Game 52 - Tuesday Night, May 28th in Boston
Record - 25-27, 3rd Place, 6 1/2 games behind the Braves
One Sentence Summary: Cliff Lee, with a little help from Jonathan Papelbon, handcuffed the Sox offense, as the Phillies won in Boston, 3-1.
What It Means: The inconsistent season continues, and last night it was the Good Phillies who showed up. It's amazing they can look like absolute crap one night (see Monday night's game) and then look so good the following night. The four game home and home series continues with the Red Sox in Philadelphia tonight.
What Went Right: Lee allowed a first inning run, and then locked in and went to work against the Red Sox bats over the next seven innings. He lowered his ERA to 2.34 on the way to his sixth win of the season. Papelbon, pitching in Boston for the first time as a visitor, notched his tenth save.
Michael Young broke an 0 for 22 slump with a solo home run in the first. The score stayed tied at one a piece until Erik Kratz singled home John Mayberry, Jr. in the seventh. Domonic Brown, recently named the National League's Player of the Week, added a solo home run in the ninth to give Papelbon a little added cushion.
Featured Card: Sure, Lee should probably have the featured card in this post since his eight strong innings made the win possible. But for some reason, manager Charlie Manuel felt the need to pull Lee after 95 pitches and having retired 23 of the last 25 batters he faced, and insert Papelbon into the game. It's very unlike Manuel to pull a move that seemed based on pure dramatic effect. I'm just glad the whole thing didn't go south, and Papelbon was able to secure the save.
So here's a Papelbon card that's even more ridiculous than me not featuring a Lee card in this post.
2 comments:
From one of the online game summaries:
"Kind of wanted to see it, if you want to know the truth," Manuel said after the former Red Sox closer finished off the 3-1 victory over Boston on Tuesday night. "Pap likes drama. Might as well like it with him."
Yes, it was based on dramatic effect. :-)
Charlie's getting soft in the last year of his contract!
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