Cliff Lee Can Do It All, Part 2

Eight innings of shut out baseball, ten strikeouts, two walks, four hits, a game-winning solo home run.

Just another ho-hum night on the mound for Cliff Lee. Move along. Nothing to see here.

2011 MLB All-Star Game Live Blog

Even though I have been gone for the past ten days, I figured why the heck not, right? Roy Halladay and Jered Weaver are the starting pitchers. Unlike other All-Star games, in this one, the winning league gets home field advantage in the 2011 World Series, so there is something to be played for. Live from Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, it is the 2011 MLB All-Star Game! Join us for the live blog.

American League vs. National League 8:00 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)

Cliff Lee Can Do It All

 On Saturday I was talking with a friend of mine watching the Braves-Phillies game on Fox. We both wondered if Cliff Lee would make the most sense for a pitcher to transition to an everyday player? Lee can obviously field, and he can also hit (His OBP is .233 which is almost as good as Michael Martinez!). Well our question was answered on Saturday when Lee drilled a home run off of Braves pitcher Tommy Hanson.



I guess that answers my question. My favorite part of that home run is Braves pitcher Jair Jurrjens screaming, "No! No! No! Are you kidding me?"

Poor Lee though. Tommy Hanson was just as good as him on Saturday and the game went to extra innings with both pitchers recording the no decision. The Phillies would lose in the 11th inning.

Follow me on Twitter and Read my blog!

The Game Winning RBI Hours After Wilson Valdez Became A Winning Pitcher

As luck would have it, the game scheduled after a 19-inning marathon was a 1:00 day game. Also as luck would have it, hours after utility infielder Wilson Valdez picked up a win as a pitcher, Cliff Lee would pitch 8-innings...........and bat in the game-winning RBIs.

Phillies went on to win 10-4.

The first 16 hours of May 26, 2011 are 16 hours that the Phillies and Phillies fans won't forget any time soon.

An Epic Win Streak Will Face A Tough Test Tonight

On Saturday night, December 11, near the hour of 10:00, St. Joe's lost to Creighton. Why is that event in any way remarkable? It's the last time a Philadelphia team lost when facing a team outside of Philadelphia (that footnote is needed because on Sunday Villanova faced La Salle; that game is not counted in the series of events I am about to present.) Since that seemingly unremarkable moment, no Philadelphia sports team has lost. Professional, college, it does not matter. The city of Philadelphia is currently riding an 8-game win streak. Since Saint Joseph's lost to Creighton on December 11, all Philadelphia sports teams, including college basketball and college football, are a remarkable 8-0 in actual games with 1 epic Cliff Lee deal to boot. Here is a break down of what has happened since then, and what the future may hold tonight.

Sunday, December 12
Sixers 88, Hornets 70
Villanova 84, La Salle 81 (a win for the team I support, though it does not count toward the streak as both teams are Philadelphia schools)
Temple 82, Akron 47
Eagles 30, Cowboys 27

Monday, December 13, minutes before the stroke of midnight
Clifton Phifer Lee

Tuesday, December 14
Flyers 3, Penguins 2
Sixers 82, Nets 77
Drexel 52, Louisville 46

Wednesday, December 15
Sixers 105, Clippers 91
Flyers 5, Canadiens 3

There were no games or big acquisitions on Thursday, but this epic streak will face one hell of a test tonight. Three teams are in action, and two of them are facing extremely tough competition. Here is tonight's schedule.

Los Angeles Lakers vs. 76ERS 7:00
Bucknell vs. LA SALLE 7:00
FCS Semifinals: VILLANOVA vs. Eastern Washington 8:00

If all 3 prevail, the Sixers will have beaten one of the best in basketball, La Salle will have added a win heading into A-10 conference play, and Villanova will be playing for a Division I football championship.

(Hat tip to Philadelphia Sports Daily.)

The Cliff Lee Signing Made For Some Pretty Awkward Interviews

My sincerest apologies for the lack of posts this week. Finals kicked me in the ass this year like no year before. Even though the videos I am about to post are a couple days old now, I still believe they are worth the awkward hilarity.

