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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, August 1, 2009

MLB: New Phillie Cliff Lee makes good first impression


By Andrew Baggarly
San Jose Mercury News

SAN FRANCISCO — Cliff Lee looked awfully comfortable in his new Philadelphia Phillies uniform.

At least, as comfortable as you can be on a night when temperatures dip into the low 50s and fog billows underneath the light standards at AT&T Park.
The Giants might as well have been hitting in a fog. They barely put any prints on the Phillies’ shiny new prize through nine innings as the Giants lost, 5-1, to snap a four-game winning streak.
Lee, the defending AL Cy Young Award winner, took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and shut out the Giants through the seventh.
He was one of the biggest names to change teams ahead of Friday’s non-waiver trade deadline. The rebuilding Cleveland Indians sent him to the Phillies for four prospects.
There is a danger in these deadline deals, though, and Lee is a cautionary tale. In 2002, Lee was one of three notable prospects the contending Montreal Expos sent to Cleveland for pitcher Bartolo Colon. The other two were Brandon Phillips and Grady Sizemore, who became solid stars, too.
But watching Lee dispatch the Giants with cold precision to match the chilly air, there couldn’t have been a dissatisfied Phillies fan in the house.
Lee (1-0) was nearly perfect through five innings — Ryan Garko, his Indians teammate up till a few days ago, worked an impressive, 12-pitch walk in the second — and the Giants didn’t have a hit until Juan Uribe dumped a double into the right field corner with one out in the sixth.
The left-hander made the pitches to escape, freezing pinch hitter Jesus Guzman with a fastball and breaking Randy Winn’s bat on a ground out.
Lee’s quick adjustment to the National League included those instances he pulled on batting gloves. He hit a single in the fourth inning and doubled off the wall in the ninth, matching his career output in one night.
Prior to joining the Phillies, Lee only hit in interleague games and hadn’t gotten more than 10 at-bats in any season. He entered with a 2-for-32 career performance at the plate.
The Phillies emphatically addressed their biggest need, adding a Cy Young winner to back their league-best offense. But did the Giants do the same?
Garko is 1-for-12 since joining the Giants. And Freddy Sanchez is taking the full 72 hours to report, allowing his sore left knee as much time as possible to heal. Sanchez must be added to the roster on Saturday, but he isn’t expected to start until Sunday at the earliest, Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said.
Lee’s hitting equivalent would’ve been a cleanup-quality bat like Victor Martinez, his former Indians teammate who was dealt to the Boston Red Sox in a deadline buzzer beater.
Lee still must contend with the hitter-friendly dimensions of Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park, but he couldn’t have picked a better venue to make his debut. When the Giants paid an interleague visit to Cleveland last year, Lee held them to four hits and a run over eight innings while setting a career high with 11 strikeouts.
Ryan Sadowski worked hard in four innings and showed improved stuff while keeping the lid on a Phillies lineup that threatened at every turn. Sadwoski pitched almost exclusively in traffic from the stretch, but Jayson Werth’s home run leading off the second inning was the only run he allowed.
Brandon Medders and Jeremy Affeldt broke open a 1-0 game in the seventh, when they combined for three walks and a hit batter. Werth’s two-run single was the final blow.
There was a fair amount of trepidation as Sadowski (2-4) prepared to face the Phillies. He was coming off a pair of horrific starts on the last road trip in which he allowed 13 hits and 11 earned runs in just 6 1/3 innings.
But there was little talk of pulling Sadowski from the rotation, and GM Brian Sabean’s last-minute shopping trip for a starting pitcher yielded no returns.
The Phillies, on the other hand, walked out with their baskets full.