Results tagged ‘ Cliff Lee ’
Happy Cliff Lee Win Day!
Yes, it is the 4th of July. But more importantly for the Phillies, it is Cliff Lee Win Day! Appropriately, fireworks and celebration will be seen all over the land!
It only took 3+ months and 83 games, but Lee finally won a game. Hey, you know what Lee’s favorite holiday is? That’s right! Independence / Cliff Lee Win Day!
Over 8 innings against the Mets, Lee allowed just 2 runs, one of which was a solo homer. He struck out 9 batters and only walked 1. THIS is the Cliff Lee we have all been missing. Finally, he is back!
This day was also the first win for Chase Utley. 7 games ago, Utley played his first game of the year after a long rehab of his shoddy knee(s). In that game, he hit a home run in his first at-bat and then Carlos Ruiz did the same right after. Oddly enough, that combination set off a 6-game losing streak.
But tonight, Utley and Ruiz went back-to-back again, apparently spinning the universe back into the correct direction and producing a Phillies win. The earth is back on its axis and gravity is once again in proper alignment. Whew!
That home run combo gave the Phillies a 3-2 lead which they added onto in the final two innings. Jimmy Rollins no-hit streak ended and he drove in 2 runs. And Ty Wigginton added 2 more RBI with a home run in the 9th.
So both Utley and Lee get their first wins of the year with a 9-2 final score. After the game, Lee had bear hugs for Chooch and was later greeted with a chilly Gatorade bath.
Could this be the big win the Phillies needed to get back on track? We can only hope so. Certainly, we can at least see that this team is still capable of winning.
Game 3 with the Mets starts tomorrow at 7:10pm. Cole Hamels will have to face R.A. Dickey; the knuckleballer has been on fire this season. But in the meantime, sit back, relax and enjoy the fireworks in honor of Cliff Lee Win Day! Whoo hooo!
Oh, and Happy 4th of July, too! :O)
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Lee & fireworks photos by Jenn Zambri Photography
The Phillies Are Halfway to Nowhere
After being swept by the Marlins today, the Phillies are 10.5 games back in the division with a 36-45 record. It is their worst effort through 81 games since 1997.
It is the halfway point of the season; time to count the bodies and see exactly how big the hole is that the Phillies are digging. Let’s begin with Jim Thome. He was traded to the Orioles in exchange for 2 prospects: Class A catcher Gabriel Lino and right-hander Kyle Simon, both of whom will report to Class A Lakewood. So the Phillies did not even get a player who could help out right now.
If the Phillies were actually contending, Thome might still be here. But it is the best move for Thome, who will actually get some playing time in the American League. I wish him the best.
And how about Cliff Lee…when Phillies beat reporter Todd Zolecki asked pitching coach Rich Dubee about Lee’s struggles, Dubee basically pleaded the 5th. The response given multiple times was, “I’m not going into it.” Lee appears healthy, no mechanical issues were mentioned. That leads one to believe that Lee, winless in 13 starts, has thrown in the towel. I hope that is not the case, but Lee has not seemed right in a long time now.
And the bodies continue to mount. Jimmy Rollins’ hot streak is over; he is hitless in his last 11 at-bats. Placido Polanco is 2 for his last 15. Antonio Bastardo has allowed 6 runs in his last 4 2/3 innings in relief.
The next head on the block might actually be Cole Hamels. Just announced as an All-Star this year along with Carlos Ruiz and Jonathan Papelbon, it is rumored that the Phillies are shopping Hamels to other teams. If team management feels Hamels will walk once he hits free agency and this 2012 team is down for the count, Hamels may be gone soon.
That would be a terrible shame, but if the Phillies do not pick themselves up and start winning, Hamels will not be the only casualty.
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Photo by Jenn Zambri Photography
What’s Happened to Cliff Lee?
What in the world is going on with Cliff Lee? Has he been abducted by aliens and replaced with a look-alike? Maybe the aliens are trying to clone him for their big MLB invasion plan. But this guy they left behind is not fooling anyone. This is not the Cliff Lee we have come to know.
