"Cliff Lee began Tuesday night's postgame interview session with a belch. Hopefully it tasted better than the pitching performance he delivered.

Lee took a beating from the second-worst hitting club in the majors. The Washington Nationals, who entered the game hitting .230 as a team, pounded the lefthander for seven hits and six runs in 5 1/3 innings en route to a 10-2 win. Second baseman Danny Espinosa homered twice off Lee. One was a three-run shot in the third inning.

"It boiled down to Espinosa hitting two big home runs for them," Lee said once his stomach settled. "You've got to give him some credit. He had a great game.

"They're professional hitters and if you throw pitches over the plate, they'll hit you."

Lee is 4-5 with a 3.94 ERA after 12 starts. He has allowed 17 hits, three of which have been homers, and 10 runs in his last two starts. That's not quite what the Phils expected when they lavished $120 million on Lee, but there's a lot of baseball to play and he will have plenty of chances to get right.

"He's in a little funk," manager Charlie Manuel said. "He'll be all right."

Manuel said Lee's command has been off. That much is obvious. He has walked 12 batters in his last four starts and is up to 19 walks in 80 innings. Last year he walked just 18 batters in 212 1/3 innings.

"You never want to walk anyone," Lee said. "Anytime I walk multiple guys I'm not happy. But those things happen. This is over now. I'd like to erase it from my memory like it never happened, but I can't. I've got to do a better job."

There was plenty of mound irony in this game. Lee had pitched shutouts in his previous two outings against the Nationals and was 3-0 lifetime against them, allowing just five runs in 19 innings."