MIAMI -- For all the frustration (completely justified, by the way) caused by the offense and all the worry spawned by a recent spate of injuries, the Phillies have won seven of their last 10 ballgames to pull within a game of .500.
They got to that mark for the first time since April 15 with a Cliff Lee-led, 3-0 win over the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night (see Instant Replay).
“If you’re going to win the division you’re going to have to get past .500,” Lee said after firing the 12th shutout of his career. “Obviously we aren’t there yet, but we have to get past that to get where we want to go.
“Right now, we’re playing good, well-rounded baseball.”
Over the last couple of weeks, the aging Phillies have lost Roy Halladay, Carlos Ruiz and Mike Adams to the disabled list. Chase Utley, who has missed two straight games with a rib cage injury, could be next (see story).
And yet, the Phillies are winning. It hasn’t been all that pretty given the sporadic offense, but they’re keeping their noses above water.
“That just says we’ve got guys that can fill these holes,” Lee said. “The Halladay thing, I feel like he was hurt for a while and just tried to grind through it and we finally decided to do something about it. That was tough, but you can’t go out there and pitch when you’re not all the way there. The Chase thing was kind of a surprise. Hopefully that’s not a major deal and he’s back to help us out. Chooch same thing.
“Fortunately, we have [Erik] Kratz and [Humberto] Quintero and Freddy [Galvis] and [Jonathan] Pettibone and [Tyler] Cloyd and guys like that who can come in and fill those holes and give us a chance.”
The Phillies received excellent starting pitching in the three-game series against the Marlins.
Cole Hamels, Cloyd and Lee combined to pitch 22 innings and allow just four runs while walking four and striking out 20 against the weakest offensive team in the NL. Lee’s shutout was the ninth sustained by the Marlins this season.
Of course, the Phils only won two of the games in Miami because the offense flopped again behind Hamels. It came alive Tuesday and Wednesday with a combined 27 hits.
“As good as our starting pitching has been, we only need a few runs,” Delmon Young said. “If our pitching wasn’t what it has been, we’d really have a bad record.”
Young was a big contributor in Miami. He hit long home runs on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and played well in in right field. (His arm provided a big double play behind Lee.) Young also legged out an infield hit in the sixth inning Wednesday night that started a two-out, two-run rally that featured a long triple by Domonic Brown, who is up to 24 RBIs, one shy of the team lead shared by Ryan Howard and Utley.
Sixty at-bats into his time with the Phillies, Young is hitting .233. Two games ago, he was hitting .192.
He’s moving in the right direction.
“I’ve always thought Delmon would hit,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “I’ve been saying that. When we got him, our people thought he’d help us. We always thought he was an RBI guy.”
Lee, who is 9-2 with a 1.09 ERA in his last 12 starts against the NL East, is on a terrific roll. He has allowed just four runs in 31 innings over his last four starts.
Lee allowed just three hits (all singles) Wednesday night. He walked two and hit a batter. He did his best pitching in the second inning when he loaded the bases and got out of it with a 5-2-3 double play and a pop out.
“I was just trying to get a ground ball and a double play,” Lee said. “I was willing to sacrifice a run for two outs. Fortunately the ball was hit to third where we could get the out at home. That was huge.”
The Marlins didn’t do much against Lee the rest of the way.
“The last three innings I felt as good as I’ve felt in a long time,” Lee said. “I felt like I could put the ball right where I wanted.”
The Phillies are off on Thursday. They open a three-game series against the Nationals in Washington on Friday night.