We all know that late Monday night, 4 minutes before Matt Schaub threw a game-ending pick 6 on Monday Night Football in overtime and 10 minutes before midnight, Cliff Lee agreed to take his talents to the city of Brotherly Love. That means that the late local news shows had to wait a whole 23 hours for them to cover this story. And when they did, it was showered with uncomfortable awkwardness. First up, NBC10 attempts to interview Cliff Lee who at the time was just arriving in Philadelphia International Airport. Needless to say, he was not really in the mood for a surprise interview.



The interview comes off a whole lot differently when you read the transcript. It's amazing what being interviewed after getting of an airplane can do to words.

As awkward as that interview was, on the very same Tuesday night, the Fox29 10:00 news decided to get even awkward. Luckily for all involved, they strayed away from a surprise Cliff Lee interview. They decided to be awkward by sending a man on the street to interview fans. No, not Phillies fans excited to have their star of 2009 back. But Yankee fans in town, pissed that Cliff Lee spurned them to go to the Phillies. And oh by the way, this was the lead story of the evening.



Douche-tastic!

And this, my friends, is why 6ABC is the most watched local news station in Philadelphia. Wait a minute, on second thought, they are not perfect either.

Curt Schilling Is Officially Dead To Me

As a little kid, I can fondly remember going to Veterans Stadium with my family to watch Phillies games. Even though it was at a point in the nineties when the Phils basically stunk (i.e. post-1993), I still had a good time watching my two favorite players on that team, second baseman Mickey Morandini and pitcher Curt Schilling.

But now Curt Schilling can sod off and die. Seriously. Him and his bloody sock can officially get out of my life, for good. Why is that you ask? Ashley Fox of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes.

Curt Schilling needed no prompting. The question was innocuous. Did he like this year's Phillies team?

"I think trading Cliff Lee was the stupidest thing they've ever done, and they didn't have to," Schilling said. "They didn't have to do it. It was a stupid, stupid move. They could've had a World Series berth locked up right now with those two guys at the top of their rotation."

"Those guys would've finished legitimately 1-2 [as] Cy Young candidates on the same staff," Schilling said. "You've got Cole Hamels in the three slot, which is a dream come true for both. They would've been a 110-win team."

"The Roy Halladay deal, I think, gave them the perception that they depleted their minor-league system," Schilling said. "That's one of those things now where, five years ago, so what? Now, your minor-league system ranking is such a big deal, because that speaks to your scouting and your drafting and all those things. It's a direct reflection on your general manager.

"If they hadn't made that [Lee] deal, I think they felt like their minor-league system would've been trashed, even though it wasn't. They still had a lot of talent. But it was to restock. If you draft right, you can literally restock your system in a year or two now.

"There's no other reason why they made that deal, none whatsoever. That's why they didn't push trying to re-sign Cliff, because I think they felt like he would've been real receptive to it, so then they would've looked even worse, because 'We traded a guy who wants to be here.' "

"He's coming off a phenomenal run when he came over," Schilling said of Lee. "He showed them [in] October he was going to be better than everybody else. You don't know what you're getting there. Doc's never pitched in October. I think he'll be great and be awesome and all that stuff, but he could get to October and not be the guy. Cliff proved that he can pitch in October. That's a big loss."

Uh, Curt, no one asked you about the Lee-Halladay deal. But seeing as he did completely ignore the question and go off on some unrelated rant about the trade, I shall remind him that pretty much every stat says that Roy Halladay is a better pitcher than Cliff Lee. Lee has had ups and downs in his career whereas Doc has been on top for virtually all of last decade. I'll take him over Lee any day of the week. While Schilling does make a somewhat sensible point about the Phillies farm system, again I ask him, who the fuck asked you about that? Curt Schilling can shut the f.......you know the rest of it.

The Seattle Mariners Will Be Honoring Harry Kalas This Season

And the patch looks like the exact same one that the Phillies wore last year! Thanks for the year late sentiments, Seattle. Your condolences have not gone unnoticed.

