Lee silences Dodgers, Phillies romp to 2-to-1

PHILADELPHIA – Cliff Lee outpitched the Dodgers, and Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth provided the big swings early as the Philadelphia Phillies cruised past Los Angeles, 11-0, Sunday for a 2-1 lead in the National League championship series.

Lee provided another brilliant playoff start, striking out 10 and allowing only three hits in eight innings.

Howard hustled for a triple, Werth homered and the Phillies led 6-0 by the second inning. Howard made two headfirst dives during the romp - the big slugger has an RBI in all seven of Philadelphia’s playoff games this year, a record streak in a single postseason.

Coming off the most-lopsided win in their postseason history, the defending World Series champion Phillies will try to move closer to a return in Game 4 Monday night. Joe Blanton starts against the Dodgers’ Randy Wolf, who hasn’t pitched since the opener of the division series against St. Louis.

Howard had three RBIs, including his two-run triple in the first. Werth followed that with a two-run homer, and that was more than enough for Lee.

Lee gave up a pair of singles to Manny Ramirez and one to Ronnie Belliard. He hit a single in the eighth and scored on Shane Victorino’s three-run homer. Chad Durbin relieved to begin the ninth and pitched a hitless inning.

Lee is 2-0 with an 0.74 ERA in three postseason starts, giving the Phillies exactly what they expected when they acquired him from Cleveland in late July.

After wasting a brilliant performance by Pedro Martinez in Game 2, the Phillies jumped on Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda right from the start.

Victorino’s home run to deep right field put an emphatic exclamation mark on the rout. The shot also made the Phillies the city’s highest-scoring team of the day – the Eagles lost 13-9 to the Oakland Raiders.   (AP)