Cliff Lee Comes Back After Shutout

In the previous night, Cliff Lee blanked the Giants for his 11^th victory and 5^th shutout of the season.  For Phillies, it looks like the left hander is back in top form after going through a tough July.

Lee was able to out-duel his counterpart Madison Bumgarneer, holding San Francisco to 7 hits while getting up 8 k’s and inducing 12 grounds ball outs.  The lefty once more got his season ERA south of 3 and provided the Phillies their league guiding 72^nd victory of the year.

Philadelphia is hoping that this may signal the coming of a month like June for Lee when he was able to win the entire 5 of his starts.  His numbers were mind blowing over the span; Lee permitted just a single run in his 42 innings pitching for a sterling 0.21 June ERA.  Opposing batters just controlled 21 hits off of him.

However, July was a different story for Lee.  Last month he went 1-2 with an earned run average of 4.91 over his 33 innings or work.  Lee as well gave up 39 hits and 4 or more runs in 3 of his 5 starts while he was able to strike out 40 in that span.

Frustration actually showed throughout a July 25^th start against the offensively challenged Padres. In a game that figured to allow Lee to right the ship, he gave up 10 hits and 5 runs in just 4 innings prior to being lifted for a pinch hitter.

It is not easy to tell a guy with an associate 3 ERA is having just an average year, though this comes out to be the case for Lee.  Lee has maintained monthly ERA’s over 3.70 on the year excluding his unbelievable June.

Philadelphia will look to him to turn things up a notch later in the season and bring the momentum into the playoffs. For their sake, hopefully Thursday is the start of one more prevailing stretch for the lefty.

Gonzales Sends San Diego Padres Threatened

Adrian Gonzales of Boston showed a thorn in the side of his previous team as the first seventh-inning of baseman strike put the surging Red Sox on target for a crushing 14-5 win over the San Diego Padres on Monday.

Gonzales, who used up the former five campaigns with the Padres prior to being traded to Boston in the off-season, broke open a 3-3 tie with an RBI twice that unlocked the floodgates as the Red Sox extra 10 runs in the top of the inning.

“It’s just great at-bats,” Gonzalez informed reporters after he completed with three hits to elevate his Major League-leading batting standard to .353 “It’s just great at-bats.”  He as well guides baseball in RBIs with 67.

“It’s a line-up that consistently has good at-bats, professional at-bats and you wear down a pitcher.”

Padres beginner Wade LeBlanc left the game in the fourth innings and Boston browbeaten a wobbly San Diego bullpen that walked four and strike two batters in the marathon seventh.

Padres manager Bud Black countered, “Our bullpen has been the best in baseball, top to bottom.  Tonight showed that these guys aren’t invincible. Bad inning. That’s the only way you can write it.”

Boston obtained a lift on the heap from Andrew Miller with 44-28, creating his period debut prepared of injured beginner Clay Buchholz.  He permitted three runs in 5 2/3 innings of the no-decision.

Matt Albers approached on to end the sixth and pitched the seventh to make the success for the red-hot Red Sox, who have succeeded 14 of their previous 16 games, and guide the American League East by 1 ½ games in spite of a 2-10 begin to the season.

Boston got an early 3-0 ahead with runs in the first, third and fourth innings although the Padres fought back and tied the game in the sixth on a three-run homer from Orlando Hudson.

Hudson ended with three strikes and Chase Headley went 4-for-5 in the failure for the Padres.

Three Angels Wins Against Oakland Athletics

Three Angels who came in the game with expanded hitless element snapped their oh-fers in key spots to assist the Angels hit the Oakland Athletics, 4-1, at Angel Stadium.

A score of 0 for 14 of Hank Conger and 0 for 17 of Alexi Amarista singled on successive pitches in the next, putting up the first run of Angels.  Also Reggie Willits – 0 for 13 this year, twice home the Angels fourth run, in the fifth.

Conger said, “One of the biggest things in baseball is just being able to forget.”

Among were continuous home runs by Torii Hunter and Alberto Callaspo, as the Angels place 15 base runners on contrary to Trevor Cahill, who came in the game with the American League’s second-class ERA.

Mike Sciosia, Angels manager said, “I just keep going back to ’09 – the cast isn’t quite the same, but our lineup has the potential to get deep.  We have to be more than a team that just hits home runs and more than a team that just manufactures runs.”

Ervin Santana begun and featured a patient A’s lineup.  He had to endure an 11 pitch at bat, a nine-pitch at bat and 11 at bats of a minimum six pitches, and in the entire the A’s observed 4.7 pitches each plate emergence.

That guide to Ervin Santana featuring loss in the sixth inning because of his pitch count, in spite of pitching an extremely strong game. However, as he closed 120 pitches, he cancel the side in the sixth containing the final two batters with runners on second and third.

Santana has may be his great speed of the season, topping out at 96 mph and hitting out his last batter of the night on three 94 mph pitches.

photo credit: angelsnation.net