"The lesson last night was simple: With the Phillies' offense in its current state, there can be no off nights, no pitching performances that are anything short of excellent. Hold the opposition to fewer than three runs, and things are looking pretty good. Anything more than that is a recipe for defeat.

Cliff Lee wasn't bad last night. In fact, for the most part, he was sharp. He struck out 12. He walked only one. He allowed five hits. Problem is, two of those hits went for home runs, and that was all the scoring Arizona needed to notch a 4-0 victory and snap the Phillies' five-game winning streak.

"Lee pitched good," manager Charlie Manuel said. "If you don't score, you don't win. That's about it."

The Phillies haven't scored more than four runs in 14 straight games. They didn't come close last night. After Placido Polanco hit a double to leftfield with one out in the first inning, it was more of the same. Strikeouts by Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard ended the inning, and the Phillies managed only two more hits - both singles - in the final eight frames.

The good news is that the Phillies are 15-7, still two wins away from tying a club record for victories in the month of April, still very much poised to spend the rest of the season as the leading contender for the National League title.

But it is getting hard to ignore the numbers.

Raul Ibanez went 0-for-3 and is now hitless in his last 21 at-bats. The one positive is that he hit a couple of balls hard.

"He swung the bat better," Manuel said.

Wilson Valdez is 2-for-his-last-22 and has not hit a ball in play out of the infield since April 18, a stretch of 16 consecutive at-bats.

Carlos Ruiz, Jimmy Rollins...everyone, it seems, is struggling. Everyone, that is, except for Polanco, who had two of the Phillies' three hits against Diamondbacks righthander Ian Kennedy, who notched a shutout in a game that lasted only 2 hours, 4 minutes.

Lee, meanwhile, allowed a two-run home run to Chris Young in the third inning, a solo home run to Gerardo Parra in the fifth, and another run in the sixth."