a strong case

Cliff Lee sliced up the Atlanta Braves on Monday and may have cleared a path for himself to the Cool Papa Bell Award for 2011 in the process. Philadelphia left-hander Lee, the onetime Meridian Community College standout, threw a five-hit shutout at the Braves to run his record to 16-7 with a 2.47 ERA. He is 7-0 with a 0.96 in his last seven starts. And he topped 200 strikeouts for the year on Monday. Plus, he’s doing all this for a first-place club. The Cool Papa Bell Award is given here to the Mississippian (native or college alumnus) who has the best season in the majors; Chris Coghlan won in 2009, Roy Oswalt last year. Evidence is still being gathered, but Lee is the man to beat at the moment. Former Mississippi State star Jonathan Papelbon (29 saves, 4-0 record, 2.75 ERA for Boston); Ole Miss product Seth Smith (.288, 15 homers, 56 RBIs for Colorado); and ex-MSU standout Mitch Moreland (.270, 16, 48 for Texas) aren’t out of the running, but they’d need some kind of finish to upend Lee.
P.S. Colorado has called up Ole Miss alum Drew Pomeranz, the hot-prospect left-hander acquired in the Ubaldo Jimenez deal. Pomeranz is 4-3 with a 1.78 ERA in 20 starts over three levels of the minors this season. … Ernesto Mejia took home the Mississippi Braves’ Triple Crown this season — sort of. He set team records with 26 homers and 99 RBIs, and though he lost out to Tyler Pastornicky for the batting lead (.299 to .297), he also set an M-Braves mark for hits with 148.