Any Phillies fans that were disappointed in the Cliff Lee acquisition (we wanted Roy Halladay!!) can quietly sit down now. Sit down like nearly every member of the Arizona Diamondbacks did last night thanks to Cliff tossing his second complete game since heading to Philadelphia. If you did not get a chance to catch any of the highlights, it may have been for the better of your Indians fandom.
Lee took a no-hitter in to the sixth inning. He finished the game in about two and a half hours. Fanned 11 – a career best. Of his 106 pitches, only 25 were balls. Needless to say, he walked nary a D-Back. And he did this all in front of the largest crowd of the season at more than 45,000 Phillie fans.
Since the trade that sent Lee out of Cleveland, he has mustered an ERA of 0.82 with his 4-0 record. In his four starts, he has struck out 34 batters. And to make things worse, he had more hits last night (two) than our entire 1-2-3 hitters did combined (one). And he didn’t do it alone as the Philadelphia lineup has been able to give him something that the Indians version could not: Runs.
“This is a potent offense,” Lee said. “There’s no denying that. Any time you get a four, five-run lead, it’s pretty good.”
Pairing a pitcher like Lee with a lineup that features four players with at least 25 home runs and 70 RBI (and five players with an OPS north of .830) will usually provide a favorable outcome.
I just want my Cy Young/Lee bobblehead to arrive already.
Checking in on the rest of The Traded:
- Victor Martinez is batting .333/.410/.565 with four home runs and 13 RBI since joining the Red Sox (69 at-bats). Yeah, and he was going to be their “back-up” for David Ortiz and Mike Lowell. Right.
- In 11 appearances for the Rockies, Rafael Betancourt has thrown nine and two-thirds innings. He has struck out 10, walked two and has a 0.00 ERA with a WHIP of 0.72. His OBA is .152. Rafy Right has somehow managed to improve his ratios despite moving to the humidor in Colorado. It can’t just be the NL, can it?
- Mark DeRosa has not been as fortunate in terms of contact, but his power has been very real. He’s hitting .225/.277/.450 for the Cardinals and has been fighting the injury bug on more than one occasion. He does, however, have eight home runs and 15 RBI in only 33 at-bats. Not a bad HR:AB ratio.
- Ryan Garko has yet to hit a home run in his 62 at-bats for the Giants, as he is putting up a clip of .242/.319/.290. It is not often that you will find a first baseman with a higher OBP than SLG, but such is the case for Garko since he moved to San Francisco.
- Carl Pavano is 1-1 with the Twins, sporting an ERA of 5.00 in three appearances. He has struck out 15 and walked six in 18 innings pitched. While the numbers are not the greatest, Pavano has worked through the seventh inning on two of his three appearances.
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(image via Flickr/stksave27)
