Some of us have been worried about Cliff Lee a little. He was good when got here, played a little hurt for a bit and slacked, but his last few starts have been on the upswing. So it was with some minor trepidation that I approached his last start of the season. Wasn’t sure what we’d get out of him.
We didn’t get the nine innings mow ’em down Cliff Lee, but the Lee we got was the pretty darned good one anyway Cliff Lee. Seven innings, four hits, no walks, eight strikeouts. Allowed a run, but it was unearned. He looked good, if not totally dominating. Came out after 93 pitches, so that was likely a “we’re taking him out after seven anyway” type of deal.T
He didn’t get the win though, as Darren O’Day blew the save, and allowed the other run to score. Still, I was’t worried about Cliff Lee in game 1 of the playoffs now. :)
The bulk of our offense came from Vlad Guerrero & Nelson Cruz, who combined for five of the nine overall hits the Rangers got. Two of Cruz’ three hits were doubles, but that was it – all the other hits were singles. Was enough to punch across runs in the third, fourth, & eighth to win the game.
Looking forward to Cliff Lee next Wednesday. :)