Phillies Recap: August 24, 2009

Philadelphia Phillies 6, New York Mets 2

Cliff Lee battled some early blunders by his defense to pitch another solid game for the Phillies. He got all the run support he would need in the first inning, as Ryan Howard hit the first of his two home runs on the day. Bobby Parnell did his best to keep the Mets in the game, but they didn't have a chance against Lee. In the end, the Phillies won yet another solid game by the final score of 6-2.

The Phillies gave Cliff Lee (12-9) an early lead before almost giving it back. Two errors by Chase Utley in the first inning led to two unearned runs. However, Cliff Lee picked up his team and tossed seven innings of six-hit ball. He didn't walk a batter and struck out five Mets on the day. He lowered his ERA with the Phillies to an absurd 0.68. Lee is now 5-0 with the Phillies, and in 40.0 innings, he has allowed 24 hits, six walks, and just three earned runs, while striking out 39. Simply fantastic. Brad Lidge finished off the game, despite it not being a save situation, with a perfect ninth inning.

Bobby Parnell (3-6) went five innings and threw 101 solid pitches. Unfortunately for Parnell and the Mets, the other two pitches he tossed went for long home runs by Ryan Howard. Howard clobbered a three-run first inning homer before hitting another two-run shot in his next at bat. The Mets bullpen allowed one more run in the ninth inning for the final margin. All together, it wasn't a great performance by the Phillies offense, as they didn't threaten many other times. But, it was a perfect example of Ryan Howard carrying the team to a victory (with the help of Cliff Lee, of course).

The Phillies bounced back and won the final three games of the series after dropping the opener to the Mets. This was key, as they now are 72-50 on the season. Tomorrow, they will begin a three-game set with the Pittsburgh Pirates. With the top pursuers out of action today, the Phillies now own a seven game lead in the NL East and are playing as well as they have all season. Today was the team's 40th win on the road this season.