I Heart Cliff Lee, part 2

Last October I wrote that Cliff Lee is the lefty version of Greg Maddux–a finesse pitcher with stuff that is not overpowering–but one who possesses incredible control of his pitches.  Last night in San Francisco Cliff Lee was truly in control, as he tossed his Major League leading 5th shutout this season, holding the Giants to only 7 hits while striking out 8.  In a rematch from last fall’s World Series, Lee faced Cody Ross in San Francisco, and this time Lee came out on top striking out Ross 4 times.  At one point during the game, Lee set down ten Giants in a row, displaying the killer command that has made Lee a deadly post season pitcher.

Now that the run towards October has begun, I look for Lee to reassert his dominance in the last two months of the season, and hopefully he will once again shine big in baseball’s biggest stage.  I know that Lee hasn’t been as great in the regular season as he is in the post season.  However, he takes his game to another level when the stakes are high.  His only great regular season came during his Cy Young season of 2008 when he won 22 games for an awful Cleveland Indians team.  In 2009, Lee was an ordinary pitcher in the regular season again, even after being traded to the Phillies he didn’t put great numbers.  But once October came, Lee began pitching in another level not seen since Bob Gibson in the late 1960′s.  Last season, Lee was once again a very ordinary pitcher in the regular season, only to carry the Rangers past the favored Rays and Yankees and into the World Series in October.  It took Cody Ross and the pitching of Tim Lincecum to finally hand Lee his first two post season defeats.  But even though he lost game 5 of the World Series, Lee was brilliant that night and no one can deny what a weapon he is to a team in the post season.  The fact that Lee will follow Halladay in the Phillies rotation, truly makes Philadelphia the team to beat in the National League.