Cliff Lee?? Cliff Lee? Cliff Lee!!!!!!

Cliff Lee has been filthy this season

Just in case you haven't noticed, and judging by the attendance you haven't, the Indians have managed to win a few games and are threatening to climb away from the rest of the AL Central. The Wigwammers have managed to win 3 straight ballgames and 8 out of 10. The starting pitching has been phenomenal and has carried the Indians' scoring challenged offense. The rotation gave up their first run in 44 1/3 innings today when Aaron Laffey (who turned in another strong effort) gave up an unearned run in the 2nd inning of the Tribe's 4-2 victory over Oakland. The catalyst for this pitching onslaught? Mr. Cliff Lee.

Through 7 starts, Cliff Lee is 6-0 with 53 2/3 innings pitched, 44 Ks, 4 walks, and a 0.67 ERA. He's given up 4 earned runs all season. His stats are so good right now, they sound made up. He is absolutely dominating the American League. So where the heck is this coming from? Who is this guy that's tossing out Koufax-like numbers?

Here's what I know about Cliff Lee from his 7 years with the Tribe. Lee is a 6'-3" southpaw from Arkansas. He comes off as an "aw shucks" sort of guy in interviews and has a heavy Southern accent. He carries a pretty good 60-36 record in his major league career. He was part of the Bartolo Colon trade that also brought Brandon Phillips and Grady Sizemore to the Tribe. Ya think the Nats could manage to find room for Phillips, Sizemore, and Lee on their roster today?

Lee was slightly heralded when he pitched his first full year with the Indians in 2004. He had pitched pretty well in his first couple of cups of coffee in the bigs in 2002 and 2003. In 2004, Lee managed a 14-8 record, but had a bloated 5.43 ERA. Tribe fans were able to chalk 2004 up to growing pains when he rebounded the next season and went 18-5 with a solid 3.79 ERA. In 2006, he slipped, and it looked like he was destined for the dreaded "innings eater," 4th starter's role when he went 14-11 with a mediocre 4.40 ERA, but pitched 200 innings for the 2nd straight year.

Then came last year. Lee struggled with everything. He was hurt a lot and only started 16 games. When he did pitch, it was a train wreck. He went 5-8 with an astronomical 6.29 ERA. He also managed to piss off a lot of people last year when he beaned Sammy Sosa in the noggin (I liked it personally) on the day the Rangers were celebrating Sammy's 600th home run. Reportedly, that incident turned the Indians clubhouse against him. Eventually, Lee was sent down to the minors. Rough year.

This spring the former 18 game winner had to fight for a spot in the Indians rotation against promising young guys, Laffey and Jeremy Sowers. Lee won the job and has been lights out all season.

His fastball hits between 91-93 on the radar gun, and he's had Maddux-esqe command over it this year. He mixes in a good curveball and a change-up. He does what every baseball color man demands out of a pitcher, he throws a lot of strikes. He is off to the most dominating start by any pitcher that I can remember. Who knew?