There’s been so much drooling over media darlings Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels this year, there have been times this season when I forgot they also have Cliff Lee, who re-signed with the Phillies this past offseason. Maybe I’m really just ten-second Tom, but I definitely got that perception in July when Cliff Lee followed up his remarkable, NL Pitcher of the Month award winning June (5-0, 0.21 ERA) with a 4.91 ERA over his five July starts.
When August began Cliff Lee was probably even lower than where we had him in our midseason Cy Young voting (5th). However, an August that nearly mirrors his June could have him all the way back into serious contention for the best NL pitcher award, right there along with his two teammates, but I feel like nobody is talking about it. It’s like Lee is the Chris Bosh of the Phillies’ Big Three (okay, not quite) or that he’s being taken for granted.
In four August starts, Lee is 4-0 with a 0.58 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 31 innings. For the season, he’s now 14-7 with a 2.71 ERA, 1.065 WHIP, a MLB best five shutouts, and 191 strikeouts in 186 innings pitched. Lee’s K/9 betters both of his teammates and his WAR is slightly better than Hamels’ (5.3 vs. 5.0).
After his last start, I’d say Clayton Kershaw has surpassed Halladay in the Cy race (in Kershaw’s last 13 starts, he is 10-2 with a 1.65 ERA, with 105 strikeouts and just 19 walks in 98 innings), but there’s a legitimate argument for putting Cliff Lee in the top three again, and ahead of his seemingly more talked about teammate Cole Hamels. Maybe I’m not reading the right sites or watching the right shows, but I’m just trying to give the 2008 Cy Young Award winner some attention I feel like he’s not receiving from the masses while in the midst of putting up another ridiculous month.
Here’s how the three stack up (listed in order of their ranks amongst other NL pitchers):
Wins:
1. Clayton Kershaw 16
2. Roy Halladay 15
3. Cliff Lee 14
ERA:
4. Kershaw 2.51
5. Halladay 2.56
7. Lee 2.71
WHIP:
2. Kershaw 1.02
4. Halladay 1.04
5. Lee 1.06
Strikeouts:
1. Kershaw 207
2. Lee 191
4. Halladay 182
BB/9:
1. Halladay 1.09
6. Lee 1.89
16. Kershaw 2.28
K/9:
1. Kershaw 9.82
4. Lee 9.24
8. Halladay 8.64
WAR:
1. Halladay 6.9
2. Kershaw 5.6
3. Lee 5.3
For the record, Hamels outranks Lee in BB/9, WHIP & ERA, albeit slightly.
