Phillies not talking about Lee-Victorino confrontation
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
Phillies not talking about Lee-Victorino confrontation
Bob Brookover, Inquirer Baseball Columnist
ST. LOUIS -- If it's true that winning cures all, then the Phillies' 5-3, 10-inning win over the St. Louis Cardinals Friday night certainly served as a nice Band-Aid for the controversy that stirred in the visiting team's dugout at Busch Stadium.
Center fielder Shane Victorino and right fielder Hunter Pence each lost balls in the twilight during the bottom of the fourth inning, leading to a run that gave St. Louis a 3-2 lead.
When Cliff Lee returned to the dugout at the end of the inning, the Comcast SportsNet cameras caught the pitcher in the midst of a heated exchange with Victorino.
"They had a little heated words, that's all right," manager Charlie Manuel said after the Phillies won for the second straight night in St. Louis and their third game overall. "Baseball is baseball. It's good sometimes. There's nothing wrong with that. It was no big deal."
Manuel would not reveal the context of the exchange between Lee and Victorino.
"They just didn't see eye to eye on something," Manuel said. "That stays in here."
Lee, winless in seven starts despite a 2.82 ERA, also refused to discuss the incident.
"It's going to stay between us," he said. "I'm not going to talk about it."
Victorino waved off reporters seeking comment.
The bottom of the fourth started with the Phillies' center fielder immediately losing a David Freese fly ball in the twilight sky. The ball caromed off the top of the center-field wall and by the time Victorino retrieved it, Freese was on his way to third with a triple.
Yadier Molina followed with an RBI single that gave St. Loius a 3-2 lead after they had been down 2-0.
Matt Adams followed with a routine fly ball to right field that Pence could not pick up. The ball dropped in for a single, but Victorino kept the situation from getting worse by gunning down Molina at third base for the first out of the inning.
"I didn't see either one," Pence said. "I didn't see his or mine. It's just that twilight time. There's a good 10 minutes a night where the ball and the sky look the same."
Lee escaped without allowing another run and ended up pitching seven strong innings. He was asked if he was frustrated by the two balls that got lost in the twilight.
"It happens," he said. "Obviously when you have two in one inning, it's tough to see out there. You don't see that very often. It was just a fluky kind of inning. Fortunately, we were able to overcome it and win the game."
Buy Phillies tickets 
I'm not a big fan of the Flailin' Hawaiian, he's good, very good defender, but infuriating with his thoughtless at bats and mental lapses. But not his fault on those fly balls. Frustration for 33, probably on behalf of most of the starters. But a little edge could help this team, who seem too often to follow the Jroll too cool act. Get a edgy, and take it out on the NL.
On the other hand, the offense does seem to be figuring out how to work without the Big Piece. They are still going to struggle against better pitchers, but they are persistent. Now if Doc can get the ball down in the zone, and Cliff can get a win, the season can begin in earnest.
Anyone know how bad the Worley situation is? is he done for the year?— Eephus- How many games has Shane won for Cliff Lee with great fielding plays ? Vic doesn't get in Lee's ear when he's getting hit around ...— mortt1956
- Cliff lee is frustrated with the lack of run support we are frustrated with lee for blowing our playoff series against the cards in game two last fall for 25million we expect better— the commodore
- I think Rollins could become a twilight pinch hitter extraordinaire.— dasher
- Is one of these guys the guy who swung at the first pitch with the bases loaded after the last guy walked on 4 pitches? O Yeah.. I remember him. He also threw home when there was no play and let another runner get into scoring position. Yeah..that's the guy. Honoluluwackie..The Doctor of bone!!!— stoky
- The outfielders' twilight vision was still better than the umpires' daylight vision.— Disco Dave
- Poor Cliffy. Anybody get in the face of the 25 million dollar pitcher when he ended our season last year by blowing a 4 run lead in the playoffs? Karma, baby— mikeyboy
- Cliff should yell some more. Knock over a table, or throw some chairs or something. This team is a veteran team now, and when a veteran team underperforms that is exactly when the yelling should begin. They won the game too so I think it did something. If youve got a bunch of rookies that need to learn thats when you dont need to yell. But guys who have been in the league like 7 years and are just under-performing deserve to be yelled at. Charlie is probably better with younger players since hes so laid back so I dont think he yells enough. This team could use a fiery 2nd in command or something and instead they have Rich Dubee. That will get them going. With a veteran team like this you need someone who is going to do something to motivate them, and if its Cliff Lee yelling at Victorino, fine.— CharlieGarner25
- When guys get on each other it means they care. That's a good thing, and anyone who has ever played a sport knows heated words are sometimes exchanged in the middle of a game. It's good for everyone involved as long as guys don't sulk, hold grudges and/or lose respect for each other, which I don't think will be the case with either Vic or Lee. They don't remind me of that type of player. Now if Scott Rolen was involved it would be a different thing.— Sam Crow
- Let all 25 Phils have a barroom brawl as long as there is a W at the end of the game. The '93 Phils had their share of disputes too. It shows they want to win more than they want to follow their stocks in the Wall Street Journal. Give me feisty anyday.— gotedge
- Gotta like the fire in Lee's belly. Right or wrong to chew out Shane, at least he wants to win badly. That is awesome. We need more of that attitude. He's a scrapper.— Poppys
- Shane is probably one of the best center fielders today.He hustles, runs down fly balls,and would go through the fence to catch one.Can`t blame him for losing the ball in the twilight.— butch61
- Shane is probably one of the best center fielders today.He hustles, runs down fly balls,and would go through the fence to catch one.Can`t blame him for losing the ball in the twilight.— butch61
- Shane is probably one of the best center fielders today.He hustles, runs down fly balls,and would go through the fence to catch one.Can`t blame him for losing the ball in the twilight.— butch61
- Victorino is not stupid or lazy. He has ADD. Sometimes, they have difficulty being focused and lose sight of what is going on. Cut the guy some slack. He is a WFC.— laser5
