A Cliff Hanging for the Yankees

Cliff Lee keeps sailing along for the Tribe. His stunning reversal from a dismal 2007 (5-8, 6.29 ERA, and a trip to the minors) continued with seven more shutout innings in a 3-0 whitewash of New York. Lee is now 6-0 with a ridiculous 0.81 ERA. He's won all six of his starts and has 39 strikeouts against just two walks in his 44-2/3 innings. Amazing stuff.

The lefty was solid between 2004 and 2006, going 44-26 -- including 18 wins in 2005 -- but was nowhere near the dominating pitcher he's been this year.

Lee, along with Grady Sizemore, have made the case for the trade that brought them to Cleveland in 2002. They were among four players the Indians received from Montreal in exchange for Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew (who was out of baseball within a couple of years). Colon had some excellent seasons after that, including his Cy Young Award-winning year of 2005, but the Indians made the deal with an eye on the future. Sizemore has been outstanding, and, now that Lee is returning to form and then some, the trade looks very good, indeed.

I wrote at the time of the trade that it was an excellent deal, if for no other fact than Colon never behaved like an ace for Cleveland. He was in his sixth season at that point and had won 65 games, including 18 one year. But he still preferred to speak through an interpreter and was an enigma to fans. There was nothing engaging about his personality, in contrast to stoppers like Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling or Roger Clemens. They behaved like aces and told you after the game how they did it, and how they would do it again. They welcomed the chance to have their teammates climb on their backs and enjoy the ride to victory.

Colon never did that during his stay in Cleveland, talented though he was. It's a rarity. And even though it's still early in the season, Lee is showing signs of maturing into a true ace for the Tribe. His AL Pitcher of the Month award for April was no fluke.

Imagine if the Indians hadn't given up on Brandon Phillips so abruptly. He also came over in the Colon deal, but was sent packing early in 2006, and has become a mainstay of Cincinnati's lineup at second base -- a position the Indians are still struggling to stabilize.