Sarcasm aside, someone at Topps had major Photoshop fuck up when making that baseball card. It's amazing how Topps can completely photoshop Lee to change it to a Phillies uniform to a Mariners uniform, yet they forgot not take out the most glaring image of the Phillies' 2009 uniform.

RIP Harry. You're still in our thoughts.

Cliff Lee Chats With Mike Missanelli

I really do feel bad for Cliff Lee. And he is saying all of the right things and all, but as you will hear in his voice in this radio interview he did today with 975TheFanatic's Mike Missanelli (10,000 times better than Howard Eskin, by the way), you can hear the sadness in his voice.

It's a long interview so I don't blame you if you don't want to listen to the whole hting, but just listen to parts and all as you really can tell that Lee was shaken by the move and even though he does not (and will never) say it, you can tell he is less than thrilled about being a Mariner.

Click here to listen to the interview

What a shame as he is a good guy, but sometimes you just gotta move on with life. A business decision was made, the Phils have chosen Halladay over Lee, I am excited to see Doc Halladay, who like Lee, is a complete stand up guy and a class act all the way around, pitch for the Philadelphia Phillies.

More Thoughts On The Halladay Trade

First of all, as the deal stands now....

Phillies get: Roy Halladay, Phillippe Aumont, Tyson Gillies, and $6 million.

Blue Jays get: Kyle Drabek, Travis D'Arnaud, Michael Taylor (who they will trade to Oakland for Brett Wallace)

Mariners get: Cliff Lee

I know there are people that like this trade. And I know there are others that want Ruben Amaro, Jr. to go find the nearest hole, crawl in it, and stay their for the rest of his life. That's the way things are going to be when you make a trade like that.

However, from a baseball perspective, this was the right move. You can jump at me and say that Drabek took things one step too far, but Drabek is just a prospect. While we in Philly may think that he is the future Cliff Lee/Roy Halladay, there are people out there who see him no more as a #2 or a #3 starter on a team. Instead of looking at what we lost, let's look at what we got in return.

We've got arguably the best pitcher in baseball, Harry Leroy Halladay III. Yes, he is better than Cliff Lee. His wins and losses are better than Lee's and his ERA is better than Lee's all despite the fact that Lee has played on teams that went to the World Series.

People will see the World Series and say that OMFG CLIFF LEE IS DA BESTEST EVER! No. No, he is not. He is a good pitcher, yes, and Seattle made out damn good all things considered, but let us remember Cliff Lee in 2007. And let us remember Cliff Lee in September of 2009. Remember coming into the postseason there were actually questions about Cliff Lee. In September he stunk. He was not the same pitcher that the Phillies acquired in July nor was he the same pitcher that pitched brillantly in the post season. The bottom line is Lee can be inconsistent. Now that's not to say that Halladay does not have slumps as well, but when Lee slumped, good grief, it was like watching Chien Ming Wang earlier in the year. Just dreadful dreadful stuff was happening to him.

And there is another argument that the Stupid Move Phillies club has by saying that Halladay has never pitched in the post-season before. And granted, Lee proved himself this year, but this was the first year that he actually pitched in the post-season. He was injured when Cleveland made their post-season run. So to say that Halladay has never pitched a post-season game before is nonsense when you consider the fact that Lee had not pitched in the post-season either prior to 2 months ago. Where were those question marks on Cliff Lee heading into the post-season last year. There were question marks about his performance in September, sure, but did anyone question his lack of post-season experience when he was on a staff with Cole Hamels, Pedro Martinez, and Joe Blanton, all of whom had not only pitched in the post-season before but all own World Series rings (and Hamels was the 2008 World Series MVP)? Where were the questions then? And not only that, but in his first post-season start when he went up Ubaldo Jimenez, who not only pitched in the post-season before, but had beaten the Phillies before in the post-season? In other words, a pitcher quite comfortable with the position he was in versus a pitcher who had never pitched a post-season game before? My point is this. No one questioned Lee's post-season experience coming into the 2009 playoffs, why are we questioning Halladay's now? For all we know, Doc could throw 3 post-season no-hitters.

