Philadelphia Phillies

Tuesday night's game with the Washington Nationals was delayed by rain for an hour and 10 minutes. Phillies lefthander Cliff Lee pitched as if he was making up for lost time.

The Phillies beat the Nationals 4-2, at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday, June 18, 2013.

Cliff Lee struck out nine in eight impressive innings, Michael Young tied a career high with three doubles and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Washington Nationals 4-2 Tuesday night. Read more Cliff Lee news

LAKEWOOD, N.J. - A potential cache of Phillies trade prospects waited out the rain at the South Atlantic League All-Star Game Tuesday night. The Phillies, too, are waiting.

One hundred ten pitches. Nine strikeouts. No walks. Five hits. Two runs. Cliff Lee. Tonight's offense included doubles of an unusual sort from Michael Young -- they did not include "play' at the end. Ben Revere started a rally with an excellent bunt hit and a fabulous read and run on one of Michael Young's doubles. Kevin Frandsen bailed out Domonic Brown and Delmon Young, who both whiffed with the bases loaded with nobody out in the sixth inning when he singled in the two runs that made the margin of victory in the game. Ryan Howard hit a STAND UP TRIPLE. But...Cliff Lee. During a year when the Phillies have left my 11 year old kid crying on a bunch of nights...Cliff Lee. He makes it fun to watch baseball again. He was magnificent. Sure, he gave up two homers, but they were in situations where nobody was on base, because, y'know, he doesn't walk anyone. He singled in the fifth, but Delmon Young was thrown out at the plate following a bad decision to send him by Sendberg. (H/T Pat Gallon via Joecatz). He had good at bats. He made some hitters look silly (Ryan Zimmerman's strikeout in the 6th was a beauty). It was classic, epic Cliff Lee. Jayson Werth had a homer. Good for you, WFC. Enjoy your empty night of losing stat-padding. Yeah. Take that. And shave. Jonathan Papelbon came in to save the game in the 9th with Lee at 110 pitches, but it was ok, since the win expectancy was at 93%. Charlie Manuel did the right things by subbing in defensive players (Freddy Galvis and John Mayberry) at appropriate points in the game. Papelbon did his usual baboonish fist-pumping schtick. One of the real saving graces of this year is, if the Phillies continue to be kind of out of it, that Papelbon is likely to be traded. While he is useful, he is aesthetically unacceptable in my world. I would not be unhappy to see him go. Maybe Amaro could trade him for a useful outfielder like maybe Nate Schierholtz. I wonder what team might have to do to get a good player like that. Best feel-good at-bat of the night? Delmon Young getting hit. All possible good outcomes occured there. Cringeworthy Wheels quote of the night? Discussing Mick Jagger's athleticism. Just...yuck. Fangraph of Destiny: Source: FanGraphs

It’s funny how fast things can change. Just two days after finishing up an atrocious road-trip against three bad teams, the Phillies have won two straight against the Nationals, with a chance to sweep the series on Wednesday. Cliff Lee allowed a solo home run to Jayson Werth in the fourth, but the Phillies came back to score four straight runs, which was all they would need in their 4-2 victory. The Phillies have now won six straight games at home. Lee dazzles again Lee tossed eight strong innings, striking out nine and walking none en route to his ninth win. PHOTO: AP It seems like every start is the same. He works fast, pounds the strike zone, racks up the punchouts, and exits having only improved his season numbers. Yea he gave up a few mistakes (solo homers to Werth and Jeff Kobernus) but he was still flat out dealing tonight. Lee tossed eight strong innings, giving up just the two runs on five hits while striking out nine. It’s his third nine strikeout game in his last four starts, and his ERA is sitting at 2.53. He threw 110 pitches, 82 for strikes and walked none. Frandsen provides knockout punch in sixth Kevin Frandsen has quietly been one of the most consistent hitters on the Phillies when he plays. In the sixth inning, after Domonic Brown and Delmon Young both struck out with the bases loaded and less than two outs, Frandsen came through with a clutch two-RBI single to give the Phils a nice three run cushion. Frandsen, who has to deal with sometimes not playing for two, three or four days or only having one at bat per game, has an average of .286 after play tonight. He is also hitting .300 with six RBI with two outs and runners in scoring position, and in the month in June his average is .375 with an OBP/OPS of .464/.923 Howard tripled? And Young doubles thrice I thought it was at least worth noting that with his triple tonight, Howard now has more triples than he did in his 2006 MVP season when he was young and spry (sort of). Who would have thought. Michael Young smashed three doubles tonight, and drove in a run. It took Young 29 games to get his first three doubles of the season. Up Next… Wednesday provides the Phillies a chance to sweep the series, but they will have to do it against the reigning N.L. wins leader Gio Gonzalez. Gonzalez is 2-1 with a 2.52 ERA in four career starts against the Phillies. He will be opposed by Kyle Kendrick, who has pitched well for the Phillies this year, but is coming off his worst outing of the year in which he gave up seven runs on ten hits to Colorado. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.

