Cliff_lee_pissing_pantsHe had to zip up early last night [thanks to @mojo_licious_ for adding pants to our steed]

I didn’t see the game last night because I was out buying a car. I requested the following on Twitter: Need descriptors for tonight’s game.

Here’s a sampling of the responses:

Pulling Lee was like being in the middle of pissing excellence then looking over and seeing some perv staring at your junk.

40 games above .500! This team is unbelievable

cliff lee… our little pony of excellence. I love him… im not afraid to say it.

is Ricky Bo drunk?

Cliff Lee.

cliff lee was cliff lee…that is all

the steed didn't get out of the gate once, but whatever. still a thoroughbred.

Efficient. Effective.

8 2/3 of pissing excellence, then Charlie went for Mad dog

'Business as usual'

Cliff Lee's piss stream of excellence was cut short by Charlie Fuqua. And we have 86 wins. Boom.

normal

hurricane irene..looks like its gonna end bad but turns out to be just fine

Predictable..Unicorn dominated and Pence pence'd

morning wood: The Clifton

him hitting a grounder to second and not running told the story.  He doesn't need to hit cause he can't be touched.

Lee's line: 8 2/3, 6H, 1BB, 7K. Madson .1 IP, S. Pence-HR. Howard, Utley- 1 RBI each. Score 3-0 Phillies.

Cliff Lee was boss and that's it.

And the winner:

When Cliff got pulled out of the 9th it was like the man pissed excellence for 8 2/3 innings then sneezed before finishing.

 

As Bill Simmons would say, these are my readers.

While reading through the game recaps and watching the highlights, I found a few nuggets that I’d like to share with you:

Todd Zolecki, Phillies.com:

Lee became just the third pitcher in baseball history to go 5-0 with an ERA under 1.00 in two separate months in the same season. He also went 5-0 with a 0.21 ERA in June. He joined Bob Gibson (1968), who went 6-0 with a 0.50 ERA in June and 6-0 with a 0.50 ERA in July, and Walter Johnson (1913), who went 5-0 with a 0.24 ERA in April and 6-0 with a 0.81 ERA in July.

 

Somewhere, a wizard is teaching math to a young tribesman, but the boy is perplexed by this mysterious absence of whole numbers.

 

David Murphy, Philly.com:

But Lee is a rare bird, even when compared with the two other Cy Young candidates in the rotation. Since June 1, he has held an opponent scoreless in eight of 15 starts, going 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA. Four of those games have come in his last five starts, a stretch in which he has allowed just two earned runs, three extra-base hits and eight walks while striking out 39 in 39 2/3 innings (the other 14 baserunners reached via single).

 

Eight of 15 starts scoreless, three extra-base hits. A pony paws at the sky.

 

ESPN.com:

He threw 30 two-strike pitches, but no more than eight with any one pitch. With two strikes, the Reds went 2-for-16 with seven strikeouts. 

He threw 49 pitches up in the strike zone or up out of the zone and the Reds put 10 of them in play, resulting in eight outs. In starts when he’s thrown at least 40 high pitches, he’s 6-0.  

 

It wasn’t all perfect little pony for Lee, however. In the fourth inning, he blatantly failed to run out a ground ball hit to second baseman Brandon Phillips.  

I gotta rip him here. If that were anyone else, especially Jimmy Rollins or Cole Hamels, the sky would be falling right now. He’s got to run that out… but I can’t be too mad. I just can’t. It's like when a kid lies about stealing from the cookie jar. Even though you have to discipline him, you can’t help but laugh at his cute little story. That’s Lee. I found myself watching that over and over again last night, and by the time I was done, he had me convinced that running would have just wasted some time. Whatever.

Lee talked about his outing, he wasn’t thrilled about being taken out mid piss:

Here are highlights of the performance and the game. Why Reds.com allowed us to embed the video above but Phillies.com won’t let us embed the highlights, I don’t know.

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