And lastly, the prospects. The Phillies may have given up the once untouchable Drabek, but they have gotten 6'7" Phillippe Aumont in return. And while he did see some action out of the Mariners pen last year, he struggled somewhat with control, but whenever you have a 6'7" guy with power, that is going to catch an eye and there is definite potential. And another prospect that the Phillies will end up getting, Tyson Gillies, may have the potential to be the fastest guy in baseball. So while the Phillies are giving up a farm for Halladay, they are getting a farm right back, so in the end, when you trade prospects for prospects, is just that. You wins and who loses will be judged 5-years from now, not today. You can't judge this based on today. You can only judge whether or not right now this was a smart move.

And all in all, I think it was a smart trade for the Phillies as they are on a strict budget and thanks to the "aw shucks, we love you" $7 million contract they gave to Moyer after winning the World Series with him, financially, this was the only thing they could do to lock up a Cy Young winning pitcher long-term as that Moyer contract pretty much made it impossible for the Phils to have both Halladay and Lee for 1-year. Because let's face it, Cliff Lee was going to want CC Sabathia money and a long 5-6 year deal and the Phillies just don't roll like that. They don't dish out that kind of money nor do they sign pitchers for that long. There is without a doubt that Cliff Lee would walk and take the money instead of coming to Philly for a discount.

If the Phillies did not trade for Halladay, then they would be screwed in 2011 when they lose a lot of key players, and that will in turn send them into a tailspin of mediocrity that categorized the early 2000s. Now with Halladay, you can bet your bottom dollar that the Phillies will be perennial contenders for the NL pennant for the next 4 (possibly 5 years) and at the end of the day, isn't that the ultimate goal?

I'll end by summing up a quote of Dan Levy's in The Sporting Blog this morning, the Phillies may have paid a high price, arguably too much for Halladay, but can they afford to move forward into the future as a World Series contender without making this move? The answer: No.

And Here We Go! The Doctor Is In Philadelphia! HALLADAY'S A PHILLIE!!!!!!!!!! And Cliff Lee is a Seattle Mariner

I interupt my working on a research prospectus to announce 2 things:

1). I'VE GOT MY INTERNET BACK!

2). We may be days, or even hours away from one of the most blockbuster trades in recent MLB history.

This weekend, Ken Rosenthal wrote of a crazy hunch based on no factual information (no, really, he was hypothesizing based off of nothing) that the Phillies might somehow involve Cliff Lee in a trade for Halladay. At the time, I thought that Ken Rosenthal was on some nasty drugs or someone wanted 1500 words in an hour and Kenny had nothing to write.

But, Kenny Rosenthal might have been on to something. Jim Salisbury issued this stunning report today that says the Phillies would open to trading Lee to another team (Seattle's said to be interested) for prospects they can ship to Toronto for Roy Halladay, who is currently located in the City of Brotherly Love where talks of an extension are already occuring.

So here it goes. The $10,000,000 question that will make Ruben Amaro, Jr. a genius or run him out of this town faster than J.D. Drew was. Assuming the Phillies can sign Doc Halladay to the extension, do you still pull the trigger on the trade if it means that Clifton Phifer lee will not be a Phillie next year?

Phillies have already said they won't trade Hamels, so this is it. If the Phillies can do it without trading Lee, I'll be running to the store buying new underwear, but is Halladay and the extension worth giving up 1-year of Lee?

The question will soon be answered. If you want to beat the Yankees, you have to play the game. The dice are now squarely in the hands of Ruben Amaro, Jr.

Update: Amaro did it! Roy Halladay is a Phillie! It's a 3-team deal. The 3rd team is Seattle. It was originally reported that they got Lee but that has been changed to likely. I'll keep you posted. But the bottom line is this, after 6 months, it can finally be said, ROY HALLADAY IS A PHILADELPHIA PHILLIE!!!!!!!!!!

Update: If Jim Salisbury is right and if Kyle Drabek is indeed part of this deal, you can kiss the Phillies future goodbye. Please be wrong, Salisbury. Isn't the whole idea of trading Lee to begin with to lock up a Cy Young pitcher long term while preserving the farm?