Lee has allowed 20 earned runs in his last four games, including 6 tonight against the Miami Marlins. He only made it through 4 2/3 innings before getting the hook. Lee looked so bad, that manager Charlie Manuel actually pulled him when the next batter scheduled to hit was the opposing pitcher. Ouch.
And it has not just been the last 4 games. Lee has been up and down all year, with a trip to the DL for a sore oblique thrown in the middle. So what exactly has happened to this 3-time All-Star and Cy Young award winner?
It seems clear that the only person who can answer that question is Cliff Lee. And right now, he does not seem to have a clue either.
This is now 13 starts for Lee in 2012 without recording a single win. It appears someone has stolen his mojo. Anyone have a self-help book we can toss at him?
But Lee’s season has paralleled the Phillies season as a whole. It has been a real head-scratcher all around, laden with injuries and disappointment.
The Phillies went on to lose their 3rd straight game tonight, which was a combination of Lee’s performance and a non-existent offense. The only Phillies run of the game through 8 innings was a solo homer by Hunter Pence.
To recap, Chase Utley is back and the Phillies have not won a game since. Ryan Howard is on a rehab assignment and will be back soon. But if the pitching continues along this dreadful path, none of it will matter.
So please, little green men, we are begging you! Return the real Cliff Lee to us before it is too late!
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Lee Photo by Jenn Zambri Photography
Double Disaster as Phillies Lose Two Against the Rays
The Phillies managed to spend only one day out of the basement in the NL East after Saturday’s win. But Sunday’s twin killing against the Rays propelled them right back to where they apparently belong; in last place. When your two best starters are pitching and you still lose both games, things have clearly gone very, very wrong.
In the first game, Cole Hamels was practically unhittable. He did not allow a run over 7 innings and gave up only 3 hits.
Leaving the game with a 1-0 lead, the bullpen was going to have to pitch 2 clean innings. And as you probably already know, that did not happen.
I try not to say too much about how Charlie Manuel handles this team. Because frankly, what he has been given to work with is on par with a minor league team. But after Antonio Bastardo walked 2 batters in the 8th with just a 1-run lead, he should not have been allowed to continue. Bastardo was awful the day before and clearly, he still has not found proper command of his pitches. So why then is he left in to pitch to Carlos Pena?
Apparently, he was left in to clear the bases for the next pitcher as he gave up a 3-run homer to Pena. I saw that coming, as did everyone in my section screaming, “Take him out!” But Manuel puts blind faith in these guys even when it has become obvious to everyone else that the leash has gotten far too long.
Then again, look at the players Manuel has to choose from. The pickings are slim. This bullpen just sucks, so in that regard, it is still hard to blame the manager. I still don’t agree with the decision to leave Bastardo in, but I am also glad I was not the one having to make that decision.
And then in the 8th with 2 outs and the bases loaded, Manuel left Michael Martinez in to bat instead of pinch hitting. Martinez is hitting .133 and could not hit the broad side of a barn right now. After the game, Manuel told the media that neither Juan Pierre nor Mike Fontenot were hitting lefties well, so he left Martinez in. The issue with that is, Martinez is not hitting ANYONE right now.
Angry at the media for asking, Manuel suggested the reporters should tweet him with their in-game decisions saying, “You guys can float the information down there to me, being as I ain’t smart enough to get it.” Oh my…
Here are a few other random shots from the 1st game, which the Phillies went on to lose, 3-2.
In game 2, Cliff Lee basically squashed any shot he may have had at his first win of the season by allowing 5 runs over 7 innings. His last 3 starts have been awful. Where did our ace go?
Perhaps the strain of not having a win has finally stolen whatever small amount of sanity he had left? No one really knows what is going on here.
Placido Polanco tried to get this team going. He went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and a walk. John Mayberry Jr. also had a big hit and an RBI. And it was apparently “opposite day” for Hunter Pence who drew 3 walks in the game.
But the offense literally ended there. The Phillies managed only 4 hits and left 6 men on base.
And just so Lee did not feel singled out in this one, some of the rookie pitchers decided to help out with 5 walks, a wild pitch and 2 more runs for the Rays in one inning. It looks like B.J. Rosenberg’s major league career may be over before it began. He was responsible for all that damage except 1 of the walks.
