Ugh-Lee Loss
Posted by Jason Bintliff, Fri, September 04, 2009 10:52 PM | Comments: 25
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Jamie Moyer got another opportunity to show he still has gas left in the tank. Unfortunately the chance to throw a few frames came at the expense of Cliff Lee’s worst start in Phillies pinstripes rather than mother nature.
Lee lasted only three innings, surrendering six runs for the second time in as many games. Lee was able to work out of a two-out, two-men-on jam without damage done in the bottom of the first inning. In the second inning, Lee’s troubles began.
With the bases loaded for the Astros, courtesy of three seeing-eye hits, pitcher Wandy Rodriguez stepped to the plate with no outs and ripped a double down the right-field line, scoring two. After striking out former Phillie, Michael Bourn, Kaz Matsui doubled to left, scoring two more, capping off a four-run second inning.
The Astros would add two more in the third on a two-run bomb from Hunter Pence before Charlie Manuel would hand the ball over to the crafty veteren and the Phillies newest long reliever, Jamie Moyer. Moyer surrendered just one run in three innings out of the pen, but his solid effort was too little, too late.
The Phillies offense has struggled as of late and despite taking two of three games from the Giants, they only produced three runs in the series. Tonight, the struggles continued.
‘Stros starter Wandy Rodriguez had the Phillies line-up befuddled all evening as he threw seven innings of shut-out ball, scattering seven Phillies hits, while striking out seven.
Despite the 7-0 loss, Carlos Ruiz managed to finish the game 3 for 4 at the plate. Shane Victorino provided the defensive highlight of the night for the Phils throwing out Aaron Boone at home in the eighth.
The Phillies will look to even the series tomorrow night in game two of the four game set.
Posts: 0 philsphan
And the second guessing begins…
Posted: 10:57 PM on September 4, 2009
Posts: 0 Az Mike
High-powered Phils offense has scored a total of 3 runs in last four games. It’s going to be a very short post season!
Posted: 10:58 PM on September 4, 2009
Posts: 0 phils_ftw
The sad thing is, the only way Cliff Lee could avoid a loss tonight would be if he pitched a CGSO. Absolutely dismal offensive performance.
Posted: 11:07 PM on September 4, 2009
Posts: 0 george55
another shut-out from the “world champions”…..disgraceful. If Manuel doesn’t start a closed door talk session, then the season is slowly blowing away. What the F is wrong with Lee all the suffen? I’ll tell you…his confidence is shaken from last blowout loss he had and he never recovered. He is so fragile mentally….he won’t last when the pressure really is on in the playoffs, let alone now when there is supposedly no pressure. It’s a regular game against a shit team….he’s a cy young winner for c sake. Now he is in a funk. join the growing list. this team is folding like a chair……..pathetic.
Posted: 01:05 AM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 Michael
panic mode engaged. status of cliff lee, questionable. status of offense, missing in action.
Posted: 01:30 AM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 Manny
Chill out.
Posted: 02:13 AM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 ActuallyChilled
yes… relax. there are 162 games. we are talking about a tiny percentage of those games. the phils are fine. they just took a tough series against the G’s. Its all good.
Posted: 02:23 AM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 mikeB
The anemic offense is a cause for concern but Houston is another place where the Phillies have not fared very well over the years in addition to San Francisco and Pittsburgh. Team might have been fatigued coming into this game after the traveling to Houston and coming off a grueling series against the Giants plus facing a Houston pitcher they were not familiar with. Hard to understand what is up with Cliff Lee all of a sudden but have to put this one in the rear view mirror and get back on track tomorrow.
Posted: 02:41 AM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 dino
It would be nice if Charlie could rest some guys once in a while, but Ruben hasn’t given him too many options. Guess Ruben stopped working and has been celebrating ever since the Lee trade
Posted: 03:16 AM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 teejvee
They’ve been resting for the past two weeks.
I agree with the poster above (Michael ).
The BIGGEST reason for concern is Lee.
I don’t even think Eaton or Kendrick got hit around like he has the last 2 games.
The plusses from this year vs last WERE Ibanez and Lee.
One is definitely gone. The other may be.
Posted: 06:29 AM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 george55
unfortunately, Lee has caught the loser bug from the phils pen. it has spread like a cancer from lidge to hamels to ibanez to now Lee. We relied on the offense in the beginning of the season when the pitching was mediocer; and we relied on the pitching after the all-star break when the hitting was AWOL, now we have nothing to rely on…the pitching and hitting are bogus and questionable. only highlights left are Blanton and Howard……now we have to battle just to get to the Division playoffs.
Posted: 06:58 AM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 Ed R.
I am pretty concerned with the offense, it seems like the entire team is pressing and now it has become a coaching or lack there of issue. Charlie and Milt(honestly what does he do) need to talk to these hitters and just tell them to go out there and have fun, play pitch to pitch, don’t force it, just try.
As for Cliff Lee, we saw how dominate he can be and now we saw how awful he can be. I had a feeling this was coming I just didn’t think it would be this bad. Keep in mind, 4 of the 5 starts in which he was dominate were against the Cubs, Mets, Pirates and Giants, who rank 10, 11, 13 and 15 respectively in runs. Not exactly the most potent of teams. Maybe what we saw was Lee taking advantage of some awful teams and now getting smacked around by a good one, the Braves, and a team that hits right handers well, the Astros. I don’t think Lee is as bad as he has shown the last two games, I also don’t think he is as dominate as he showed the first 5, I think he is somewhere in between but more in the lines of a solid number 2 starter, bordering on ace.
