Lee and Phillies shut out Cardinals

ST. LOUIS - It's official now.

Cliff Lee is pitching like the celebrated ace the Phillies signed him to be.

Fans may have suspected as much during the last homestand, when he strung together three straight superb performances, allowing one run and 13 hits in 24 innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, and Florida Marlins.

But in order for Lee to truly prove he was in domination mode again, he had to duplicate those efforts on the road.

Consider it done. Lee held the St. Louis Cardinals to six hits in nine scoreless innings Wednesday night, and the result was a 4-0 Phillies victory that put them in position to complete a three-game sweep before they return home for an interleague series with Oakland on Friday.

It was the second straight shutout for Lee. The last Phillies pitcher to do that was the late Cory Lidle in 2004. Lee, while making a strong pitch that he belongs on the National League all-star team, lowered his overall ERA to 2.87. He is 4-0 with a 0.27 ERA this month.

"He's definitely good enough to be on the all-star team," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.

Lee threw a career-high 126 pitches and 86 of them were strikes. The first seven, however, were balls, and the lefthander reacted by angrily asking the umpire for a new baseball.

"I was just hoping it was the ball," he said. "I don't know what was wrong with me. I couldn't make the adjustment. The first inning I was lucky to get three outs. I think I only threw three strikes in that inning in 11 or 12 pitches."

He made the adjustment and ended up with his third complete game of the season.

"That's real gratification, throwing nine innings," Lee said after taking a series of souvenir balls to his family and friends who came to the game from his home state of Arkansas. "Back in the day every pitcher did it every time, so it's not impossible nowadays. Every time I want to throw the whole game, but there are a lot of things you have to do to make that happen."

Lee went into the game with a 1-4 record and 5.35 ERA on the road compared with a 6-1 record and 1.88 ERA at Citizens Bank Park, but the venue did not matter on this night. According to Lee, it never matters.

"That's just somebody breaking down the stats and nitpicking things," he said. "It doesn't matter to me whether I pitch at home or on the road."

With Lee in control on the mound, the Phillies needed only a little offense, and they got all they needed when Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard homered off Cardinals righthander Kyle Lohse in the top of the fourth inning.

Rollins led off the inning by sending a sinking, 2-2 change-up over the right-field wall for his seventh home run of the season and his fourth this month. Howard followed a one-out single by Chase Utley by sending a 1-0 sinker into the left-field seats for his 16th home run of the season. It was the ninth home run for the St. Louis native in the new Busch Stadium. No visiting player has hit more home runs here.

Howard, of course, has dominated the Cardinals during his career. With his two hits Wednesday, he raised his career average to .365 with 16 home runs and 49 RBIs against St. Louis. June has also become a good month for Howard. He is hitting .300 with four home runs and 19 RBIs.

"It's home," said Howard, who had 20 family and friends in attendance. "I think it's a little bit different when a guy gets to go back home and play where it all began. You're just a lot more comfortable when you come home."