Cliff Lee was extremely excited to come to the Phillies and the National League at the end of July. Going from a bad team in Cleveland to the NL East leading Phillies was obviously good for him, and it showed.
In his first five starts for the Fightins’, Lee went 5-0 with 39 strikeouts and a 0.68 ERA. That’s a lot better than his 8-14 record and 3.14 ERA with the Tribe. Simply put, Cliff Lee was incredible for the Phillies in his first 5 starts.
His last two starts have gone entirely different, however. In tonight’s loss to the Astros, Lee only lasted 3 innings while giving up 9 hits and 6 earned runs. In his previous start against Atlanta, he also gave up 6 earned runs on 10 hits in 5 innings.
Now, I’m not saying that the Cliff Lee trade was a bust in any way, especially after seeing Carlos Carrasco get roughed up in his ML debut this week. I’m just saying that maybe Cliff Lee is coming back down to earth a bit. He went 22-3 last season en route to winning the AL Cy Young. His 5-0 start for the Phillies showed he still has that form. He was just pitching too well to continue on that kind of run.
His inning totals are starting to pile up, so maybe that is playing a factor into his last two starts. He may just be a little fatigued at this point in the season. I don’t think fatigue will matter to him when he pitches in the postseason for the first time, but it may be a bit of a worry right now. With the Phillies up 7.5 games, the Phillies could afford to maybe give Cliff Lee a few days rest towards the end of the season.
The past few starts have seen Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels switch roles. Hamels has looked dominating while Lee has looked bad at times. Its good to see Hamels get back to form, and I’m sure Lee will get back there soon enough. His first 5 starts were just so dominating, he was bound to have a couple of let down games. So, to answer my own question, no, the honeymoon isn’t over. In fact, it’s actually just getting started.
His first 5 starts were unbe-lee-vable, while his last 2 have been ug-lee. (You didn’t think I could go a whole post without at least one terrible pun, did you?)
I’m sure the Phillies have faith that Lee will be back to form before the playoffs. With the way the offense has been struggling, they’re going to need him.
