Lee's Red Hot Bat

It's been a while since I've written a Phillies recap, but it's like riding a bike, let's get to it.

The Philadelphia Phillies (31-19) won the series finale today over the Cincinnati Reds by a score of 10-4 behind the bat of Cliff Lee. Yes, that Cliff Lee.

Lee got the win for the Phils today going eight innings, allowing four earned runs on ten hits while striking out eight to pick up his fourth win on the season. But the story was about Lee's day at the plate.

At the plate, Lee was one of the Phils' biggest contributors going 2-4 at the dish and driven in three runs, included a game breaking ground rule in the bottom of the sixth inning which broke a 4-4 tie.

Lee has always been enamored with the prospect of hitting in the National League and has said on many occasions that he enjoys the opportunity to get his hands a little dirty and he showed why today.

The Phils were able to take three out of four against the struggling Reds and have seemed to right the ship after losing five of six games in one stretch.

Philadelphia is also seeing a spark in run production after a nine game stretch where the Phillies couldn't score more than three runs in a game, the Phillies have scored three or more runs in their last four against Cincinnati, a team not starved for starting pitching.

The Phillies didn't look very tired at all after a 19 inning marathon on Wednesday night which saw the two teams playing past 1am.

It has also a great sign for the Phillies to see Raul Ibanez continue of his hot streak at the plate, as he hit a three-run home run today and has been hitting at a .340 clip since his 35 at-bat hit less streak.

Chase Utley also chipped in with his first home run of the season since returning to the team on Monday.

This is a team that badly needed a shot in the arm offensively have seemed to wake up, thanks in part to a guy that couldn't buy a hit a month ago and a second baseman who wasn't on the team for 95% of the season.

It's safe to say that things are looking up for the Phillies and sometimes we forget that this team has locked down the top spot in the NL East basically from the beginning until now even with the constant struggles and injuries.

The Phillies are now looking ahead to a weekend series up in New York against the self-imploding Mets. Roy Oswalt will take to the mound tomorrow night for the Phils and will be opposed by Chris Capuano. First pitch tomorrow night is set for 7:05pm.

Photo Courtesy US Presswire

Hustle Points: What were the Lakers thinking?

Mike Brown was officially hired as the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers yesterday and somewhere Kobe Bryant is not happy.

The Los Angeles Lakers suffered a terrible collapse in the second round of the NBA playoffs when they lost to the NBA Finals bound Dallas Mavericks, the result of that series saw a change in philosophy from the Lakers front office.

It was a rumor that if the Lakers went to the Finals this postseason, then when former coach Phil Jackson retired, it looked like a lock that assistant Brian Shaw would be his successor.

Thanks to that miserable sweep in the conference semifinals, the Lakers may now be forever screwed...or maybe just screwed until they get rid of the guy.

Mike Brown has been all polished up the last couple days on ESPN, maybe due to his employment there for the last couple months, but there hasn't been much talk about why Brown was fired and what happened to the Cavaliers on his watch.

Yeah, it's easy to look at the fact his teams in Cleveland won and he has one of the best winning percentages as a coach in NBA history, but it isn't exactly rocket science to win with LeBron James in the Eastern Conference during the years where the East was a "rebuilding" conference.

The true test of a coach is playoff effort, playoff results, having the respect of a team and having authority and just overall looking like a coach. Mike Brown did very few of those things during his time as a head coach.

I get the fact that he's a great defensive mind, then hire him as an assistant. There are numerous defensive geniuses that are head coaches and they dot the sidelines in the NFL. Being a great defensive mind doesn't make an automatic great head coaching option.

Mike Brown is a good guy and a good basketball guy, but he will have to completely renovate his coaching image after being quit on in Cleveland and fired. Kobe Bryant is one of the most demanding players in the NBA and if Brown doesn't get his respect from the jump, then Brown could be in for another rocky tenure as a head coach.

Photos Courtesy The Associated Press

Top 5 NBA Playoff Storylines

The NBA playoffs have been eye opening and revealing in many ways for many teams. With all the happenings over the last couple months, I feel as if these are the stories that are the most intriguing.

5) The Re-emergence of Dirk Nowitzki for the Dallas Mavericks: Going into this postseason Dirk was an also-ran superstar that everyone knew, but nobody feared. In many minds, he's the NBA's gentle giant. In one postseason, he was able to shape and form a completely new identity and is now receiving praise that he hasn't heard since his MVP season.

One thing that people continuously forget about Dirk (me included) is how hard he is to stop when he fully utilizes his entire moveset on the floor and there are shots of his that are completely unguardable, like that one legged fade away jumper. All of us are guilty of forgetting just how dominant Dirk can be and he also proved just how clutch he can be when he hit that huge three point dagger last night.

4) The Rehabilitation of Zach Randolph: Zach has always had potential and the size to be a superstar and he's even had the numbers to be considered a "star", but for whatever reason there was no floor presence with Randolph. That all changed this postseason when he became a certifiable post demon, when he's as focused as he was this postseason we all saw just how tough he is to guard and how much he stuffs the box score.

The Memphis Grizzlies went from being forgotten to being the next chic pick behind the Oklahoma City Thunder as the "next" team in the Western Conference and a big reason for that is the rise of Randolph and the way he's captivated the city of Memphis, and it's made for a great story on Beale Street.

3) The Apparent Fall of the Orlando Magic: The Orlando Magic are one of a few Eastern Conference powers and are a perennial playoff contender, but they always seem to fall short and it's been a gradual drop since the year they made the NBA Finals. This year, they lost in the first round to the Atlanta Hawks...wait what? They lost to a team they completely obliterated one year prior.

On top of that, it becoming clear that the team is beginning to respond less and less to coach Stan Van Gundy and it's clear he was sick of them by the end of the season with regard to some of his postgame press conference comments. And of course there is that elephant in the room by the name of Dwight Howard who seems closer to leaving by the day. It doesn't look like the Magic will continue their run as a top four seed in the East.

2) The Heat are who we hoping they weren't: Miami is making a believer out of all the disbelievers and they're doing it in impressive fashion, dispatching of the Sixers and Celtics in five and they are ready to do the same to the Chicago Bulls. The only controversy this postseason has been one that has occasionally popped all season with the drama surrounding the question of who's the closer.

Wade and James have proven that when those two guys are on, it appears that you can have only two guys dominating and win playoff games which is something I didn't think they would be able to do and now Chris Bosh has decided to play some basketball and earn his money and as a result, the Heat have become even more dangerous and are destined for the NBA Finals.

1) The curious case of Derrick Rose: Following D-Rose this postseason has been nothing short of illuminating. He's seen all types of criticism and praise and I think if you look at the beginning of the postseason to now, the response to his play is trending downward in a aggressive fashion. There are people that are attacking Rose's style of play, late shot selection, intelligence, shooting percentage, etc.

Rose has been one of the most discussed MVP's in the postseason in a long time and there have been talks of whether Rose even deserved the MVP. My thoughts on this will be brief, Rose is one of the most impressive point guards in the NBA today and deserves more credit than what he's gotten and while he may not prove it in this series vs. the Heat, Rose is going to be one of the focal point's of the NBA for years to come.

Photos Courtesy of  CBSSports.com and Getty Images

Back and Better Than Ever!

It's been a while since I've patrolled these What's ill pages, I had to go graduate and start looking for real work and I've missed a lot of great things and I've missed this site. To have this great canvas to express my opinion, it was missed.

With the Phillies game last night going 19 innings, which was unbelievable and the NBA playoffs inching towards the Finals and Mike Brown getting hired as Lakers coach, there's a buffet of material for me to devour and excuse while I dig in and welcome back to What's ill.