Howard Smith-USA Today Sports
Every once in a while, Cliff Lee has one of those “Cliff Lee innings”. It’s usually an inning that has a hit or a walk to kick it off, then five minutes later there are four runs on the board and you didn’t have a chance to blink.
That happened to Lee once more Saturday night at Citizens Bank Park as the Philadelphia Phillies’ left hander struggled against the St. Louis Cardinals in a 5-0 loss.
It was the third inning that brought him trouble. Most times, those innings where Lee gives up a lot of runs typically comes via a bunch of hits, not walks.
Heading into the game, Lee had allowed just one walk thus far in 2013. To walk three men in one inning is just something Lee doesn’t do very often. He allowed a two-run single and a pair of RBI singles, giving up four runs in a third inning where he displayed little command of his pitches.
Carlos Beltran added a fifth-inning home run, his third of the series, to put the Cardinals ahead to a lead they would hold for the rest of the night.
It was a frustrating game for Lee, who came into the night with just that one walk in 23.2 innings of action. If he kept up this sort of pace, he’d have the best BB/9 ratio of his career. The best year for Lee came in 2010 when he had an unbelievable 0.76 BB/9 ratio.
Home plate umpire Jerry Layne didn’t seem to do Lee any favors, but Layne is known for having a relatively small strike zone. It’s not any reason for concern for Lee, who will return to the mound next week in search of his third win of the season.
However, the frustrations were evident on this night for Lee in a game he’d like to forget.
