Cliff Lee wins in his return to the Phillies

Cliff Lee didn't disappoint in his much-anticipated re-debut with the Phillies, leading the team to a 8-4 win over the Astros. While Lee wasn't perfect, he was dominant, striking out 11 Astros while allowing 4 hits and 3 runs in 7 innings of work. Seeing Lee doing work in a Phillies uniform again was everything we expected it would be as he threw strikes and confused hitters all game long.

The rumors of the demise of the Phillies offense were clearly exaggerated as the Phils rocked Astros starter Wandy Rodriguez, jumping on him for a pair of early runs before tacking on 5 more in the middle innings. It was a team effort with the bats as every Phillies starter got a hit and either scored a run or had an RBI. While they haven't hit the ball out of the park yet, most hitters seem to be making good contact, so it's only a matter of time before they crush one.

In injury news (ugh), Shane Victorino left the game after he got tangled up Ben Francisco. Early word was that Victorino had a sore calf with no information on whether he would miss any time due to the injury.

Two games into the season, the Phillies remain perfect. Sure, they are playing a pretty bad Astros team, but they are performing exactly as we expected, getting strong performances from their starting pitching and backing that up with timely hitting. The quest for 162-0 remains alive!
(AP PHOTO)