Plenty to smile about

Sure, it wasn’t a complete game shutout to top that of James Anthony Happ from the previous night. And no, it wasn’t as dominant an outing as he twirled down by the bay six days prior.

In fact, despite his 9 strikeouts, Cliff Lee was far from overpowering this afternoon in front of yet another packed house down by Broad and Pattison. He allowed the leadoff hitter to reach in four of seven innings and needed 112 pitches to pitch those frames.  But that’s what made his efforts all the more impressive. In a start where he didn’t have best stuff and had some trouble putting batters away early in the count, Lee battled and chalked up yet another stellar outing from a pitching staff that has been the strength of the ballclub since the calendar turned to July.

It’s also strange that I haven’t heard a whole about Roy Halladay since last Friday.

WHAT CAUGHT OUR EYE

• The more you watch Charlie Manuel manage this Phils squad, the more you appreciate what he brings to the table.  Example #1: Jimmy Rollins. It seemed that only fairly recently J-Roll was scuffling along, mired in an 0-28 drought. Charlie resisted (with the exception of a start or two) the temptation from the fickle Philly Phaithful and kept J-Roll atop the lineup, confident as always that he’d bounce back like Robert Downey Jr., minus the copious amounts of substance abuse. Baseball is all about routines and how you keep on your game over the course of a grueling 162-games season (hopefully this includes growing mullets and/or mustaches), and lesser men have wavered under the pressure. Do you really think the consistency of Uncle Charlie’s lineup card has nothing to do with the team’s success? When players know how to prepare, they can focus on what they need to do to succeed and that slow-talking, funny-walking managerial genuis understands that better than most.
• Is it just me or does T-Mac’s knowledge of each ball girl–by name–kind of creep you out? It would feel a lot more harmless if he didn’t insist on working these tidbits into his normal pattern of speech. “So J-Roll at the plate. He’s 1-4 on the day, average up to .247. Lines one down the first base line, foul. Nice pickup there by Anna Maria Consiglio of Cherry Hill as she makes the back hand play and tosses it to the fan. Rollins digs in for the next pitch.” Huh? They didn’t even pan the camera down there. By all accounts, T-Mac is a stand-up guy put in an awfully tough position to supercede a legend in this town and the game of baseball. But please, drop the regular references to the young ladies.
• Watching a gimpy Shane Victorino out there today made me a bit nervous. If he is anything less than 100% for our playoff charge, it would be a massive blow to this team. He and Rollins bring so much energy to this team, much like Juan Pierre and Luis Castillo did for the Marlins in the mid 2000’s. Except our guys hit for power, play Gold Glove defense and presumably are hilarious in the clubhouse. With Ben Francisco–Francisco! That’s fun to say!-in the fold, I wouldn’t be opposed to giving the Flyin’ Hawaiian a few days of rest to ensure his health for the stretch run.
• I would love to have heard what Rollins barked at Lee after he made up for his fielding error with a similar play on a ground ball a few innings later. The cameras caught Lee turn towards J-Roll and break into an ear-to-ear grin. Some ideas: “Cliff, even Jamie Moyer makes that play. With a walker.” Or, “How’s the energy at the field-formerly-known-as-Jacobs on Thursday afternoon tilts? O-H! I, O!” “

Phils get a big chance this weekend to put the struggling Marlins–coming off a sweep by the Nationals–down for the count with 3 games at the bank. Jumbo Joe and his magical chin beard get the ball tomorrow in the series opener against Ricky Nolasco. 7pm yo.