Phils Hold on to Beat Padres for Sixth Straight

  Omar Daal and Jimmy Rollins talk about clutch hitting and the team's family atmosphere.

SAN DIEGO -- Whether it's the visit to his hometown, or the work put in over the winter with a special hitting coach one thing has become apparent over the past few days: Travis Lee has suddenly become an RBI machine.

When the Phillies sent ace pitcher Curt Schilling to Arizona in a deal that brought Lee to Philadelphia, the Phils brass hoped that the oft-maligned first baseman would return to the form he possessed during his rookie campaign in 1998. A two-year average of .236 and a trip back to the minors showed that Lee had a lot of work to do if he was going to be amongst the game's elite as had been pegged for him after finishing third in the Rookie of the Year voting in '98.

But his play after joining the Phillies in July of 2000 had a lot of people scratching their heads, and wondering if the guy from '98 and the guy wearing the pinstripes were one in the same. Lee ended up with just one homer and 14 RBIs in 56 games after the trade and declined to play winter ball after the brass thought it might help him hone his stroke.

But after another slow start that saw the first baseman register just one RBI in the Phils first 16 games, something seemed to click. Not only is Lee driving in runs, he's driving the ball and setting the table as evidenced in Wednesday night's 5-3 win over the San Diego Padres in Qualcomm Stadium.

	Travis Lee connects on his third homer in the last five games.

Lee smashed a second inning, two-run homer off starter Brian Tollberg to give the Phils the lead for good Wednesday night. Meanwhile, the picturesque, swinging lefty has belted three homers and seven RBIs in the last five games.

Not coincidentally, the Phillies have won all of those games while pushing their winning streak to six games. And since the winning streak started, Lee has raised his average from .229 to an almost lusty .272 by going 7-for-22.

"We're just playing baseball," the San Diego State product and California native, Lee, understated. "We're getting good hitting and fielding and that's been it. We're playing as a whole."

At the same time, another component of the Schilling deal -- perhaps even more maligned than Lee -- came through in the win. Last season Omar Daal lost 19 games, had an ERA over 6 and put together one of the worst statistical seasons of the post-war era. Wednesday night he pitched seven gusty innings, scattered nine hits and improved his record to 2-0.

"When they scored that first run in the first inning, I knew I had to let it go," Daal said. "I knew we were going to score some runs. When we got four runs, all I knew I had to do was keep it close and pitch as many innings as I could."

It also didn't hurt that Daal had good command over his pitches, walking just one batter in his seven-inning stint.

"All of my pitches -- my change-up, my fastball -- the location was great," Daal said. "I was able to keep the ball down and that was very important."

Daal fell behind in the first, allowing a run on an RBI double by Phil Nevin. He recovered to pitch five innings of shutout ball before giving up a bases loaded sacrifice fly to Damian Jackson in the seventh.

Meanwhile, the Phils bats gave Daal the support he needed. Lee's homer in the second made it 2-1 and Marlon Anderson's bases loaded single in the fourth made it 4-1.

Daal turned a 4-2 lead over to Ricky Bottalico in the eighth and the reliever, in turn, made the game a little too close for comfort. After retiring Nevin, Bubba Trammell ripped a line drive home run to left to pull the Padres to 4-3. Bottalico, who has been lights out most of the season, walked the next batter, recorded a strikeout and then gave up a pinch double to Dave Magadan to make it second and third with two outs.

Phils manager Larry Bowa turned to Cuban expatriate Eddie Oropesa to face pinch-hitter Mike Darr and got him to ground out. Jose Mesa pitched the ninth for his sixth save.

"We're doing all the little things, which leads to breaks," Bowa said. "We're moving runners around and playing hard. [Basically] the players are playing good."

The Phils will go for the four-game sweep Thursday afternoon at Qualcomm. After that, they head for Los Angeles for three games with the 11-10 Dodgers before coming home for six games against the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants.

They will also try to improve upon the National League's best record -- another little factoid that has people scratching their heads and wondering what's going on.

"We're getting clutch pitching, clutch hitting, clutch fielding, just all around good baseball," rookie Jimmy Rollins said. "We're doing what winning teams do. Just look at the Yankees. You get them down and then all of a sudden in the seventh or eighth inning they comeback and beat you. That's what's going on here right now."

Notes: Rickey Henderson walked in the ninth inning off Jose Mesa to set the major league walks record at 2,063. Henderson walked on a 3-1 pitch from the reliever leading off the ninth to take sole possession of the mark he had shared for a day with Babe Ruth.

Henderson tossed his bat aside and jogged to first. He shook hands with first base coach Alan Trammell and acknowledged the standing ovation from what remained of the crowd of 12,573. But Henderson, the all-time steals leader, was thrown out by catcher Mike Lieberthal trying to take second as Mike Colangelo struck out.

Henderson finished 1-for-4 with the walk, and also committed an error when he dropped Anderson's fly ball to left in the seventh.

"As a player, you go out to win ballgames," Henderson said. "It seems like the records follow if you go out and play hard, and you last a long time.

"The record is outstanding," he added. "It's great to be in a class with Babe Ruth and all that good stuff, but I'm the type of person that wants to win."

Henderson needs 83 hits for 3,000. ... The Phillies haven't won six in a row since July 1998. ... Rollins' 10-game hitting streak came to an end with his 0-for-5.

John R. Finger
ComcastSportsNet.com