Times wires
Thursday, April 14, 2011
WASHINGTON — Consider the past two games Exhibits 1 and 1A for why the Phillies assembled their ace-after-ace rotation.
Cliff Lee produced a 12-strikeout, three-hit shutout in a 4-0 win over the Nationals on Thursday, a day after Roy Halladay went nine innings to win, giving the Phillies consecutive complete games for the first time since 1999.
"I want to throw nine innings every time I take the mound. That's that," said Lee, who walked one batter and went to three-ball counts on only two others. "I hope Roy does it every day before me, too, but that's what I'm going to try to do."
His previous time on a mound, at Atlanta last Friday, Lee allowed six runs and 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings, his shortest start since Sept. 4, 2009.
But he was back at his best vs. Washington, fooling hitters with darting fastballs on the edge of the plate, sweeping changeups in the dirt, and plenty of right-where-he-wanted-them pitches.
Lee faced 30 batters, three over the minimum, while recording his 21st complete game and sixth shutout. He fell one strikeout shy of his career high.
"Got sharper as the game went on," Nationals manager Jim Riggleman said. "And I think the called strikeouts is an indication that he's hitting some spots that you just don't feel like you can do much with the pitch, but it's a strike. It just kind of ties you up."
Less than 20 months removed from reconstructive elbow surgery, Washington right-hander Jordan Zimmermann matched zeros with Lee for quite some time. But the Phillies got to Zimmermann in the sixth. He retired their first 15 batters, but the 16th, Carlos Ruiz, drove an 0-and-1 pitch barely over the wall in leftfield for a leadoff homer.
"Only mistake I made all night," Zimmermann said.
Two outs later, Shane Victorino doubled, and he scored when fill-in third baseman Jerry Hairston Jr. threw wildly for an error.
That was all Lee needed. In the third, he gave up a double to Danny Espinosa, who took third on a flyout. But Espinosa was thrown out by shortstop Jimmy Rollins while trying to score on a chopper by Zimmermann.