Adding insult to injury, catcher Brian Schneider was leveled at home plate by Sean Rodriguez coming in to score. He left the game with a sprained ankle. Later, Pence almost took out the Rays catcher in a weird semi-collision with Jose Molina’s outstretched leg.
Schneider is now on the DL and the Phillies went down for the count in a 7-3 loss.
Here are the Photo Albums from both games: Game 1: Hamels start, Game 2: Lee start.
The Pirates come to town next for a 4-game series starting tonight at 7:05pm.
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Photos by Jenn Zambri Photography
Thome Sets Another Record in Phillies Walk-Off Win
In their 1st visit back to Philadelphia since losing the 2008 World Series, the Tampa Bay Rays once again brought the rain with them. Friday night’s Phillies – Rays game was rained out and will be played as part of a doubleheader on Sunday. The originally scheduled 1:35pm game will start instead at 1:05pm and the make-up game will begin at 6:35pm.
For today’s game, Kyle Kendrick started as originally planned, with Cliff Lee being pushed back to Sunday. After Lee had fully warmed up Friday night, they did not want to take any chances by having him go today.
Kendrick did not have a great day, getting speeches while on the mound from teammates Carlos Ruiz, Jimmy Rollins and then pitching coach Rich Dubee. It seemed like a lot of work just to get Kendrick through what turned out to be only 4 innings. He walked 3 and allowed 3 runs.
But the offense gave the pitching a boost with big home runs from Rollins and Juan Pierre. For Pierre, it was his first homer since August of last year and his first 3-run homer since 2004. Pierre is not typically a long-ball hitter and as a result, there were huge smiles all around the Phillies bench when he hit that one. Pierre got to play Superman, if only for just one day.
For the bullpen, Raul Valdes did a commendable job picking up the slack for Kendrick. Fresh back from the minors, Valdes pitched 2 very solid innings. Antonio Bastardo had a little trouble in the 8th where he loaded the bases but did pitch out of it after allowing only one run.
The 6-4 lead carried the Phillies into the 9th with a save opportunity for Jonathan Papelbon. It was not exactly smooth sailing. In fact, he blew his first save of season, giving up 2 runs and really putting the Phillies in a very bad position with a doubleheader scheduled the next day. This could not have been worse timing, except…
In the bottom of the 9th, a future Hall of Famer was lying in wait to bail Papelbon out. Jim Thome stepped to the plate in the bottom of the 9th and absolutely crushed a ball to deep left field. And just like that, BOOM! The Phillies won it in walk-off style.
It was Thome’s 13th career walk-off homer, which is a major league record. He is also the all-time leader in Interleague play home runs. And Thome is now tied with Sammy Sosa for 7th place in career homers with 609.
On Sunday, Cole Hamels will pitch the first game and Lee will pitch the second one. I will be at both games and shall return with photos.
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Photos by Jenn Zambri Photography
Dear Phillies, Please Stop Toying With Our Emotions
After two big wins over the Rockies on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Phillies failed to sweep the series with a loss on Thursday. And the Rockies are a team they very well should have swept.
The first two victories gave fans hope that this struggling team might finally be getting their act together. They played well and showed a winning attitude. But last night’s disaster saw those hopes dashed and frustration set it once again.
It is not that they lost the game. This is baseball; losses happen. The issue is how they lost the game.
Let us begin by looking at the opposing pitcher, Jeff Francis. This guy had a minor league deal with the Reds this year, who finally released him. The Rockies picked him up and Francis had a 12.46 ERA in 2 starts for them coming into this game. This is a guy that the Phillies should have absolutely pounded.
Instead, they left 7 men on base and went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Worse than that, the Phillies continue to fail to score runners from 3rd with less than 2 outs. In the 2nd inning, Jimmy Rollins, who homered to start the game, popped out with 1 out and a man on third. J-Roll had 2 pop-outs and a ground ball double play to go with his solo homer in this game.
