the finish line?

It is beginning to look like we’ve seen the last of Cliff Lee in the major leagues. The recurrence of elbow pain/discomfort that curtailed the Meridian Community College product’s 2014 season in Philadelphia may compel him to retire at age 36. “I don’t have any regrets,” he told mlb.com when discussing that possibility. Nor should he. Lee, who pitched at MCC in the late ’90s for current Southern Miss coach Scott Berry, has 143 career wins over 13 seasons. In seven seasons, he topped 200 innings. He went 7-3 with a 2.52 ERA in 11 postseason games and helped two teams make the World Series. He won a Cy Young award in 2008 when he went 22-3 for Cleveland. He also won the ERA title that year. He made four All-Star Games. If there were a Hall of Very Good, Lee would be a shoo-in. P.S. Paul Maholm, bidding to win both a roster spot and a job in Cincinnati’s rotation, was sharp in today’s outing against Kansas City. The lefty out of Mississippi State threw three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and getting seven ground ball outs. He had a 4.84 ERA in 30 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2014. … Ex-State standout Kendall Graveman, vying for a spot in Oakland’s rotation, allowed one run in three innings against Cleveland today.