Or 52.4% of the time he's NOT shit. He's 110 and 100 for his career. And he has had success in the postseason to the tune of 7 innings, 1 run, 4 hits, 9 Ks in Game 2 of the 09 World Series, a game just as big as tomorrow Game 4 (ironically following a dominant Cliff Lee start). Don't say he can't do it.
The past two years (with NY) he hasn't been that good in the season. Last year, +4 ERA and a WHIP North of 1.4. This year, +5 ERA and WHIP North of 1.5. Mark Prior has a 59 win % in 106 starts, yet everyone knows how that goes. And that was 1 start he had that you mentioned. How about the 5.27 ERA with a 1.39 WHIP that he had total in those 27 innings? Jeremy Bonderman had 1 great start against the Yankees in the 06 playoffs, but people don't talk about how 'dominating' his stuff is.
1. Yes, Lee ran away with the Cy Young in 08. Too Bad Halladay was runner up, and had just as good numbers, except for a shit team in Toronto.
What team a guy on is irrelevant. Besides, the Blue Jays had a BETTER record then the Indians, so Lee did what he did on an even WORSE team. Lee was better in 08, otherwise he wouldn't have run away with the award.
2. He sure stepped up in August for the Rangers. 1-4 with a 6.35 ERA. That's dominant all right.
3. He was 6-9 for the Rangers with a 4 ERA. That's dominant.
That's because he was injured. How about you look at his September after he had 11 days of rest, where he had 3 games of 7+ innings and a total of 6 ER in those starts. Lee wasn't healthy, and it showed. Once he got to re-energize himself, he was how everyone expected him to be: great. And he's continued that on into the postseason, with all 3 starts having 10+ K's and 14 total baserunners in 24 innings.
4. You bring up baserunners in one game. Against the NLs best offense (Cincinnati), Roy Halladay allowed 1 runner to reach first all game. 1 runner on first >>>>>>>>>>3 runners, 1 in Scoring Position, 2 of which were base hits.
I never said his performance wasn't great, it was. But how about his second start on Saturday. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't that great. Lee's had 1 bad start (Gm 5 against NY last year). If Halladay can continue to pitch like he did in the no hitter, which is highly unlikely, then I'd switch my opinion. The one start >/> Lee's 7 (excluding the other NY game), since it's still only that, 1 game.
And in the Playoffs, I'd rather have Andy Pettitte, who has won 19 playoff games. Or Orlando Hernandez, who started his playoff career 8-0. OH, EL DUQUE IS THE GREATEST POSTSEASON PITCHER OF ALL TIME!!!!1!11!!!!!!!!ONE!!!!! As you said, it's 1A and 1B, but you got the A and B wrong.
Pettitte still has a 3.83 ERA + 1.304 WHIP, which, is good, but certainly not what Lee's done. Even if you judge by only his first 8 starts, he had 32 ER in 50 2/3 IP, which is an avg of .63 R/IP. Lee has 9 ER in 64 1/3 IP, which is an avg of .14 R/IP. El Duque had 8 ER in 62 IP (through 1st 8 starts) which is .13, hairs better. But, the starts after he tailed off. So no. Take Pettitte or El Duque, but, just like last night, you'll end up losing going against Lee.
Blowup? That's funny, nowhere did I see a blowup. More like a "your points are incorrect or invalid, I'm going to correct you."
You should probably take your own advice here and shut up. You've proved nothing, except that Halladay has had 1 great start which has been better then Lee's 8, although they've all been pretty damn good (aside from 1). And I'll take all of Lee's 8 starts over Doc's 1, since that 1 was only in Game 1 of the NLDS, while Lee's has been in all 3 spots.
