Lee Fans 16, Phils Score Zero

Originally published by NBC Philadelphia.

The Atlanta Braves put another notch in their now six-game winning streak as they shut out the Phillies 5-0 Friday night.

No. 2 ace Cliff Lee was brilliant as he struck out 16 batters over seven innings -- tying Steve Carlton’s record for most strikeouts by a left-handed Phillies pitcher. It was also the most K’s in a game since Curt Schilling struck out 16 Yankees in 1997 and the most in any single game of Lee’s career. He tossed 117 pitches, 87 of which were strikes.

Nine hits and three runs were also scattered amongst the masterpiece Lee brought to the mound. After allowing the Braves to lead off the game with a pair of hits, he retired the next seven batters in a row before getting into trouble in the third inning. Lee (2-3) allowed three doubles and a single, resulting in three runs that the Phils just weren’t able to get back.

Lee’s final line: 7 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 16 K. His ERA is currently at 3.69 for the season.

Lee's counterpart Derek Lowe (3-3), fresh from having a hand in the MLB’s latest DUI scandal, seemed to be matching Lee pitch for pitch as he no-hit the Phils for six innings before allowing a single and a ground-rule double to Shane Victorino and Placido Polanco respectively. They would be the only hits the Phillies would have all evening.

JC Romero and Danys Baez pitched one inning each in relief. Baez gave up three hits and allowed two runs before striking out Chipper Jones to end the top of the ninth.

Some other notes:

Polanco left the game after his hit in the seventh. He had fouled a ball off his foot during the at-bat and was noticeably in pain after running the bases. Todd Zolecki reported that he has a bruised big right toe and that the X-rays were negative.

Roy Oswalt will not pitch as scheduled in Saturday’s game due to back soreness and is headed for the disabled list. Kyle Kendrick will start in his place. Kendrick is 5-1 in his career against the Braves with a 2.55 ERA. He enters the game 1-2 on the season with a 2.08 ERA in 13 innings pitched.

The Braves are calling up their top pitching prospect Julio Teheran to make his Major League debut against the Phillies on Saturday in lieu of using Time Hudson or Tommy Hanson on short rest. The 20-year-old Teheran is 3-0 in five Triple-A starts with a 1.80 ERA, ranking third in the National League. He will head back to AAA-Gwinnett regardless of his performance.

Game time Saturday is 7:05 PM ET on CSN.

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Plagued early by injury, how much depth do the Phillies have?

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This morning, we learned that Chase Utley had a cortisone injection in his knee on Friday after an MRI showed patellar tendinitis. Next, Domonic Brown left today's game against Pittsburgh (which they subsequently lost 4-3) with the trainer at his side. It was later reported that Brown has fractured a bone in his hand and will more than likely require surgery therefore sidelineing him for approximately 3-6 weeks. Immediately after the news spread, you could almost smell the stench of tear-stained jerseys being packed away for the season as the high hopes of some Phillies fans were being doused in kerosene and lit aflame.

Let's start from the top: Chase Utley.


Chase has always been a rough and tough kind of player - the kind where it eventually catches up with you and something is always hurt. First it was his wrist in 2007, then his hip in '08, and then his thumb just last summer. He's had three surgeries in the last four years and now there's something else that could potentially be added to the list: his knee. The team says they haven't explored the option of surgery just yet, but truth be told, it may only be a matter of time.

So where does that leave the Phillies if the start second baseman winds up having to go under the knife? Last year, Utley only played 115 games due to his thumb injury. In his place, Placido Polanco (who is a Gold Glove second baseman) and the ever versatile Wilson Valdez primarily stood the watch until Utley was able to come back full-time. So far this spring we've seen Valdez, Pete Orr, Josh Barfield, and Delwyn Young start at second, with Young spending the majority of the time there. We've also seen flashes of Jeff Larish starting at third sprinkled into the mix.

It's entirely too early in the spring to speculate on any of this, but if in the event that Utley is not ready come opening day, we could very well see a mix of Valdez and Young at second, with a very rare instance of Polanco at second and perhaps Valdez at third. This of course all depends on how Charlie feels about the depth charts in the coming weeks when cuts begin.
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