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Say what???

Yesterday, reader Vince astutely pointed out that one Lee (Clifton Phifer) will try to bridge the so-called Madison Bumgarner Gap tonight. You may be thinking it is some sort of weird ailment that only the Giants pitcher’s closest friends know about, but it is not. It is not.

The MBG, as they call it, was proposed by lunatic CSN Bay Area writer Ray Ratto, who said the Phillies signed Lee this past December to compete with the Giants’ rotation from top to bottom (fair enough), or, more specifically, to offset Madison Bumgarner…

The Philadelphia Phillies just signed Cliff Lee at the crypto-home-town-discount price of $120 million (well, OK, Philly was his hometown for a little while), for one reason and one reason only.

To close the Madison Bumgarner Gap.

The Phillies got beat in the National League Championship Series by The Battling You-Know-Whos because their hitters got outpitched by a team that didn’t really hit all that much. So what does Ruben Amaro go out and do with Dave Montgomery’s money?

Fix the problem.

 

Well, problem fixed. I’d argue that the acquistion of Hunter Pence is more likely to close any imagined gap between the Phillies and Giants, however. Plus, all this talk about gaps and San Fran is making me uncomfortable, so let’s just see what happens on the field tonight, eh? 

So far this season, Bumgarner is 6-10 with a 3.80 ERA. Lee is 10-7 with a 3.14 ERA. I’d say bridge construction is coming along nicely.

Cliff Lee vs. Madison Bumgarner, 10:15 P.M. EST. Keep closing that gap, Cliff.

UPDATE: Hunter Pence was on 610 today. The audio is after the jump. He calls Howard an absolute beast.