Then in the 8th, the Phillies squandered a lead-off double by Ty Wigginton. Hunter Pence struck out swinging at a crap pitch…again. Carlos Ruiz flied out and Shane Victorino popped out to end the inning. Both Pence and Victorino walked back to the dugout to a chorus of boo’s from the frustrated fans who are tired of watching the same mistakes over and over and over…
As for the pitching, Vance Worley and his bone-chip plagued elbow were a bit shaky. But he kept the team in the game and walked off the mound to a 2-1 score with the Phillies trailing. Still, he did all he could.
But the bullpen failed once again. Chad Qualls had a bad inning but escaped without allowing a run thanks to a good defensive play by Ruiz at home plate. Still, Qualls heard the boo’s too as his season has been much worse than you would expect from a veteran bullpen guy.
The problem there is that the rest of the pen is mostly rookies who are clearly not ready for the bigs. Between Jake Diekman and Michael Schwimer, the Rockies padded their lead to a 4-1 score.
Down by 3 runs in the 9th, there would be no comeback on this day as the Phillies went down in order. Yes, right back to the old 2012 ways we have become so accustomed to this season.
A 3-game series with the Rays begins tonight and fans can only pray for a miracle. Cliff Lee will try, once again, to get his first win of the season. Game time is 7:05pm.
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Photo by Jenn Zambri Photography
Phillies: Finding Ways to Lose
For those hoping that 2 wins in Minnesota may have been the fuel the Phillies needed to get back to winning, these last 2 games against the Blue Jays offered nothing but disappointment. A 3-0 shut-out loss on Friday followed by a 6-5 extra-innings disaster today said it all. This team sucks.
The Phillies offense could not muster a single run on Friday, even after the starting pitcher was removed from the game due to injury in the 1st inning. And that wasted a good performance from starter Vance Worley, who is valiantly pitching with bone chips in his elbow.
Then today, starter Cliff Lee could do little, again, to help himself to a win. The offense woke up a little and scored 5 runs for him with the biggest jolt being a 3-run bomb from John Mayberry Jr. With a 5-2 lead in the 8th, Lee began to fall apart again as if his own personal dark cloud was lurking above.
Lee walked the first batter and then gave up a single which turned into a huge disaster. Jimmy Rollins, not one of our Triple-A fill-ins, committed a very costly error. Rollins tried to get the runner going to 2nd and threw the ball away. The ball went so far that both runners were able to score, essentially turning a single into a home run.
When your regular’s start playing down to the level of your replacement players, things are going terribly wrong.
Lee was pulled from the game after giving up another hit, which wound up coming around to score once Chad Qualls came in to pitch. Lee’s final line was 5 earned runs over 7+ innings. Ouch.
In the 10th inning of the 5-5 tie game, Joe Savery was sent to the mound for the Phillies. Yes, another rookie put into a situation that he should never be in. Where was Antonio Bastardo? He is young too, but he has more experience than Savery and usually performs well when starting a clean inning. Oh, that’s right….he punched himself in the face and cannot play right now. O….M…G….
As you may already know, Savery gave up the winning run. It was the 8th time this year the Phillies lost in a walk-off situation. And this loss now guarantees a losing road trip for the Phillies.
They have a chance to salvage one game in this series tomorrow with (gulp!) Kyle Kendrick on the mound. Game time is 1:07pm.
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Photo by Jenn Zambri Photography
Blanton’s Complete Game Gives Phillies Series Win
After allowing a minimum of 5 runs in each of his last 5 starts, no one expected a stand-out performance from Joe Blanton last night against the Twins. But the oddities this Phillies season seemingly never cease.
Going the whole 9 innings, Blanton allowed only 1 run on a solo homer, 7 hits and struck out 7. Blanton’s season has gone from great to awful and now, back to great again. Of the 3 complete games for Phillies pitchers this year, Blanton has 2 and Kyle Kendrick, who has been terrible lately, has the other. And this is on a staff of pitchers that includes Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels. Go figure.
Continuing to terrorize American League pitching, Jim Thome added 3 more RBI to his stats last night with yet another bomb. The best part was watching fans dig through the flower beds in the outfield trying to recover the home run ball. That went on for several innings until security put a stop to it for fear of someone bending over too far and falling onto the field.
