Cliff Lee issued another reminder on Tuesday night that he is simply better than the Dodgers. As if his pitching wasn't enough to drive home the point, as Lee pitched eight scoreless innings, Lee punctuated his night with a home run into the right field pavilion as well. Lee was the story as the Dodgers lost for the second time in two nights to the Phillies, this time 2-1.
Lee has faced the Dodgers four times in his career, including the playoffs, and he has given up all of one run. Total. Lee had 10 strikeouts and two walks tonight, which overshadowed an otherwise great start for Ted Lilly. Lilly pitched eight innings in his longest outing of the season, allowing two runs on six hits and just one walk. He struck out five.
The Dodgers got the first two batters of the game, Dee Gordon and Jamey Carroll, on base to open the bottom of the first, but failed to score. Aside from that, their best scoring opportunity off Lee might have been off the bat of Rod Barajas in the fifth inning. Trailing 1-0 at the time, Barajas tattooed a pitch with home run distance down the line in left field, but it was foul.
The Dodgers scratched together two hits in the ninth inning off Ryan Madson for a run, but left the tying run on base to end the game.
Gordon Aggravates Shoulder Injury
Dee Gordon started tonight for the first time since injuring his right shoulder on Saturday night, but while batting in the eighth inning Gordon appeared to aggravate that shoulder injury on a swing. After fouling a ball off, Gordon immediately winced and dropped his right arm in pain. He left the game, walking off with trainer Stan Conte. Trent Oeltjen replaced Gordon at the plate, inheriting an 0-2 count.
Since we are reduced this season to searching for oddities in lieu of watching winning baseball, we could have seen an instance of MLB rule 10.15 (b) had Oeltjen struck out:
When a batter leaves the game with two strikes against him, and the substitute batter completes a strikeout, the official scorer shall charge the strikeout and the time at bat to the first batter. If the substitute batter completes the turn at bat in any other manner, including a base on balls, the official scorer shall score the action as having been that of the substitute batter.
Had Oeltjen taken one more strike, the strikeout would have been charged to Gordon, but instead, Oeltjen grounded into a double play.
UPDATE: Gordon will undergo an MRI exam on his right shoulder according to manager Don Mattingly.
Notes
- Tonight the Dodgers honored Duke Snider with a Snider bobblehead giveaway, Brooklyn caps and batting helmets, and a pregame ceremony. Over 40 family members were at Dodger Stadium for the festivities, and AJ Cassavell of MLB.com has the details.
- Jamey Carroll stole his 10th base of the season in tonight's game. He has yet to be caught stealing this year. The Dodgers record for most steals without being caught in one season is eight, held jointly by Greg Brock (1984) and Eric Karros (1996).
- Lilly allowed one home runs and one stolen base in the game, giving him 25 of each this season. Lilly is the fifth Dodger pitcher ever to allow 25 home runs and 25 stolen bases in the same season, and the first since Odalis Perez in 2003. No Dodger pitcher has ever had a 30/30 season.
- The home run by Lee was the second home run Lilly has allowed to a pitcher this season, joining Daniel Hudson in Arizona on July 17. Lilly is the only pitcher in MLB this season to allow more than one home run to a pitcher.
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Chad Billingsley starts the series finale Wednesday afternoon, trying to stave off a sweep against Vance Worley and Philadelphia.
WP - Cliff Lee (12-7): 8 IP, 4 hits, 2 walks, 10 strikeouts
LP - Ted Lilly (7-12): 8 IP, 6 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts
Sv - Ryan Madson (21): 1 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 strikeout