Update 3: Is it just me or is Dash Treyhorn of The Fightins correct in that this is just the trade that Toronto and Ricciardi wanted back in January for Halladay only with an extra side dish of a straight up Cliff Lee for Seattle prospects trade including Phillippe Aumont (which will hopefully make up for the loss of Drabek). Crazy crazy stuff.

Cliff Lee Cracks Up Tim McCarver

What a dominating performance by Cliff Lee and the Phillies.

He may have lost the shutout in the 9th, but that does not change the fact that he is the fucking man! And he also knows how to make Tim McCarver laugh like a girl.



6-1 Phils win Game 1. They lead the World Series 1 games to 0. They have at the very least achieved the much needed split in the Bronx. What will happen next is anybody's guess, but the drama will be in town tomorrow night as Pedro Martinez makes will once again pitch in Yankee Stadium against his former team's biggest rival.

Tonight was fun, join us once again for the live blog tomorrow night. Unlike today, the weather is supposed to be clear through the day and night. And as we all know, weather people never lie!

J.A. Happ To Remain In The Phils Starting Rotation; Possible 6-Man Rotation???

Ever since the Phillies signed Cliff Lee there was rampant speculation as to who would be the latest member of The Pen. The likely candidates at the time were Pedro Martinez and J.A. Happ with an outside shot of Old Man Jamie Moyer being demoted. Well, it looks like we can scratch one of those names off the list as Ruben Amaro, Jr. has stated that J.A. Happ will remain in the Phillies starting rotation. Via CSN Philly.

Call it a crazy convergence of unnatural forces. No one thought a three-time Cy Young Award winner and one of the best pitchers of a generation would be vying for a spot in the Phillies’ rotation along with a 23-season veteran with more career wins than Bob Gibson and Happ, who very well could be the NL Rookie of the Year.

Of course no one thought the Phillies would have another Cy Young Award winner fronting the rotation in Cliff Lee, either. So if the Phillies have been caught a little off guard, it’s understandable. Besides, it’s not the planning anyone cares about – it’s the result of it all.

So thanks in part to the 10-strikeout performance in Wednesday night’s shutout as well as the most consistent work of any starter on the club all season long, Happ and his 8-2 record and 2.74 ERA will remain in the starting rotation.

“Happ’s not going anywhere. He’s not going out of the rotation,” Amaro said. “He deserves to stay in the rotation. He’s pitched very well. He’s probably been our most effective starter.”

With Happ in the starting five, the Phillies have lefties Lee and Cole Hamels as well as the resurgent Joe Blanton. The final spot is currently taken up by veteran lefty Jamie Moyer, which is the biggest point of contention. Since Martinez is ready to be activated whenever the Phillies give the OK, the question is what to do with Moyer?

Though he leads the team in wins with 10 (and losses with eight), Moyer is the weakest link of the current five starters. His ERA is the second-worst in the league amongst the 49 starters that qualify for the ERA title with a 5.55 mark that explodes over 6 when his three starts against the Marlins are eliminated.

However, Moyer’s soft stuff likely won’t play well in the bullpen. Neither will the fact that he needs ample time to warm up before pitching. Plus, to be fair, the Marlins are the Phillies’ closest competitors and Moyer has owned them (13-2 in 15 career starts).

Aye, there’s the rub.

“We still haven’t made a decision,” Amaro said. “But it’s not out of the realm of possibility that six guys could pitch in our rotation.”

Well then! That last part certainly caught me a bit off guard. I was not quite expecting to read that, I guess because a 6-man rotation is unheard of, but at this point it might actually make some sense. Jamie Moyer, and I truly love the guy as a player, is not a bullpen pitcher. His struggles frequently come in the early innings of games, and when you are a bullpen pitcher, you need to come off the bench and get out of the inning. The Pen would be more suiting for Moyer say if he could generally go the 1st 4 innings fine and had his struggles then. But the other side of that coin, is how in the blue hell do you go out and sign shoe-in future hall-of-famer Pedro Martinez to a 1-year deal, have him do numerous minor-league rehab starts, only to place him in The Pen? He's at the end of his career, obviously, and while on paper it is not a bad idea at all, there would no doubt be questions of how Martinez can adapt to such a situation.

