Like many other Seattle fans, I panicked when I heard the news: Our new ace Cliff Lee needed rest after suffering an abdominal injury and would miss the start of the season. He was placed on the 15-day DL but at the time, no one knew how long he would really be out. His highly anticipated debut came at last on April 30. His stats for the night? 7 innings of no hit, shut out ball with 8 strikeouts. No walks. A great outing by all accounts but one the Mariners eventually lost, 2 - 0 to Texas in a 12 inning game. The most stunning stat of the night, however, is not from Lee's line. Rather, it's from the time of the game. A mere 3 hours and 12 minutes for 12 innings. I guess that's what happens when there's no offense. I love fast pitchers and am amazed by Lee's speed and efficiency.
The man is a true workhorse. He currently leads the American League with 5 complete games (and should have had his 6th today, which would have been his 4th consecutive). He averages nearly 7 strikeouts per game. I think he's a great candidate to start the All-Star game this year.
ESPN.com projects him to finish 16 - 6, 2.34 ERA with 10 complete games.
Lee also seems to have had a positive impact on Felix Hernandez. In his last several starts, King Felix has returned to his dominating form of the past. The one-two punch of Lee - Hernandez is living up to the preseason hype of the best in baseball. Mariners fans have such little to cheer for lately. Please, Jack Z., don't take this from us.
On the other hand ... Trading Cliff Lee at the deadline could be tremendously helpful. The team is sorely lacking in offense (currently 29 out of 30 in three categories and 27th in batting average) and are in dire need of a big bat. The re-acquisition of Russell Branyan is a temporary fix that ultimately won't do much. No names have been leaked so I'm not sure who the target is. Or we could always go with prospects. Short of some unprecedented miracle, the Mariners are far out of playoff contention for 2010. Cliff will demand a huge contract next season as a free agent. His time as a Mariner is almost up.
I've enjoyed Lee's time here and will be interested to see what Jack does. If all else fails, Zduriencik could always trade Milton Bradley for Carlos Silva. Oh wait...
