DUNEDIN, Fla. - Cliff Lee said he had just about everything going for him Thursday -- except for Toronto slugger Joe Bautista.
"Take Bautista out of the game and it was really good," the Phillies left-hander after striking out seven over six innings in the Philadelphia Phillies' 2-0 loss to the Blue Jays. Bautista had a pair of doubles and scored Toronto's first run.
"He's a good hitter," Lee said. "He's really good at picking up sequences on what you're trying to do to him. Both the hits he got were really good pitches. I'll take both of them all day.
Lee survived the first inning, striking out the side, two strikeouts coming after Kelly Johnson singled and Bautista doubled to right. But in the fourth Bautista stole third after his leadoff double and Adam Lind singled him home.
Lee threw 75 pitches, 53 for strikes, over his six innings.
"I felt good. ... I felt I could've kept going easy but ... I want to build up and get headed in the right direction," he said. "I'm just trying to get my pitches where I want to be, to be able to throw any pitch in any count. I'm just locating my pitches. It's really that simple."
He said he was throwing for contact, not for strikeouts. But the swings and misses by the Blue Jays "says you've got some deception and, for the most part, throwing strikes that are hard to hit. I'm not trying to strike anybody out. It just happens."
The Blue Jays' other run came in the eighth when centre fielder Scott Podsednik misplayed Travis Snider's flyball and Kelly Johnson doubled to right.
Toronto's Brandon Morrow outpitched Lee, giving up one hit, a single by Carlos Ruiz with one out in the fifth, and a pair of second-inning walks. He threw 59 pitches in five innings.
"That's something that I set out to do, was to improve my pitches per inning and go deeper in games," Morrow said. "It's definitely encouraging, I had to go down to the bullpen to throw 15 more to get my pitch count up.
"I'm thinking through at-bats and watching the way (hitters are) reacting to balls and calling a little bit more of my own game," he said. "All positives."
The Phillies had four hits in all and got only two runners as far as third base en route to their third spring shutout loss.
"Every day you've got to hit," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said, sounding not the least bit perturbed. " I put stock in it every ... day -- spring training, Little League, it don't matter. Every day. That's why we come (to spring training). We don't come to get shut out, but it happens sometimes but we'll come back and try to do better."
Notes: Phillies third baseman Placido Polanco, out since Saturday with a sprained left ring finger, took batting practice and Manuel said he could be back in the lineup "over the next couple of days, hopefully two or three days. He's close." ... Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie may return to the lineup Saturday against the visiting Braves, manager John Farrell said. Lawrie is recovering from tightness in his left groin that caused him to leave last Friday's game against Tampa Bay. ... The Phillies will start Vance Worley (1-1, 1.80 ERA) Friday against Hiroki Kuroda (1-1, 4.00) and the visiting Yankees' split squad. ... Brett Cecil (3-0, 0.90) will start Friday for Toronto against David Price (0-0, 5.40) for the host Rays at Port Charlotte.
