Phillies' Lee ready to 'get this thing going'

DUNEDIN, Fla. - When Cliff Lee pitches at this point of the spring, no news is good news. In that sense, the Phillies have to be thrilled with his uneventful outing against the Blue Jays.

The prized offseason free-agent acquisition pitched six ho-hum innings at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium yesterday and then pronounced himself eager to get the season started.

"I'm there. I've basically got one more simulated game or something like that and then it's go-time. It's really winding down pretty quick now so I'm ready and anxious to get to Philly and get this thing going," he said after the Phillies' 5-4 win improved their Grapefruit League record to 17-9.

Lee wasn't at his sharpest. He walked two batters while also allowing two runs on four hits and striking out two. He threw 90 pitches, 56 for strikes.

"I missed location a little more than I'd like, but I got away with it," he said. "There's always something you can get better at. I walked two guys. Obviously I don't want to do that. But it's a never-ending process. There's games it's going to be there nine out of 10 times. And there's games it's going to be six, seven out of 10. And those are the ones I've got to battle a little bit."

The important thing is that he thinks he's physically where he needs to be after being a little behind at the start of camp while recovering from a pulled muscle under his left arm.

"That's a non-issue at this point. I feel like I'm right where I need to be considering that last year I missed almost all of spring training," he said. "I'd definitely rather miss a week leading up into it. That's behind me. I feel like I'm right there with everyone else. I went six innings and felt like I could have kept going. At this point of the spring that's where I need to be and I feel good about that."

Said manager Charlie Manuel: "He threw the first four innings and he threw the ball pretty good. He's out there to get his work in and he's right on course. He pumped a lot of fastballs and some of them got hit, but that's to be expected."

Kyle Kendrick, who is expected to fill a middle-relief role when the season starts, pitched a hitless seventh, walking one and striking out one. Danys Baez gave up hits to the first three batters he faced in the ninth and was charged with two runs.

Ben Francisco, the designated hitter, strengthened his bid to start in rightfield, going 3-for-3 to raise his spring average to .365. John Mayberry, also competing for that spot, was 0-for-3 and fell to .278.

Raul Ibanez hit his third homer of the spring in the first inning, a three-run shot off Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero. *