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Cliff Lee has allowed one total run in four career starts against the Dodgers.
The Dodgers lost their third straight game Tuesday night, as Cliff Lee and the Phillies captured a 2-1 victory at Dodger Stadium. However, the Dodgers suffered another loss as well, as rookie shortstop Dee Gordon left the game in the eighth inning after aggravating his right shoulder injury on a swing. Gordon is likely to undergo an MRI exam, manager Don Mattingly said after the game.
In the eighth inning, Gordon was batting with a runner on first against Lee. After fouling off a ball to run the count to 0-2, Gordon winced and dropped his right arm to his side. He immediately left the game, walking off the field under his own power under the watchful eye of trainer Stan Conte. This seems like a better situation than Saturday night, at least, per Jimmy Bramlett of LAist:
Dee Gordon will have an MRI tomorrow on shoulder. But he told us that it felt a lot worse the other night.
Gordon initially injured his right shoulder in a rundown play on Saturday night against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix. Gordon ran down Kelly Johnson and dove to tag him, hurting the right shoulder after rolling over awkwardly. Gordon was out of the starting lineup Sunday and Monday, though he did enter Monday's game off the bench.
Gordon on the season is hitting .234/.248/.270 with 12 stolen bases in 30 games.
For more news and information on Dee Gordon and the Dodgers, be sure to read True Blue LA.
Cliff Lee was superb Tuesday night, both on the mound and at the plate, leading the Phillies to a 2-1 win over the Dodgers. Lee pitched eight scoreless innings, continuing his dominance over the Dodgers, and also hit a home run into the pavilion in right field that proved to be the difference in the game. Lee's mastery overshadowed a very good start from Ted Lilly.
Lee in his career has faced the Dodgers four times, counting the postseason. In those four starts, Lee has pitched 30 1/3 innings, and has allowed all of one run, to go along with four walks and 33 strikeouts. He has four wins. In his last 12 starts this season, Lee is 8-2 with a 1.86 ERA, with 15 walks and 87 strikeouts in 92 innings.
Lilly, aside from allowing the home run to Lee, pitched great. He lasted eight innings, his longest outing of the season, allowing two runs on six hits while striking out five. The home run to Lee was the second blast Lilly has allowed to a pitcher this season, as Daniel Hudson of Arizona took Lilly deep on July 17 in Phoenix.
The Dodgers managed to score a run off closer Ryan Madson in the ninth inning, but it was not enough as the Phillies won for the second time in as many nights. The Dodgers try to avoid a sweep, and a potential four-game losing streak, on Wednesday afternoon, as Chad Billingsley and Vance Worley face off in the series finale.
For more news and information on the Dodgers, be sure to read True Blue LA.
The good news for the Dodgers is that they got Roy Halladay out of the way Monday night and won't have to face him again this season. However, their task Tuesday night isn't much easier as Cliff Lee starts for the Phillies. The Dodgers go from facing the best pitcher in the National League to facing one who is anywhere from third to eighth-best in the league depending on your metric of choice.
Lee is 11-7 with a 2.96 ERA this season, looking to make his third consecutive World Series. Lee is second to Halladay in the NL with a 5.22 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Ted Lilly, starting for the Dodgers tonight, is ninth in the league with a 3.48 K/BB ratio, but that is really the only way these two pitchers are comparable this season.
Lilly is 7-11 with a 4.86 ERA this season, and is on pace to become the first pitcher in Dodgers franchise history to allow 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in the same season. Lilly has given up 24 homers, third in the NL, and 24 steals, second in the league, in his 23 starts this season.
Lilly and Lee matched up in Philadelphia on June 6, with the Phillies beating the Dodgers 3-1. Lee pitched seven scoreless innings, with 10 strikeouts, while Lilly took the loss by allowing two runs in six innings. That was the night Dee Gordon made his major league debut.
Tuesday night's 7:10 p.m. PDT game will be televised by KCAL. For more news and information on the Dodgers, or on Tuesday's game, be sure to read True Blue LA.
Cliff Lee Finds New Ways To Beat Dodgers
by Eric Stephen
It wasn't bad enough that Cliff Lee pitched eight scoreless innings Tuesday night against the Dodgers. After all, the Dodgers have come to expect such a thing from Lee, who has allowed one total run in four starts against them in his career. Lee beating the Dodgers with his left arm is normal, but him besting the Dodgers with the bat is highly irregular.
But Lee took things one step further Tuesday night, hitting a pitch from Ted Lilly into the right field pavilion at Dodger Stadium in the seventh inning to extend the lead for the Phillies. They needed it too, as the Dodgers scratched a run across in the ninth inning, but fell short in the 2-1 loss.
The good news for the Dodgers is that they don't have to face Lee anymore this season. So they've got that going for them. Which is nice.
For more news and information on the Dodgers, be sure to read True Blue LA.
Aug 09 11:03p