Wasted

Cliff Lee’s teammates expressed their frustrations and condolences tonight at AT&T Park.

He deserved better a fate.

He pitched 10 scoreless innings in a 1-0 loss to the Giants in 11 innings. Lee became the first pitcher to pitch 10 innings in a game since Aaron Harang and Roy Halladay in 2007, the first pitcher to pitch 10 scoreless innings since Mark Mulder in 2005 and the first Phillies pitcher to pitch 10 innings since Terry Mulholland in 1993.

But Lee also became the first pitcher to pitch 10 scoreless innings in a losing effort since Brett Saberhagen’s Mets lost to San Diego in 1994.

“He battled,” Jim Thome said about Lee. “He battled.”

Thome sighed deeply before finishing his thought.

“Unfortunately we couldn’t help him out,” he said.

A few things on the night:

Lee and Matt Cain pitched so effectively and efficiently the teams played nine innings in just 1 hour, 50 minutes.
They played the entire game in 2:27.
Lee threw 102 pitches (81 strikes).
Cain threw 91 pitches (64 strikes).
Cain would have started the 10th, except his spot came up in the bottom of the 9th.
Charlie Manuel, on his decision to have Thome face Giants left-hander Javier Lopez, instead of using one of his two right-handed hitters on the bench: “I thought about sending (John Mayberry Jr.) up to hit. Thome is 2-for-11 off the guy with three strikeouts. That means he put the ball in play eight times. If he hits a ball, as big and strong as he is, we have a chance to score a run. Also, I figured he was definitely going to walk Mayberry. Juan Pierre hits .300 off lefties, but he still has to face a sidearm lefty.”
Thome, on his failed at-bat: “The main priority right there is really to put the ball in play. I didn’t do it. I didn’t do it.”
Manuel said he considered replacing Ty Wigginton with Placido Polanco an inning earlier because Polanco is superior defensively, but he said he stayed with Wigginton because he wanted to keep Wigginton’s bat in the game. Wigginton committed a costly error in the 11th.
Lee said Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee told him that he was finished pitching after nine innings, but he successfully lobbied to stay in the game. “I told them I could keep pitching easy so he said, ‘Let me go talk to Charlie,’ and they decided to let me go back out there,” he said. “Before the 11th I tried it again but nothing happened.”
The Phillies dropped to 5-7 and find themselves in sole possession of last place in the National League East. They have not been in last place this late in the season since April 20, 2007.