Thank God Cole seems to have turned it around otherwise we would be in trouble. Keep in mind though that Cole did dominate the Pirates and Giants, aforementioned bad hitting clubs.
Posted: 07:32 AM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 joedad
He let up a few broken bat, seeing eye, jammed like Spaceballs singles and then the opposing pitcher, who was hitting under .100, crushed the ball with the bases loaded. So definitely some bad luck for Lee. After that, all the hits seemed legit and he was done. I don’t think he will be a problem the rest of the way provided he is healthy.
The Phils have added a half game to their lead in the past 10 days and are 9 games up in the loss column so the division is still 99.44% safe.
Posted: 09:31 AM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 Britt35
I think Lee should sit out for a rotation cycle and let Moyer start again. If Lee does this every time he’s up the rest of the season he’s gonna have an extremely high ERA, and the batters need to get people home.
Posted: 09:40 AM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 ashmidt
i agree with joedad , lee must have broke 5 or 6 bats, and 4 or 5 of them squeaked through for hits, to wandys credit , that was a tough at bat, like 12 pitches then a shot down the right field line for a 2 run double. the offence has to wake up, hopefully today will be the day. go phillies go.
Posted: 10:35 AM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 Aaron
wow a lot of you negative people are extremely judgmental lol. you are acting like because of lee’s two bad starts and the lack of offense in the last week that means the season is over. the team was extremely hot and now they are ice cold, they will get hot again and hopefully at the right time. I love how Lee has 2 bad starts and you are all second guessing him and Cole has 2 good starts and now he is a god again. It is going to take a couple more than 2 starts until I start judging either of them. Anyways, CHILL THE F#$K OUT PEOPLE! LoL. Start to get worried if the Phils lose 4-5 straight and the Marlins win 4-5 straight.
Posted: 11:31 AM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 Bruce
One poster here commented..”I think Lee should sit out for a rotation cycle and let Moyer start again.”
That’s not a bad idea. ;-)
Posted: 12:00 PM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 Cosmo
I think Cliff should just sit out for one start. He’s 4th in the league in number of pitches thrown and 2nd in innings pitched. He’s probably just getting a little fatigued. The offense will pick up soon enough, they’ve been hot and cold all year. Let’s just hope they’re on a hot streak when the playoffs start.
Posted: 12:16 PM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 Mazinman
I echo that notion. Lee probably needs a bit of a rest which we can afford to do with the lead we have. Let Moyer slide in and take his spot for a game or two.
As for the offense, the Phillies offensively are a very streaky club. They do nothing for a couple weeks then go absolutely nuts for another couple. My hope is that they will end this bad streak and start to go on a good one right about the start of the playoffs.
Posted: 12:21 PM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 joedad
There are a couple double headers coming up so Moyer can’t start for Lee. He will pitch his way through it. Don’t overreact.
Posted: 01:36 PM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 ActuallyChilled
Once again, I feel like I must say, so many of you guys need to simply calm down, these fears are way overstated. Memories so short. The team is just fine.
Posted: 03:35 PM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 » Lee Pounded for 2nd Time, Phillies Shut Out by Astros | Blogging-Baseball.com
[...] Phillies Nation blogpost noted 2 Phils highlights in an otherwise ugly loss: Carlos Ruiz managed to finish the game 3 for 4 at the plate. Shane [...]
Posted: 03:46 PM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 shag beta sigma delta
The thing I have noticed with Lee, he was so dominant the first five starts he was never in trouble. Last night he let up some cheap hits and it appeared to get to him mentally. Going 3-0 to the pitcher was just terrible, and he seems to have lost location on all but his fast ball. I am jumping ship I think like someone else posted that he is somewhere between the dominant won’t give up any runs, and the 4 inning 6 run guy of the last two outings. I think he will show up his next start and pitch better, but like I have been saying all along, game one of the playoffs if the Phillies make it we will see Cole on the mound
Posted: 04:21 PM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 shag beta sigma delta
on the offensive side, I am no expert, but it looks like they are trying to hit 3 run home runs even when no one is on base. Especially Vic last night, his swing seemed to be a lot longer and harder at some pitches way out of the zone. I would like to see Raul have another night off tonight also. I think they need to relax a little more, and both Chase and Jayson need to swing at that first pitch strike down the middle of the plate, even if they swing and miss, or fly out, at least the pitcher will have something to think about other than, I can lay this one out there because neither of these guys will swing anyway. That being said I think they will come out of this slump soon. JRoll hit the ball hard a couple of times last night just at people.
Posted: 04:26 PM on September 5, 2009
Posts: 0 mikeB
Lee’s big mistake was the bases loaded double given up to the pitcher Rodriguez and then it was all downhill for Lee from that point. A real big mistake, letting the opposing pitcher get a big hit in a situation like that. The guy Rodriguez is not exactly Ty Cobb. Have to get the pitcher out.
Posted: 05:03 PM on September 5, 2009