away the game on 1st baseman Prince Fielders’ 3 run fifth inning dinger. They added another in the seventh and the Phils’ 2 run rally in the eighth fell short as the Brewers pounded Lee and clubbed the Phillies by an 8-4 count in game 2 of the their 4 game series.
With the loss, the Phils’ NL East division lead dropped to 6 games over 2nd place Atlanta while their lead over 3rd place Florida, who lost to the Mets, remained at 7 1/2. The Phils’ magic number to clinch the division remains at 4 games.
AP Sports Writer Chris Jenkins recapped Friday’s Phillies loss for Yahoo sports:
…While the defending World Series champions are still in good shape to get back to the playoffs, they’re certainly experiencing some angst along the way.
They aren’t sure about their closer. Pedro Martinez won’t make his scheduled start Saturday. And Cliff Lee once again was missing the dominant form he showed immediately after he was acquired in a trade, giving up a pair of three-run homers in an 8-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said Lee (7-3) is struggling with his command.
“I’d say right now that’s one of his big problems, yeah,” Manuel said. “He made some mistakes here tonight, and they made him pay.”
One of Lee’s two big mistakes was a changeup down the middle to Prince Fielder, who hit his 43rd homer and drove in four runs to become the major league leader in RBIs.
Fielder hit a run-scoring single in the first and the three-run shot in the fifth to give him 136 RBIs—one more than the Phillies’ Ryan Howard, who drove in three runs with two singles.
Manny Parra (11-10) made his first start for Milwaukee since leaving his Sept. 8 outing after one inning because of neck spasms, giving up four hits in seven innings with eight strikeouts.
“I feel it actually refreshed me, if anything,” Parra said of the layoff. “I really didn’t put too much pressure on myself.”
After the Phillies put their first two runners on in the ninth, Trevor Hoffman came in and retired three straight for his 36th save.
The Phillies Nation blog adds these comments on a Phillies offense which continues to struggle:
The offense for the Phillies couldn’t quite pull it together despite scoring four runs in the game. The Phillies couldn’t muster a single base-runner off of Brewers starter Manny Parra until the fourth inning when Jimmy Rollins reached base on a Milwaukee error. After a Shane Victorino walk and a Chase Utley ground-out, Ryan Howard single in two, cutting the four run Brewers lead in half.
Lee’s other miscue was early, as Cameron pounded a 3 run first inning shot of the lefthander.
Manuel tried Brad Lidge in the seventh, taking over from Lee. But as usual, Lidge coughed another run on 2 hits as 3rd baseman Casey McGehee singled to shallow center to cap Milwaukee’s scoring. Thus, the Phillies have yet to resolve their back-end relief woes.
Lefthanded reliever Sergio Escalona came on in the eighth inning giving up a hit and walking 1 but striking out the side.
While Lee threw 93 pitches and was pounded for 7 runs on 9 hits in six innings while walking none and striking out 6 in losing his 3rd game as a Phil, the Phils could muster no offense against Parra other than in the fourth. Parra went seven innings throwing 92 while giving up 2 runs on 4 hits and walking 1 while striking out 8. The Brewers needed 5 relief pitchers over the last 2 innings, including Hoffman, to nail down the win.
In related news, Phillies Nation also reports on the chaotic closer situation and that the Phils announced that “Lidge will not be the closer for the duration of the regular season” but that GM Amaro indicates that “‘…Lidge could still be one of the guys. It could be Madson, could be Lidge, or it could be a few different guys.’”
For the scores of all of Friday’s games, click here.
On Saturday, the Phillies scratched Pedro Martinez, due to lingering neck woes, for Kyle Kendrick who opposes Braden Looper.
For all of Saturday’s games click here.
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