Cliff Lee’s first start as a Phillie was pretty damn awesome! He threw a complete game against the San Francisco Giants winning by a count of 4 to 1 and even had two hits as a batter! Lee was dominant in the outing using all four pitches in his reportoire and literally cruised to the victory. He had a no-hitter thru six and 1/3 innings before giving up a bloop double down the right field line for the first hit. Jayson Werth provided the offense for Lee as he knocked in three of the four runs including a solo home run in the second inning to give Lee a lead he would never relinquish.
The other newcomer from Cleveland to the team, Ben Francisco, also has been impressive thus far. Francisco has been thrown into the fire immediately in center field as starter Shane Victorino rests a sore and swollen knee that he injured in the Arizona series. Francisco has shown a short compact swing albeit he jerks everything to left field and might be suspect to the outside strike…….. time will tell. Francisco has collected three hits in the two games he has started in center and has displayed a good outfield presence as well with good range. So far so good for the two new additions.
Chatter
John Mayberry Jr. and Steve Register were optioned back to Triple A Lehigh Valley to make room for Lee and Francisco on the active roster. The trade also impacted others throughout the minor league system as Joe Savery was promoted to Triple A from Double A Reading to take the rotation spot vacated by Carlos Carrasco. Catcher Kevin Nelson was also promoted to Lehigh Valley to take the roster spot vacated by Lou Marson. Dominick Brown was moved up to Double A Reading from Single A Clearwater. Pedro Martinez threw about 90 pitches in his start last night at Lehigh Valley and thinks he is ready to join the big club, it remains to be seen when the Fightin’s decide to make that move.
Joe Blanton takes on the Giants tonight in San Francisco, Blanton has been throwing extremely well, here is hoping that trend continues…………. good time to be a Phillies Phan!
