Philadelphia Phillies

Through the first 46 games of the season, including 11 games against the woeful Mets and Marlins, the Phillies had just one complete game shutout. On a team with Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay, and Cliff Lee, naturally that complete game shutout was recorded by none other than Kyle Kendrick. Cliff Lee rectified that situation today, with a three-hit masterpiece against the Marlins. For all but the second inning, Lee made it look easy. Even that inning wasn't too bad. After an infield single, a walk, and a hit batter (no balls leaving the infield), Lee got out of the jam with a double play and pop-up. After that, smooth sailing. For the second night in a row, the offense wasn't offensive. Delmon Young hit his third home run of the season to start the scoring off in the fourth. In the sixth, he had an infield single and then came around to score on Domonic Brown's triple. Freddy Galvis then knocked in Brown with a single. And that was it other than watching Lee mow down the Marlins. Baseball's inane accounting practices credit Lee with five wins on the season now. That's one less than he was credited with all of last year. In fact, the accounting system did not give Lee a fifth win last year until September 12. Of course, going into today's game (stats have not been updated), Lee's xFIP this year (3.58) is half a run higher than last year (3.06). That's conventional baseball statistics for you! The only other thing to note really is that Delmon Young can throw. We covered his Glennbo-esque throw in San Francisco several games ago. Tonight, Young did it again. He nailed Chris Coghlan trying to tag up from first on a long fly ball to right by Nick Green. Young caught the ball deep in right field and made the throw flat footed. It was a laser that hit Rollins on one hop, who easily tagged Coghlan out at least three feet short of the second-base bag. There are lots of reasons to hate Delmon Young's presence on this team, despite his two home runs over the past two days, but we are quickly learning that his arm is not one of them. Fangraph of keeping it up for the Nationals series: Source: FanGraphs

Cliff Lee threw his first shutout of the season on Wednesday night. (AP Photo) The Phillies took the rubber match of their three game set with Miami on Wednesday, shutting out the struggling Marlins 3-0. It was the second straight series win for the Fightin’s, and the first time since April 15 (when they were 6-7)  that they are back to just one game under the .500 mark. Vintage Cliff Lee on the mound tonight The Phillies offense managed three runs on 12 hits against Marlins pitching, which was more than enough for Cliff Lee, who threw nine strong innings en- route to his first complete game and shutout of the season.The left-hander faced minimal danger in the contest, working his way out of a bases loaded, nobody out jam in the second to go on to throw six 1-2-3 innings. He walked two and gave up just three hits on 115 pitches (85 of which were strikes). Lee has basically been a lock to perform in every start this year. He has had quality starts in each of his last four outings, and in eight of ten outings this season. His record improves to 5-2, and his ERA is now a minuscule 2.48 on the season. He has given up just four runs in his last four starts, and the shutout was the twelfth of his career, and seventh in a Phillies uniform. Clutch hitting provides just enough offense The bats showed a decent amount of life tonight, as the Phillies rapped out 12 hits against starter Kevin Slowey and the Marlins bullpen. However it was three of those hits- a solo homer from Delmon Young, an RBI single from Freddy Galvis, and an RBI triple from Domonic Brown that stood out. All three of those hits were with two outs and produced runs, which is something the Phillies have been struggling with immensely this season. There is still some work to be done- 12 hits should produce more than three runs- but the three, two-out RBI hits in the game is a good place to start for a team that entered play hitting .197 with runners in scoring position and two outs (which ranks 25th out of 30 major league teams. Middle of the order starting to heat up Ryan Howard was 2-for-4 tonight with a double (albeit it might have been the softest hit, accidental double he has ever hit), and is 7-for-17 (.411 average) with three runs batted in in his last four games. His double tonight moved him into a tie for eighth place with Johnny Callison on the Phillies all time extra-base hits list with 534. Delmon Young, who had gone 16 games between his first and second home runs of the season needed just a good night’s sleep to hit his third. He was 2-for-4 tonight with two runs, a homer, and an RBI. If he can continue to hit balls hard consistently Ryan Howard should start to see some better pitches. If Chase Utley, who has been the Phillies best run producer this year, Howard and Young starting to drive the ball will certainly be a very welcome sight. What’s up next The Phillies will be off on Thursday before traveling to Washington to open up a three game set with the Nationals on Friday. It is their first meeting with Washington this season. While they will still be facing a team that has been struggling offensively, they will be seeing some much better pitching than they saw in the Marlins series. Friday night’s probables are Kyle Kendrick (4-2, 2.82 ERA) for the Phils and the tough righty Jordan Zimmerman (7-2, 1.62 ERA) for the Nats.

I have been wanting to put together a mailbag for a while to address questions that often don’t deserve a whole post as well as just casual questions.  Feel free to submit questions regarding prospects, the majors, the draft, baseball in general, or just about any other topic. To submit questions you can post them here, email me at mattwinkelman136(at)gmail(dot)com, or on twitter at @Matt_Winkelman. If you would like to direct questions at Brad, Joe, or Gregg if you are really nice here or on Twitter they may answer.

It hasn't always been pretty, but the Phillies are quietly riding their best 10-game stretch of the season. After beating the Marlins on Wednesday night, 3-0, the Phillies are now 7-3 over their last 10 games heading into their first meeting with the Nationals of 2013. Cliff Lee was brilliant in clinching his club a series victory in Miami after the trip started on such a sour note. Lee threw his first complete game of the season by shutting out...

