Lee Dazzles Again

Cliff Lee is on a mission this year and it is quite a thing to behold. I can't believe this is the same pitcher that I watched during this game last year, right before he was demoted to Buffalo. I remember sitting in Jacobs Field at the time wondering if we'd ever see the same reliable Cliff Lee we had known before the '07 season. Fast forward to today and he now stands at 6-0 with a microscopic 0.81 ERA. He is the first Indians pitcher to win his first 6 starts of the year since Greg Swindell in 1988. Lee pitched another scoreless 7 innings in Yankee Stadium last night as the Tribe handed Chien-Ming Wang his first loss of the year. To boggle your mind even further, Lee now has 39 strikeouts and only 2 walks so far this season, with opponents batting just .163 against him! Who knows how long this will last, but it sure is fun to watch. Here is a nice article from today's New York Newsday about Lee's amazing turnaround.

The offense did get some timely hits again last night and David Dellucci has now made me a believer. Ben Francisco seems right at home in a big league uniform and Travis Hafner continued his puzzling and depressing slide at the plate (literally a 2-foot GIDP with the bases loaded!). But today the Indians look for their first sweep in Yankee Stadium in almost 20 years. Unfortunately it is an afternoon "getaway" game and I think the Tribe has dropped somewhere around their last 50 of those. Hopefully they get a good performance today.

39 K vs. 2 BB? The Nintendo numbers continue for Cliff.

And tonight the Cavaliers look to even their series in Boston after letting Game 1 slip through their fingers. The Cavs do have a history of playing well on the road in the postseason after "letdown" games so we'll see what they bring tonight. Don't expect LeBron to dump a 2-18 shooting night with 10 turnovers again. I expect big things from him in Game 2. I smell a win for the Cavs and a loss for the Tribe. Maybe someday soon they can both win on the same day...