Cliff Lee, Offense Struggles in 3-1 Loss to the Cardinals

Posted by Danielle Wilson

Going into tonight's game which is game number 40 of the season, the Phillies' record is the exact same as it was this time last year, and with a 25-14 record last season, they won game number 40. Time to advance to 26-14, and luckily for the Phils, they have Cliff Lee going tonight against Jake Westbrook whose 6.92 ERA speaks for itself, so let's hope the Phillies can score some runs tonight.

The Phillies' lineup hasn't scored a run with Cliff Lee on the mound since April 14th. That finally changed tonight, thanks to Ben Francisco's RBI single which scored John Mayberry from second in the second inning.

Nick Punto singled in the fourth to score Matt Holliday, making it a tied game. Ryan Theriot singled to score Lance Berkman, and the Cardinals took a 2-1 lead.

In the seventh, John Jay singled to score Nick Punto, giving the Cards a 3-1 lead, and that's when Charlie finally pulled Cliff. I say finally because his pitch count was at 122 after 6 1/3 IP, and in that span, he walked six, which is a career high. One would argue that walking six batters wouldn't seem so excrutiating if the Phillies would just score some runs, yeah, I said it.

Michael Stutes came in to finish up the seventh for Lee and got Albert Pujols to ground into a double play. It was Pujols' 12th of the season, which leads the majors. J.C. Romero pitched a scoreless eighth, but it was no use, the offense failed to come back in the ninth for the Phillies, thus losing 3-1.

Cliff Lee has not won a decision in six starts now and is 2-4 this season. The Phillies have lost their last three straight and are 25-15 on the season now. Roy Oswalt (3-1, 3.33 ERA) will take the mound tomorrow against Jaime Garcia (5-0, 1.89 ERA) in the second and final game of this series.