Philadelphia Phillies: Cliff Lee and His Self-Win Against the Dodgers

Well, obviously there's no such thing, unless you're Satchel Paige. 

But Cliff Lee came pretty close last night, going eight shutout innings, fanning 10 while scattering just four hits and walking two in the Philadelphia Phillies' 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Los Angeles. 

He also hit a solo home run. In other words, Lee did better against a rock-solid Ted Lilly than the Dodgers offense, which includes some professional hitters (and an MVP candidate) did against Lee.

There have been 20 other instances of a pitcher homering this season, including another one by Lee himself.  Here are the best pitching performances by homering pitchers:

Player	Team	Opponent	Date	IP	H	ER	K/BB
Cliff Lee	Phillies	Dodgers	Aug 9	8	4	0	10/2
Daniel Hudson	DBacks	Dodgers	Jul 17	9	5	1	3/0
Tim Hudson	Braves	Blue Jays	Jun 20	8	2	0	8/1
Zach Duke	Dbacks	Astros	May 28	7	3	0	4/1

So, I guess when Win/Loss record and run support comes up in Cy Young discussions, old school writers should just point to these guys and ask what they were complaining about.

Unfortunately for Felix Hernandez—who should really bat about third in the Mariners’ lineup—homering is not an option afforded to American League pitchers most of the time.