Thursday, April 14, 2011

2011 Topps Heritage #227 Cliff Lee

Phillies 4, Nationals 0
Game 12 - Thursday Night, April 14th in Washington

One Sentence Summary:  Holy crap, Cliff Lee is good.

What It Means:  The Phillies have played four series this season, and they've won them all.  They'll take a 9-3 record back home to face the second place Marlins in a weekend series.

What Went Right:  I love listening to the Phillies on the radio when the team is going good.  Larry Andersen just spends half the game in a state of perpetual giggling.  It's contagious, and I found myself, especially after one of Lee's dominating 12 strikeouts, giggling along with him.  Lee bounced back from his shaky Friday night start against the Braves to put on a pitching clinic against the Nationals.  He allowed three hits while walking just one in the complete game shutout.

Nationals starter Jordan Zimmermann was perfect through the first five innings before Carlos Ruiz led off the top of the sixth with a home run to left.  The Phils tacked on three more runs, but really, Lee just needed the one.  Jimmy Rollins hit an RBI-single in the eighth for his first RBI of 2011.

Featured Card:  If not for the too perfect Photoshop'd "P" on Lee's hat, this card could easily pass as one of the originals from 1962.  In the spirit of the original set, Topps didn't try to cover up Lee's Rangers jersey and the slightly askew angle of the portrait is also reminiscent of some of the originals.

Other Stuff:  Chase Utley began a running program today, marking a significant milestone in his knee rehab progress . . . Jayson Werth made the last out of the game, grounding out to Rollins.  He finished the series 3 for 11 against his former team, with a home run and four strikeouts . . . The last time two Phillies pitchers won back-to-back complete games was in May 1999 when Paul Byrd and Curt Schilling did it against the Cardinals.  Chad Ogea ruined the streak by getting knocked out by the Mets in the fifth inning in the game after Schilling's CG.

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