The Phils Needed Their Ace, and Lee Delivered

Monday, October 12, 2009

By John R. Finger
CSNPhilly.com

DENVER — Shivering and cold, Cliff Lee was soaked from head-to-toe. He looked tired—almost gaunt—but the smile on his face went from ear-to-ear as he stood there with an arm draped over Ryan Howard’s shoulders.

The fact is Lee did almost everything but win Monday night’s wild, comeback victory in the NLDS clincher at Coors Field against the Rockies. Nursing nothing more than a one-run lead into the eighth inning, Lee certainly deserved a better fate, but that stuff didn’t matter.

“As a starting pitcher your job is to give the team a chance to win and I feel like I’ve done that,” Lee said.

All Lee cared about was the final result. That explained why he could stand there all soaking wet with that big smile.

“This is one of the best cold experiences of my life,” Lee said. “It hurts a little bit but it feels good the same way. This is a lot of fun.”

There was a reason why general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. went out and added some depth to his starting rotation near the trading deadline last July. Sure, the Phillies needed to bolster their starting five after the first two months of the season where the team ranked last in the Majors in starting pitching. But Amaro knew early on that there would come a time when the team needed a starter to stand up and be the ace. You know, the kind of ace who deals it from first pitch to the last pitch with only the slimmest of margins for error.

So the Phillies gave a prorated $1 million to Pedro Martinez as the appetizer before trading away four of his top prospects to get Lee.

Yes, Lee was supposed to be on the mound in the big game, but maybe he was meant to get a little closer than five outs from winning it himself. He just might have done that when he got Todd Helton to roll one to Chase Utley at second base for a potential inning-ending double play.

However, with the speedy Dexter Fowler on first base streaking past Utley just as he was about to flip it to Jimmy Rollins covering the bag at second, the ball ended up skipping away to allow the tying and go-ahead runners to get on base.

As a result, Lee’s night came to an end maybe a few yards away from taking care of it all himself.

“That’s what you want. You want to be counted on,” Lee said. “You want people to expect you to go out there and perform and I’m unbelievably honored to take the responsibility and I feel completely honored by it. It’s a great feeling.”

The Phillies didn’t just count on Lee when he joined the club, they climbed on his shoulders and asked him to carry them. In his first five starts after the trade from the Indians, Lee went 5-0 with a 0.68 ERA. After the fifth straight win from Lee, the Phillies’ lead in the NL East was seven games with 40 to play.

In his last six starts Lee lost three games and posted an ERA that hovered around 6. With two starts to go in the season, manager Charlie Manuel said his ace lefty might have been feeling the effects of a long season and nearly 240 innings.

But when the regular season ended, Lee flipped the switch. Granted an extra day of rest between starts when the NLDS began, Lee went the distance for the win in Game 1. Just like that he made everyone forget about his shaky final month.

“Over the course of the season you’re going to have rough stretches here and there, but you just have to overcome it. What’s in the past is in the past—whether you do good or you do bad, it’s over when it’s over and you have to continue to look forward,” Lee explained. “I felt like I made some adjustments with certain pitches to give the team a chance. Once the postseason starts, the regular season stats go out the window. You’re starting fresh.”

In the clincher Lee gave up just five hits and three walks (his most as a Phillie). He also recorded 12 outs against 12 hitters after a pair of hits to the first two hitters of the game. Still, the biggest part for Lee was that the Phillies pulled it out. Soaked and dripping with beer, ice and champaign that had been sprayed and dumped over his head, Lee is going to treat his strong NLDS just like the regular season.

It’s over. Time to move on.

“It’s exciting for now, but we've got a lot of work ahead of us to do,” Lee said. “Hopefully we can keep continuing to do what we've been doing and win ball games.”

For more on the Phillies from John Finger visit his blog, “Finger Food.”