If there was a Cy Young being given out right now in the American League, you would be hard pressed to come up with another pitcher more deserving than Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians. He pitched another outstanding game, and against possibly the hottest pitcher going, in Chien-Ming Wang for the Yankees. Don’t misunderstand me, Wang pitched a very good game dispite his first lose of the 2008 season. He went 7 strong innings, giving up only 5 hits, 3 earned runs, striking out 4. With any kind of run support from his teammates, Wang probably was looking at his seventh win of the season, and staying undefeated. However, three runs was two more than Cliff Lee needed today, leading his Indians to victory by a score of 3-0.
Since there is no offense to speak of in this game for the Yankees, it goes without saying that Lee’s ERA dropped, again, to a whopping 0.81. He went 7 innings also today allowing 6 hits, with 7 strike outs. It is always impressive to see a pitcher when he is on his game. But, even more impressive is when that pitcher does it against these Yankees. Let’s face it, the Yankees are one of the better teams in baseball annually, and to come in to their park, and pitch a shut out over 7 innings is incredible. To have an ERA under one is unexpected, and with the American League Cy Young winner as your teammate, things can only get better. This is good news for the Indians, but bad news for every team they face.
This lose today takes the Yankees below .500 again this season (17-18), as they can’t seem to leave this mark behind them. The American League East is starting to seperate, with Boston still on top. Tampa Bay has broken the 3-way tie for second, and passed the Yankees who are now staring at third place, 4.5 games out. Hopefully they can avoid the sweep tomorrow, and start a winning way. In less than a week they will be facing the Tampa Bay Rays in Tampa, so if they do not fall farther behind them in the standings, this is the opportunity to knock them out of second place, and continue their hunt for the Red Sox.