The mysterious, disappearing ball was never found. I guess those plants were really hungry. Either that or the ball was hit so hard, it ricocheted off into space and is currently in orbit.
While the mystery ball remains at large, the Phillies are moving right along. In fact, they are leaving the country. It is off to Toronto for 3 games with the Blue Jays next.
Perhaps these 2 wins will be the boost they needed to get their season back on track? Let us hope so. Game time tonight is 7:07pm.
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Blanton photo by Jenn Zambri Photography
Pitching a Fit Over Phils Pitching
At the start of the season, everyone was worried about the Phillies offense being strong enough to carry a solid starting pitching staff to wins. Now that the offense is slowly piecing runs together, the entire pitching staff has fallen apart. Let us examine the grisly evidence:
Roy Halladay is on the DL. Vance Worley is pitching will bone chips in his elbow. Cliff Lee has no wins and is recently making a habit of blowing leads. Cole Hamels has been hit or miss. Kyle Kendrick and Joe Blanton keep see-sawing between okay and downright horrible.
As for the bullpen, 5 out of 7 pitchers have little big league experience. 4 of those are rookies in their first (3) year or second (1) year in the majors. Chad Qualls, a veteran, has basically been a bust. And their $50 million closer hardly ever pitches because the save situations are slim and they are afraid to use him in non-save situations.
Last night in a horrible 11-7 loss to the Twins, 3 of 4 bullpen guys who pitched combined to allow 5 runs. Kendrick started the game allowing 6 runs in only 4 innings. He was beyond awful. Meanwhile, closer Jonathan Papelbon has not thrown a single pitch since 4 days and 3 games ago.
Making matters worse, Hunter Pence has officially lost his mind in right field. He only has 3 official errors on the year, but if you add in the mental mistakes and plays that he clearly should have made despite not being an “official” error, he probably has at least 10 by now.
In fact, my favorite moment of last night’s game was a comment by announcer Tom McCarthy. After Pence failed to field a routine hopper in the 5th inning, turning a single into a triple, McCarthy said, “I think it is safe to say he needs to stop doing that.” He hit that nail on the head.
Right now, the Phillies are a very BAD team. Now 9.5 games back of the Nationals in the NL East, they do not have time to wait for Chase Utley and Ryan Howard to return. If they do not turn it around right now, this season is over.
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Photo by Jenn Zambri Photography
The Disaster Continues as Phillies Drop Series to the O’s
Losing their second straight game to the Orioles, the Phillies leave town today 8 games behind in the NL East and in last place. But today’s loss was special. It sucked more than most.
The Phillies had the bases loaded 3 times with Carlos Ruiz as the batter and scored only 1 run on a wild pitch. When your best player cannot get a hit 3 consecutive times with the bases loaded, you know it is going to be a very bad day.
But worse than that, Cliff Lee still does not have a win, even after 10 starts. Although today, it was actually his own doing. Lee blew a 3 run lead by giving up a 3-run homer in the 4th inning. As a result, Lee’s ERA finally floated above 3.00; he is currently at 3.18.
So not only did the offense and pitching suck, the defense was bad again too. After 9 errors this season, including a big one today, Ty Wigginton should not be playing 3rd base…ever. His huge error in the 10th cost the Phillies the game.
However, with Placido Polanco sidelined with a bad wrist, Wiggy keeps getting the nod. They could put Michael Martinez at 3rd, but then you are stuck with Mike Fontenot at 2nd and his defense has been worse than anyone expected. We are talking little league level here…bad.
The pickings are slim and so therefore are the Phillies chances at recovering from this disaster. It may be too early to give up just yet, but it is a tempting thought. Why not bring up some more Triple-A guys and see who rises to the challenge? I am sure Domonic Brown would agree.
Here is a small piece of good news: Michael Schwimer found his groove in 3 innings of scoreless relief today. Sorry though, that is all I have on the good news side.
Monday is an off-day as the battered Phils fly to Minnesota to take on the Twins for 3-games. Oh wait, that might be good news…the Twins suck about as bad as the Phillies do. See, it is the little things that make us happy. Or, not…
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