What will actually happen, I have no idea, but this is probably without a doubt the best damn problem that the Phillies have had all season.

Phillies Trade Mainly Second Tier Prospects To Tribe For Cliff Lee

Even though I was at work all day, I am fully aware today of the Phillies earth-shattering trade. Carlos Carrasco, Jason Knapp, Jason Donald, and Lou Marson to Cleveland for Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco! You read that right (even though I doubt there is a person in the country that has not heard by now) Cliff Lee is a Phillie!

Instead of boring you with my unabashed joy or giving you a blockquote to a story that you already know, I'll offer up a few points on this worth considering.

First of all, what does this mean for the Phillies rotation as essentially we now have 7 active major league starting pitchers (Cole Hamels, Jamie Moyer, Cliff Lee, Joe Blanton, J.A. Happ, Rodrigo Lopez, and Pedro Martinez who is currently completing minor league rehab stings) another on the 60-day DL (Brett Myers). Thus now that we've got Lee, what will become of the starting pitching line-up? My best guess is is that the Phillies will in all likelihood either sent Lopez back down to the minors, release him, or put him on waivers. Seeing as the Phillies are unlikely to move Jamie Moyer or Joe Blanton at this point, it is likely that either Pedro Martinez or J.A. Happ will be sent to The Pen while the one who is not sent to the Pen will be a starter in the rotation. My guess is that Happ will be the one that ends up in The Pen just because I can't imagine the Phillies moving Hall of Fame shoe-in Martinez to the Pen and I have even bigger problems seeing Martinez excepting that role.

Another interesting point that is worth bringing up are the Phillies really going for the jugular in a way that would even make the New York Yankees envious? Think about it. The Toronto Blue Jays in their first offer to the Phillies requested J.A. Happ, Kyle Drabek (the Phils top pitching prospect), and Dominic Brown (perhaps our top outfielding prospect), and none of them were traded to Cleveland. The Blue Jays' eyes are basically bugging out at the sight of Drabek, so you have to believe that that offer is still on the table. Now will the Phillies do it, I would certainly give it a less than 5% chance of happening, especially seeing as the Phillies like their prospects and with very few exceptions, are a home grown team and they value their prospect deeply (we can afford 4 for the Indians because the Phils do have great depth in the minor leagues at this point in time) but it is certainly worth thinking about it. Could you imagine a starting rotation featuring Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Pedro Martinez, and Jamie Moyer? Good grief!

Lastly, WHAT A DEAL THIS IS! As I said in the title, these are mainly 2nd tier prospects we gave up. The only one that I feel may have any chance at making it big in the majors is catcher Lou Marson. A year or 2 ago, Carlos Carrasco was seen in a light that the Phils view Kyle Drabek now. On The DL's Dan Levy put it best a week or so ago when discussing Phils trade options and some of our prospects that he has since become "persona non grata". He can get Ks, but he has struggled a bit, hence and the Phils feel that he needs to mature more. And that is evidenced just by the fact that the Phils have gone to the farm system numerous times for pitching this year (Happ, Bastardo, and Lopez) and not once has Carrasco even been brought up for a bull pen stint. Hell, Kyle Kendrick and Tyler Walker were chosen essentially over Carrasco to fill-in for what has suddenly become an injury plagued Phillies bullpen.

And you have to wonder when Cliff Lee will make his first Phillies start. Happ is scheduled to pitch tonight and even if he is destined for the bullpen, unless Cliff Lee is magically in Arizona and ready to go tonight, the Phils have no other starter that can go tonight, so he will still go. I do point out that after this trip to Arizona, the Phillies head to San Francisco for a 4-game series which will feature a Saturday showdown with Tim Lincecum. Could you imagine? Cliff Lee vs. Tim Lincecum? Talk about one hell of a pitching duel.

Phillies land Lee from Tribe (MLB.com)