Click here to view the embedded video. Refers to Deliverance as The Deliverance Thinks a banjo is a guitar Thinks Clint Eastwood was in Deliverance Also I hope that young man hasn’t seen Deliverance.

A solid 4-2 week for Lehigh Valley after their 3-0 shutout victory behind Carlos Zambrano on Tuesday. Lehigh Valley is now 37-34 and tied for 2nd place in the Northern Division of the International League, 5 games behind division leading Pawtucket at the half way mark of the season.  The ‘Pigs have two more games against Toledo before moving along to Columbus where they will play four games and conclude their 8 game road trip next Monday. ‘Pigs Prospects: Cameron Rupp is twenty plus AB’s into his AAA career and is hitting .261, looking solid behind the plate.  Should be interesting to see whether the Phils decide to send Rupp back to Reading where AB’s are shared with Valle. I suspect Rupp will be here for awhile, as with Joseph out, it makes sense for Rupp and Valle to both get as many AB’s as possible with Lerud as the AAA backup. Cody Asche got a very rare night off last evening and hits the half way mark of the season at .278/.332/.452 with 8HR 41RBI and 4SB. Over his last 10 games, Asche has hit ,308 with 2 HR.  Asche defense has been somewhere between good and very good and is producing like the 3B job for the Phillies will be his to lose in 2014.  The high strikeout rate needs work, but Asche progress has been excellent. Leandro Castro has been in a bit of a funk hitting .222 with 1HR and 7RBI’s over his last 10 games, and left last nights game early on with an apparent ankle injury. Still, Castro has been a pleasant surprise this year, hitting .263/.302/.417 with 7HR 35RBI and 13SB in his first look at AAA pitching. While still not good, his walk and strikeout rates are significantly better than in years passed. Ethan Martin had a nice outing his last time out against Scranton, allowing just one run over seven innings but has been far from consistent. Each good outing is matched by a poor outing and even in the better outings, control issues inevitably crop up On the year, Martin is 6-3 with a 5.19 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP. Next Week: Ruf, Robles, Aumont, Cloyd, Hernandez ‘Pigs Leaders (Note: Stats are thru Monday 6/17) Hitters: Cody Asche is 6th in AB’s (261), 10th in hits (72); 4th in triples (4) and 8th in strikeouts (67); Cesar Hernandez leads the league in triples (7) and 5th in SB’s (19); Jermaine Mitchell is 5th in triples (4); Darin Ruf is 6th in strikeouts (68) Pitching Leaders: Ethan Martin is 4th in wins (6), has yielded the 2nd most walks (40) and 9th in strikeouts (62); Jake Diekman is 5th in saves (11); Tyler Cloyd has the 4th most HR allowed (12) News and Notes: The ‘Pigs are an outstanding 11-4 in one run games. –Josh Fields has hit safely in 19 of his last 23 games (.360, 32-89). –Since coming back up from Reading, Justin Friend is 3-0 with a 2.14 ERA in 14 games. –Through the first half of the season, no less than 11 IronPigs have been promoted to the Phils at one time or another. Transactions: Last Wednesday, INF Michael Martinez and P Jake Diekman were called up to Philadelphia.  P Tyler Cloyd and INF Cesar Hernandez were optioned back to Lehigh Valley. On Monday, INF Miguel Abreu was re-assigned to Reading. On Tuesday, Steven Lerud was optioned to Lehigh Valley with the activation of Carlos Ruiz. Probables: Wed: Martin; Thur: Valdes; Fri: Cochran; Sat: Cloyd

Phillies righthander Michael Stutes isn't about to get carried away by his impressive start since being called up from triple-A Lehigh Valley on May 23.

The Phillies and the Washington Nationals have more than Jayson Werth in common these days. The teams went into Tuesday night separated by one game in the standings. Both arrived at Citizens Bank Park more than a week's worth of games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the National League East. Both have dealt with a litany of injuries that have turned them into offensively challenged clubs.