Weaver Shuts Out Tribe, But LaPorta is Finally Here!
August 20, 2009Where Are They Now… Beau Bell
August 20, 2009
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)
14 Comments
yeah, if he had to be traded anywhere, I’m happy he was traded to my #2 team, the Phillies. Maybe they’re my #1 team now, I dunno. I enjoyed watching him pitch on TV here, and I tell my Philly friends who adore him now, “you’re welcome” every chance I get. ;0)
I knew baseball players made a lot of money but I didn’t realize his contract was enough for him to be able to afford owning the entire NL. #themoreyouknow
The NL is more like AAAA than a major league. The Indians would be contenders every year over there.
How about the Tribe and Reds swipe leagues next year? Apparently we’d dominate the senior circuit.
@3…I agree. How can we move into the NL Central. Can we switch with the Brewers (they were an AL team once anyway).
And the garvy is that lee is also hitting over .300, better than half of our regulars. Who knew he was a better pinch hitting option than all of our bench? Funny thing is that were he pitching for us last night, he probably would have lost! Waiting for a CC vs. LEE world series matchup.
If we switched to the NL, what would Hafner do (other than collect big paychecks)?
“what would Hafner do (other than collect big paychecks)?”
Same as now. Nothing.
dump on the NL all you want, the world series champions reside over there. the phillies and cardinals are playing as good as anyone right now except for maybe the yankees
He is unbeLEEvable! And we in Philly will not live HAPPyLEE ever after – signed, one happy, grateful Phillies fan
Boom……I repeat, what was the Indians record vs. the NL this year? Still waiting.
Cmon……the Tribe is in the weakest division in baseball as it is, enough with the excuses. .500 ball puts you in contention for the division.
As for Cliff Lee……..no worries, we’ll be adding Jason Donald and Louie Marson’ to next year’s uber bench.
Cleveland Indians vs. NL (2009):
5-13
Contention every year……….ummm, ok. AAAA????????
The cream of the NL, LA and PHI in my opinion, are obviously legit with AL type lineups. The competition, however, does not compare and it’s laughable how well almost every single AL player who converts over to the NL seems to tear it up. We saw the Cardinals here in June and while they have added a few bats, their lineup was not impressive at all and we shut them down pretty easily save for Pujols. If Smoltz goes into the NL and tears it up, then I do not see how NL fans have any argument at all. The bottom of the lineups (excluding the pitcher) and the last 5 or so guys off the bench on most NL teams expose how thin the league really is. A seven game sample, e.g. the World Series, is not a valid argument and I’ve already stated that a team like Philly or LA can hold up with any AL team. The depth is what is embarrassing.
@#3…
Its seems lately that the Tribe is the AAAA affiliate to the rest of the Majors…
And I agree with #9, as long as the Championship is over there, they are the best.