Cliff Lee

Links (14)

This Week's Links (4/21-4/25)
Published 4/25/2008 by Vegas Watch at Vegas Watch
Cliff Lee's ERA+ currently sits at 1563. Update: Unfiltered: "Since 1956, do you know how many pitchers had made three straight starts with 8+ innings, Here's that list again, sorted by last name: Lee, Cliff." Apparently, the key to a successful baseball team is figuring out which 42 games are the "important ones". 20 years ago, Crash Davis already understood ...

Bronx Banter: Cleveland Indians
Published 4/25/2008 at Baseball Toaster
... The Wednesday rainout that forced yesterday's double header pushed Fausto Carmona (Wednesday's scheduled starter) out of this series as he'd now be on short rest on Monday and will thus start Tuesday instead. Carmona is still a powerful groundballer, but he's posted a troubling 1:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio thus far. Still, he's survived it to go 3-1 with 2.89 ERA. One or the other will have to give, but I'd guess it'll be the wacky peripherals. Finally, yesterday's other starter, Cliff Lee , has been flat out dominant thus far, but will also miss the Yankees. Consider these two ...

Three straights great games
Published 4/26/2008 by Tangotiger (tangotiger@yahoo.com) at THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball
Rany says: Since 1956, do you know how many pitchers had made three straight starts with 8+ innings, I thought maybe his definition was too strict, that maybe I can loosen it up a bit.  After all, there have been many great back-to-back great games pitched.  But, not 3?  So, I asked B-r.com for pitchers with at least 8 innings and at most 4 ...

Chatterbox
Published 4/26/2008 by Jay at The Futility Infielder
... : Tommy (OPS,FL): Back when the Rays were shopping Delmon Young there appeared to be some talk of Young for Cliff Lee, but nothing came of it. Knowing what the Rays got in return and Lee's hot start which deal would have been better for the Rays? JJ: Long-term, I'd still take Matt Garza over Cliff Lee, and it wouldn't cost me a moment of sleep. Rany Jazayerli has a great Unfiltered post about Lee's hot start, a post that includes a note form Joe Sheehan regarding the quality of competition Lee has faced: "A’s twice, Twins, Royals. Ninth, 13th and 14th in the AL in EqA." ...

Quality Starts (QS)
Published 4/27/2008 by Brett Greenfield at Fantasy Phenoms
... - Almost as surprising as Chacon, Santana is still a lot better at home (1.93) than on the road (3.73). If he can keep that road ERA below 4, instead of it's normal 6.00+, he could be in for a good year. Jake Westbrook - He's been consistent, but if you look up boring or mediocre in the dictionary, you'll find a picture of Westbrook... along with Carlos Silva, Paul Byrd and Aaron Cook. He's also out for a few more weeks at least. Cliff Lee - Ride the wave my friends. Trade him for a top 15 starter who is struggling.. like a Matt Cain. ...

Lazy Sunday with a Pad of Butter
Published 4/27/2008 by Paul Cousineau at The DiaTribe
... Baseball Prospectus is impressed with Cliff Lee’s start, and with pretty good reason. A person who would know tells me that Lee is throwing essentially fastball after fastball ( ...

Sunday night reading…delaying the inevitable
Published 4/27/2008 by Sarah Green at umpbump.com
... gulps and delivers the bad news: Jorge Posada’s shoulder is still not better. Will the Yanks have to bite the bullet and get a backup for their backup? Doug Mirabelli’s available… (DOUGIE’S GOING DEEP!) Baseball Prospectus on just how insane Cliff Lee has been to start the season. ...

StatSpeak World Famous Roundtable: April 28
Published 4/28/2008 by Pizza Cutter at Statistically Speaking
... but not necessarily close to the MVP-caliber numbers he is currently putting up. Hanley Ramirez is another interesting case.  He won’t finish the season with the same ridiculous numbers he currently has but he is a speedster so his increase in groundball percentage will not hurt him as much as it would for someone with significantly less speed.  His BABIP is also very similar to what it was last year.  Pizza Cutter: The Indians fan in me wants desperately for the answer to be “ Cliff Lee .”  However, the man has a BABIP of .154, and while he’s given up about a 45% fly ball ...

From Triple-A To #1 Starter
Published 4/29/2008 by FrostKing at Frost King Baseball
I knew that Cliff Lee was having a great season (31.2 IP, 11 H, 2 BB, 29 K, 0.28 ERA) but I had no idea how great it's been. Rany Jazayerli at BaseballProspectus looked at Lee's recent stretch of games (vs, OAK: 8 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 8 K - vs. MIN: 8 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K - vs. KCR: 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K) and found something amazing: "On three consecutive occasions Lee has pitched 8 innings or more, allowed no more than 3 hits, walked no more than one batter, and struck out at least 8 batters. We have game logs going back to 1956, courtesy of Retrosheet and ...

The Stats Speak For Cliff Lee
Published 4/29/2008 by Scott at WaitingForNextYear
Cliff Lee, in the zone While it appears that C.C. Sabathia has finally got his game back, Indians fans can still glorify the fact that Cliff Lee is in the midst of one of the greatest starts in the history of baseball.  We’ve discussed his stats several times on this site, so I’ll save you from the regurgitation.  Instead, head over to Unfiltered , the blog associated with The Baseball Prospectus.  It seems as if Lee’s work on the mound has not only dropped the collective jaws of Tribe fans and opposing hitters, but those that long for baseball-related statistics day in and ...

Cliff Lee Is Pitching Out of / Over His Head
Published 4/29/2008 by Will Brinson at FanHouse
... Lee might not come crashing back to Earth in a painful manner; after all, his 2005 demonstrates that he does have a skill set to pitch well. But besides the fact that his peripherals telling for some statistical recession, what he's doing right now is mind-blowing just in terms of history. From BP Unfiltered: ...

BASEBALL: Cliff Lee Roolz
Published 4/30/2008 by Baseball Crank at Baseball Crank
Rany Jazayerli explains why Lee has gone where Koufax, Gibson, Gooden, Maddux, Pedro, and many others haven't.

What's Eating Cliff Lee? No, It's Not C.C. Sabathia
Published 5/1/2008 by Rob Iracane at Walkoff Walk
... After giving up consecutive singles to Jose Vidro and Richie Sexson, Lee gave up a big fat ding dong to Balentien who was making his 2008 debut. Kid's played four games in his entire career! Lee's ERA increased three-fold after the three-run hit and manager Eric Wedge was quick to pull his starter. Actually, because he didn't record an out in the seventh inning, Cliff Lee's ERA is INFINITE over the last three batters he has faced. You can't get any higher than INFINITY! Perhaps Rany Jazayerli was right all along. It's all a conspiracy, man!

Bronx Banter: Cliff 'Em All
Published 5/8/2008 at Baseball Toaster
... Ensberg drilled a pitch into the ground in front of home and beat it out, but Lee struck out Molina on four pitches to end his night. Rafael Perez pitched around a two-out Abreu double in the eighth, and Rafael Betancourt worked a 1-2-3 ninth to nail down Lee's sixth win of the year. Lee is now 6-0 with a 0.81 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, and 19.5 K/BB. He's averaging more than 7 1/3 innings per start and has not allowed a run in any of his four road starts this year. After his first four starts, Baseball Prospectus's Rany Jazayerli wrote that Lee had turned in quite possibly the most ...