Cliff Lee: "Tonight was more of a depiction of what we are"
Cliff Lee approves of the team-wide effort and calls on everyone to do their part in the absence of Roy Halladay.
Five nights earlier, the Phils had just suffered their second straight deflating loss to the Cleveland Indians and Cliff Lee was frustrated.
"We have to have a little more pride than that," Lee said, "and figure out a way to at least get back into games and make it somewhat competitive."
Lee's next start came in another visiting ballpark after another pair of back-to-back, one-sided defeats. The lowly Marlins shut out the Phillies on Saturday and blew them out on Sunday.
But they flew across country on Sunday night and put together one of their most complete efforts of the season on Monday at AT&T Park in San Francisco.
Six of the eight starting position players had at least one hit - and the other two had sacrifice flies - as the Phils beat the Giants 6-2. Lee won for the first time in five starts by going eight strong.
He allowed two runs on five hits, while striking out six and walking no one.
"That's more of what we are right there, no doubt," Lee said. "We definitely haven't been playing up to our potential. We've been really far short of that to be honest with you. I think tonight's more of a real depiction of what we are. Yeah, I expect us to pick it up a little bit. We've kind of underperformed this first month, and it's time for us to turn it on. Tonight was a good start in that direction."
The win came on the same day the Phillies played two-time Cy Young Award winner and unofficial pitching staff leader Roy Halladay on the disabled list. Halladay will have his ailing right shoulder checked by a doctor in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Halladay turns 36-years-old in a week. He's thrown over 40,000 pitches in his career.
Lee and the Phillies realize the news could be bad regarding Halladay. But they also realize they must press on regardless.
"Obviously, we hope that it's not as big of a deal as I think everyone might think it might be," Lee said. "Hopefully it's something minor and he's able to get back. If not, what can you do? You still gotta go out there and grind and try to give the team a chance to win every time you take the mound, no matter who the guy is. Obviously he's been one of the best pitchers over the past 10-12 years in all the big leagues. Missing a guy like that is definitely gonna be tough on us but injuries happen. You don't want it to happen. Definitely not him. We all know that.
"That's something that happens. He's pitched a long time, fired a lot of bullets. I hope it's not major and it's something minor and he's back in a couple weeks and jumps back on board. But until then, we just gotta keep on grinding. Even if he's gone forever, there's nothing we can do. We gotta go out there and continue to pitch and try to give the team a chance to win every time you take the mound. All of us."