Photo courtesy of the New York Post
Year Age Tm Lg Series Opp W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB 2009 30 PHI NL NLDS W COL 1 0 1.000 1.10 2 2 0 1 0 0 16.1 11 4 2 0 3 0 10 0 0 2 62 0.857 6.1 0.0 1.7 5.5 3.33 2009 30 PHI NL NLCS W LAD 1 0 1.000 0.00 1 1 0 0 0 0 8.0 3 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 26 0.375 3.4 0.0 0.0 11.3 2009 30 PHI NL WS L NYY 2 0 1.000 2.81 2 2 0 1 0 0 16.0 13 6 5 0 3 0 13 0 0 0 63 1.000 7.3 0.0 1.7 7.3 4.33 2010 31 TEX AL ALDS W TBR 2 0 1.000 1.13 2 2 0 1 0 0 16.0 11 2 2 1 0 0 21 0 0 0 60 0.688 6.2 0.6 0.0 11.8 2010 31 TEX AL ALCS W NYY 1 0 1.000 0.00 1 1 0 0 0 0 8.0 2 0 0 0 1 0 13 0 0 0 27 0.375 2.3 0.0 1.1 14.6 13.00 2 Seasons (5 Series) 7 0 1.000 1.26 8 8 0 3 0 0 64.1 40 12 9 1 7 0 67 0 0 2 238 0.731 5.6 0.1 1.0 9.4 9.57
Last night, Cliff Lee proved why he is earning a well-deserved reputation as one of the best post season pitchers of this generation. With each start the sample gets bigger, and the rate stats only improve. If he was wearing pinstripes (as he may soon) you would like him facing any pitcher on the remaining teams, including anyone currently on the Yankee staff if the roles were reversed.
To echo Joel Sherman, don’t blame AJ Burnett if the Yanks lose this series. The Rangers have the best pitcher in Lee, an equal bullpen (#2 AL Bullpen ERA/Yanks #3) better overall pitching staff (#4 AL Team ERA/Yanks #7) and a comparable lineup (#3 in Runs Scored/Yanks #1). They’re a very good team, arguably equal or better than the Yankees. An even handed preview of this series would lead you to believe that it was a tossup, but right now the Yanks are making the Rangers look far superior.
From Joel’s column:
“I don’t think we are in trouble,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “We are a good club. We are down two-games-to-one, not three-games-to-none and losing in the bottom of the ninth.”
A five-run eighth inning in the opener is all that stands between the Yankees and actually being down three-games-to-none, so thoroughly are they being outplayed.
Both takes are correct. It feels worse than it is because they’ve played so poorly. A win tonight behind Burnett will change the mood in this town dramatically, especially with expectations as low as they are for AJ and rust being such an issue so far (AJ hasn’t pitched since October 2). But there’s no excuses for being unable to hit Tommy Hunter. A loss will be a reflection on the team as a whole, not just Burnett. Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada showing their age, Tex and Alex doing nothing, their inability to get a well pitched game from CC and Hughes, the decision to use Pettitte against the dominant Lee. Teams that do it with offense tend to stumble in October, as we saw in 2004. It’s the nature of hitting, which tends to come and go. Should the Yanks lose there will be plenty of blame to go around. But there will also be plenty of credit due the Rangers, who still aren’t being given their just due of being every bit as good as the Yanks.
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One Response to Cliff Lee's postseason dominance
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TIQ IQ
If we lose, we lose, I have no problem with that, its just the way we are losing, othen than one inning this has been a complete domination, getting shut down by Cliff Lee is one thing, but Colby Lewis? Its still plenty of baseball left, so I have to remain positve, lets go AJ.