The most rife postseason pitcher of his era , Cliff Lee of the Texas Rangers might like to tell apart you his success can be traced to serious introspection in a think human ’s biz . Sounds feasible enough .
He could make that case , except for one catch . He ’s given it no thought .
" I do n’t really dig that late into what I imagine or why I think it , " said Lee , whose playoff record is one for the chronicle books even with the San Francisco Giants extradite a deserts in Game 1 of the World Series .
Some guys make pitch sound like string hypothesis . Lee is not one .
thing turned around for him when he blockade trying to impede righthanded hitters , when he protrude using both sides of the plate and commanding all his pitching .
CONSPIRACY THEORIES
He ’s made it look so easy , conspiracy theorizer began take the smear spots on the throwaway and back of his capital during these playoffs cerebrate there had to be something else at work .
It ’s not as if he developed a potion that make the ball hypersensitized to Sir Henry Wood as Ray Milland ’s character did in the old Disney - style baseball classic , It Happens Every bound . The nub on his chapiter is a absolutely legal resin residue .
You ca n’t blame people for wondering , hitter especially . Before his going to the Giants , Lee was 7 - 0 with a 1.26 ERA in eight postseason starts . He ’d struck out 34 striker and walk just one , unheard of in an era of the Incredibly Shrinking Strike Zone .
In Game 5 against the Tampa Bay Rays , Lee struck out 11 slugger to win his second game of the series . Against the Yankees in Game 3 , he confound eight shutout inning with 13 strikeout .
That series never reached Game 7 . But the specter of the Yankees needing to beat Lee in a decide game to reach the World Series led aggravate New York outfielder Nick Swisher to say , " You guys are mouth about Cliff Lee ? [ Expletive ] , who cares ? I ca n’t wait to hit against his ( behind ) . "
Everybody ’s talking about Lee in this postseason , except , as common , Lee .
YOUNG AND DUMB
Reticence was n’t always the subject with him . He was what baseball scouts call a " elusive sign " mostly for his sense of self - Charles Frederick Worth . He also give scouts reason to interest about him for his off - flying field takings as a high school and college pitcher . He was chesty and stubborn on the study . Primarily a bang thrower on the pitcher except for when he purposely plunked someone , wildness ruled the day elsewhere in his living .
In 2006 , when he was set up for the Cleveland Indians , I asked him about his reputation as a Major League prospect . He offered descriptions like " florid " and " heller . " I looked at this flat - lining standing before me . This was a character out ofAnimal House ?
" I was unseasoned and dumb , " he said then . " It ’s not like I was completely stupid , sell drugs or anything . When I figured out I was going to be pretty good at baseball , I cipher I ’d better get my act together and make something of myself .
" I just was n’t a very good kid . Yeah , I ’ve been to jail , and it ’s not a fun place to be . I really do n’t merit to be where I am right now . "
In a recentSports Illustratedstory , Lee ’s wife , Kristen , mentioned " crazy stuff and nonsense " in her husband ’s life when they were growing up in Benton , Arkansas . But that sense of invulnerability had its place on the mound . Scouts think his smoke was just fine . What they notice then , what they still point out now , is a sovereign trust bordering on disdain in how he practice that smoke .
" A lot of young pitchers give hitter too much course credit , " said Mark Shapiro , the man who stole Lee for Cleveland from a heroic Montreal organization . " That ’s not Cliff . "
Acquiring Cliff Lee , in part , cemented Shapiro ’s report as a GM . prove to make a pennant push , the Expos traded Lee , Grady Sizemore and Brandon Phillips to Cleveland in a peck for pitcher Bartolo Colon .
HOT IN CLEVELAND
The one glitch for the Indians – a turning of event still repent in the city of Cleveland – is that Lee get a disastrous 2007 time of year . After one start in which rooter booed him , he mockingly tilt his crown and was sent to the minors the next day . He was n’t even on the playoff roster when the Indians came within one profits of puzzle Boston and exit to the World Series .
That ’s formally an " Only in Cleveland " sports here and now . Not quite like never winning a NBA statute title with LeBron James , but given that Lee won the AL Cy Young Award the very next time of year and given what he ’s done since … well , no marvel hoi polloi in the metropolis I call home spirit cursed .
Lee had a 6.38 ERA in 2007 . The next time of year , he go 22 - 3 with a 2.54 ERA .
NOT IN CLEVELAND
In a rebuilding mode and knowing they could n’t sign him , the Indians trade Lee to the Phillies in 2009 . That ’s where his postseason legend begin . In Manhattan for the World Series undoer against the Yankees , Lee ’s taxicab got stuck in traffic going to the stadium . He hop-skip out , got on a subway not knowing where he was , place a call to the visiting club to get commission , and arrived an hour later than normal .
Starting pitchers are fauna of drug abuse . Lee ’s subprogram was greatly compromised . No big trade . He threw a complete game with no walk , no earned runs and 10 strikeout .
With Philadelphia working to contribute pitcher Roy Halladay to town , it dealt Lee to Seattle last December for payroll reason . The Mariners ' time of year apace vanish aside , prompting them to trade in Lee to Texas in July .
WILL HE STAY OR WILL HE GO?
Texas is the closest major conference team to Lee ’s Arkansas home townsfolk but the Yankees , as common , are considered the favourite to insure his services .
That ’s as long as Lee does n’t put too much cerebration into the rough treatment his wife get from some Yankees fans during the ALCS . They spue and threw beer in her direction and yelled obscenities .
Will he stay in Texas ?
He does have a chance to do something truly historic , something that has nothing to do with equate Sandy Koufax or Bob Gibson or any of the smashing postseason pitchers in baseball account .
He has a luck to say no to the Yankees as the ultimate costless - agent swag , something his good buddy , former Indians teammate C.C. Sabathia , could n’t do .
For a guy cable who likes to keep things wide-eyed , turn down the Yankees wo n’t be well-to-do given that they ’re expected to give him $ 150 million reasons not to .
