NEW YORK — Cliff Lee's pitching. Ryan Howard's power. The Philadelphia Phillies appear to have the pieces in place for another World Series run.
Lee, the former Arkansas Razorbacks pitcher from Benton, won his eighth consecutive start and Howard hit his 33rd and 34th home runs and drove in five runs, giving him 104, as the Phillies beat the New York Mets 6-2 on Monday.
Lee (5-0) did not allow an earned run in seven innings, lowering his ERA with the Phillies to 0.68 in five outings since he was acquired in a July 29 trade with the Cleveland Indians. His record is 12-9 overall.
"He makes us real good," Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel said. " We've got some top-notch left-handed pitchers. I kind of like that. Definitely the best rotation that we've had since I've been here."
Lee, last year's American League Cy Young Award winner, yielded six hits and no walks and struck out five.
"It was already an unbelievable team before I got here. That's made it easy for me," Lee said. "It's been a pretty smooth transition."
The Phillies said Lee became the first pitcher to win his first five starts with the team since Marty Bystrom in September 1980, according to research by the Elias Sports Bureau.
Philadelphia took the final three in a four-game series and won for the 11th time in 13 games overall, increasing its NL East lead to seven games over the idle Atlanta Braves.
The defending World Series champions are 40-21 on the road, the best mark in the majors. They have won 14of their past 20 away from home.
Howard has four consecutive seasons with at least 30 home runs and 100 RBI. The only other Phillies player to accomplish that was Hall of Famer Chuck Klein from 1929-1932.
Howard gave Philadelphia a 3-0 lead in the first with a home run after leadoff batter Shane Victorino was hit by a pitch and Chase Utley walked with one out. Howard hit a two-run home run in the third.
BREWERS 7, NATIONALS 1
Ryan Braun hit a two-run home run to jump-start a six-run sixth inning and Jody Gerut had a home run and three RBI as Milwaukee beat host Washington. Nationals starter Collin Balester (1-4) started the sixth with a 1-0 lead. Frank Catalanatto led off with a double then Braun hit a first-pitch fastball deep into the left-field seats. Balester gave up a single to Prince Fielder and walked Casey McGehee. Reliever Jason Bergmann walked Mike Cameron and gave up an RBI single to Jason Kendall. Ron Villone came in and allowed a two-run single to Gerut. Felipe Lopez got an RBI when he hit into a fielder's choice.
American League RAYS 12, BLUE JAYS 7 Tampa Bay beat Toronto and Roy Halladay (13-7) to end a four-game road losing streak. Halladay allowed 8 runs - 7 earned - 12 hits and 1 walk with 8 strikeouts in 6 innings to lose for the third time in five starts against the Rays this season. The Rays' Ben Zobrist was 3 for 4 with a home run and 2 RBI. Rod Barajas hit a grand slam for the Blue Jays.
INDIANS 10, ROYALS 6 Travis Hafner hit a threerun home run and RBI double and Luis Valbuena hit a three-run home run as Cleveland handed host Kansas City its fifth consecutive loss.
RED SOX 12, WHITE SOX 8
Jose Contreras (5-12) made a two-out error on a slow roller that led to six runs in the third as host Boston beat Chicago. The third started with a single by Alex Gonzalez, a flyout by Jacoby Ellsbury and a popout by Dustin Pedroia. Then Contreras walked Victor Martinez and hit Kevin Youkilis with a pitch, loading the bases. David Ortiz grounded the ball down the first-base line and Contreras hurried to field it before it went foul. He reached down as the ball was about three-quarters of the way to the base but failed to pick it up and the slow-footed Ortiz trotted past him as Gonzalez scored. Boston added five runs on a bases-loaded walk to Jason Bay, a wild pitch and a three-run home run by Mike Lowell that made it 7-4 and chased Contreras.
TWINS 2, ORIOLES 1
Scott Baker (12-7) allowed 1 run and 4 hits over 7 innings as host Minnesota beat Baltimore for its fourth consecutive victory. Jason Kubel drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly after Alexi Casilla tripled and scored on a wild pitch from Baltimore rookie Chris Tillman in the sixth.
Monday's games NATIONAL LEAGUE Philadelphia 6, N.Y. Mets 2 Milwaukee 7, Washington 1 San Francisco at Colorado, (n) AMERICAN LEAGUE Tampa Bay 12, Toronto 7 Boston 12, Chicago White Sox 8 Minnesota 2, Baltimore 1 Cleveland 10, Kansas City 6 Detroit at LA Angels, (n) Oakland at Seattle, (n)
Sports, Pages 18 on 08/25/2009