MIAMI - When morale was at its lowest, approximately 46 hours before Delmon Young smashed yet another home run, Charlie Manuel attempted to justify his faith in this Phillies lineup. It was Monday, the atrocious Marlins had confounded his offense, and Manuel clutched for words.

According to Chris Branch, Phillippe Aumont is headed to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Todd Zolecki states a corresponding roster move will be made Friday. Aumont has a 4.15 ERA and has his highest BB/9 IP of his career (6.92). No word on who will take his place but the Phillies could turn to either an infielder such as Cesar Hernandez (.320/.386/.456 heading into today for Lehigh Valley) to replace Chase Utley or a straight swap for a reliever like the suddenly hot Mike Stutes.

The Phillies defeat the Marlins, 3-0, at Marlins Park in Miami. Cliff Lee gave up only three hits in a complete-game shutout.

A 4-3 week for Lehigh Valley, who now stand at 20-25 and in 4th place of the Northern Division of the International League, 6.5 games behind division leading Buffalo.  After an off day on Wednesday, the ‘Pigs play four at home against Norfolk, before hitting the road for four games in Rochester. ‘Pigs Leaders (Hitting): Cesar Hernandez is 9th in AB’s (169), 7th in SB (12), 4th in hits (54), leads the league in triples (6); Jermaine Mitchell is 2nd in triples (4); Cody Asche is 3rd in triples (3) and 8th in RBI’s (29); COdy Overbeck in 5th in HR (9); Darin Ruf is 6th in strikeouts (48). (Pitching): Ethan Martin is 4th in wins (4), 4th in walks allowed (25); and has the 10th worst ERA (5.23); Tyler Cloyd has the 5th worst ERA (6.57), is 3rd in HR allowed (9) and has the 6th worst WHIP (1.64). ‘Pigs Prospects: Adam Morgan has really struggled since his first three starts of the season, and missed his scheduled start on Monday with what is being called “shoulder stiffness”.  In his last outing against Norfolk, Morgan gave up 10 runs on 10 hits over 3.1IP.  Each of his last three outings have been miserable, giving up a total of 19 runs in 11 innings.  On the year (8 starts), Morgan is 1-4 with a 4.97ERA. Morgan’s WHIP stands at 1.42 and he is allowing 2.6BB/6.2K per nine.  The opposition is hitting .283 against him, .318 with RISP. Jake Diekman has had two good outings after an outings in which he completing imploded, giving up 3 runs in 0.1IP against Norfolk.  On the year, it isnt pretty…19 games, 1-0 with a 6.05 ERA and 4 saves.  Looking further into the numbers, Diekman’s WHIP is 2.12 and the opposition is hitting .278 against him.  Diekman’s problems against righties are really problematic, as right hande hitters are at .314 against him, and Diekman has waled no less than 19 right handed hitters in 13.1 innings. His WHIP against righties is a near unbelievable 2.63. The bright side is that Diekman remains effective against lefties as they hit him at just a .190 clip. Ethan Martin has been excellent in his last three outings, allowing just 5ER over 19 innings and seems to have turned the corner after some significant problems to start the year.  In his 8 starts, Martin is 4-2 with a 5.23 ERA and 1.50 WHIP.  The opposition is hitting just .245 against him (.188 vs. RH and .318 vs. LH). Control is improving, but remains an issue with Martin walking 5.4 per nine innings, however he is averaging almost a strikeout an inning as well. Mike STutes should be in the majors replacing any one of a number of Phillies relievers. In his last 10 outings, spanning back to May 2nd, Stutes has a 0.63 ERA and the opposition is hitting .157 against him.  On the year, Stutes has thrown in 20 games and is 1-2 with a 3.33 ERA and 2 saves. The opposition is hitting .208 against him and STutes has a WHIP of 1.19. Cody Asche has been a consistent producer after a rough first couple of weeks of the season. Currently hitting .274/.324/.439 in 164 AB’s with 4HR and a team leading 29 RBI’s.  Asche is hitting .182 against LHP, .298 vs. RHP and just .197 with RISP, even while leading the team in RBI’s. Asche has performed very well in the field. Next Week: Ruf, Hernandez, Savery, Castro News and Notes: P Raul Valdes made his 2013 Lehigh Valley debut last Saturday evening against Rochester and was quite effective in his 4 innings as a spot starter, throwing 4 shutout innings, allowing just 2 hits and striking out4. –Tommy Joseph remains on the DL with what was first described as a minor concussion. He last played a game May 4th and has not yet begun baseball activities. –Lehigh Valley scored 14 runs on Monday night against Rochester, their season high. In that game, Pete Orr tied a career high with 5 RBI and 8 total bases. –Darin Ruf snapped an 0-21 drought with a single Monday night. –On Monday, Lehigh Valley used a “spot starter” for the 8t

MIAMI - Mike Adams, red-faced after a strenuous bullpen session at Marlins Park, was optimistic that he could return from the disabled list before the weekend ends. Pitching coach Rich Dubee later offered a dose of reality.

Millville High School baseball coach Roy Hallenbeck said he tries to stay up every night to watch Mike Trout's games on the West Coast.