Tag Archives: Cliff Lee

18 Oct

it happened one october, take 6

On this date in 2009, Meridian Community College product Cliff Lee tossed eight dominant innings for Philadelphia against Los Angeles in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series. In an 11-0 victory at Citizens Bank Park that put the Phillies up 2-1 in games, lefty Lee allowed three hits (all singles) and no walks and struck out 10. He also got a hit. The Phillies would win the series in five games and go on to face — and fall to — the New York Yankees in the World Series. Lee — a 143-game winner and four-time All-Star over 13 seasons — went 4-0 in that ’09 postseason and was 7-3 all-time in October but never claimed a ring.

15 Sep

hot starts

On this date in 2002, Cliff Lee threw the first pitch of his major league career. Perhaps foreshadowing what was to come, the ex-Meridian Community College standout went 5 1/3 innings, allowing a lone run, but took a loss for Cleveland in a 5-0 defeat against visiting Minnesota. A 6-foot-3 left-hander, Lee would finish his 13-year MLB career with a 143-91 record, a 3.52 ERA, a Cy Young Award, an ERA title and four All-Star Game appearances. He never won a World Series ring but was 7-3, 2.52, in the postseason. In sum, he was really good. Born in Arkansas, he spent two years at MCC (under Scott Berry) and was drafted by Baltimore in 1998. He didn’t sign and went on to Arkansas, where he was a fourth-round pick by Montreal in 2000. He was traded to Cleveland in the summer of 2002 along with Brandon Phillips and Grady Sizemore in a blockbuster deal for Bartolo Colon and Lee Stevens. Lee would win 90 games for the Indians, 22 in 2008 when he earned the Cy Young. He won 58 games in parts of five seasons with Philadelphia and went 2-0 in the 2009 World Series. … Also on this date, in 1984, Natchez native Freddie Toliver made his MLB debut, tossing a scoreless inning for Cincinnati against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Drafted out of a California high school in 1979, Toliver went 10-16, 4.73, in 78 MLB games; he was 7-6, 4.24, for a 91-win Minnesota club in 1988. … And on this date in 1993, Keith Kessinger, an Ole Miss alum, went 1-for-2 for Cincinnati against Atlanta, getting his knock off Kent Mercker in his first at-bat. Kessinger, son of former big league star Don Kessinger, hit .259 in 11 games in ’93, his only year in The Show. P.S. Crochet v. Warren Act II went a lot like the original. Crochet, the former Ocean Springs High standout now with the Boston Red Sox, threw six effective innings Sunday night, allowing three runs and fanning 12, in Boston’s 6-4 victory over the New York Yankees at Fenway Park. Warren, the Jackson Prep product, gave up all six runs in the first inning – two on a hit by Mississippi State alum Nathaniel Lowe – and took the loss. Crochet (16-5, 2.63 ERA in 30 starts) beat Warren and Yanks on Aug. 23, punching out 11 in seven innings in a 12-1 win. Warren (now 8-7, 4.44) got roughed up in that game, too. He has a 9.42 ERA in three career starts against Boston. Of note: Crochet has fanned Aaron Judge 11 times in 15 at-bats; Judge has hit two homers off the lefty, including one Sunday. The season series between the two American League East rivals has ended. The Red Sox, who won the series, trail the second-place Yankees by 1.5 games. … Former Southern Miss standout Chuckie Robinson has been recalled again (see previous posts) by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

31 Jul

lightning strikes twice

Deadline trades — and there were a slew of them this week — can be risky, but they can also make a big difference in a team’s championship chase. To wit: Former Meridian Community College standout Cliff Lee was involved in deadline deals in back-to-back seasons that proved very rewarding. Both times the lanky left-hander helped his new club reach the World Series. In 2009, the defending world champion Philadelphia Phillies traded four prospects to Cleveland for Lee, the 2008 Cy Young Award winner, and an outfielder. Lee went 7-4 with a 3.39 ERA as the Phillies won the National League East. In the postseason, he was 4-0 with a 1.56 and beat the New York Yankees twice in the World Series. Alas, the Phils fell in six games. In 2010, Lee had moved on to Seattle. That July, Texas sent three prospects along with big leaguer Justin Smoak to the Mariners to get Lee for the stretch run. He went 4-6 with a 3.98 ERA for the Rangers, 2-1 with a 1.93 in four September starts, helping them win the American League West. In the 2010 postseason, Lee posted a 3-2, 2.78, ledger as Texas reached the World Series. Both of his losses came in the Series, won by San Francisco. … Lee won 143 games in a 13-year big league career and was 7-3 with a 2.52 ERA in 11 postseason starts. He did not win a ring, however. P.S. At a press conference in Pittsburgh today, Jackson Prep alum Konnor Griffin formally signed with the Pirates for a $6.5 million bonus, the highest for a Mississippi-connected player in the bonus pool era (since 2012) of the MLB draft. The consensus national high school player of the year was the ninth overall pick. “The (Pirates) team is on a great track right now hopefully getting to the playoffs,” Griffin said at his signing. “There are a lot of great things I’m seeing here.” If Griffin, an outfielder/shortstop, plays this season, it’ll likely be at Low-Class A Bradenton. The rookie league season has ended. … Former Jackson Prep standout Will Warren was optioned back to Triple-A by the New York Yankees after making an impressive MLB debut at Philadelphia on Tuesday (see previous posts). … Lance Lynn, the 37-year-old right-hander out of Ole Miss, went on the injured list with knee inflammation today, a day after notching his sixth win for St. Louis against Texas. Lynn (6-4, 4.06 ERA) is 2-0 in his last three starts while allowing just three runs in 16 innings for the Cardinals, who are still in the National League wild card race.

29 Jul

remember the time

On this date in 2009, the Philadelphia Phillies — defending World Series champs — swung a big trade with Cleveland for left-hander Cliff Lee, the former Meridian Community College star and 2008 Cy Young Award winner. Lee went 7-4 with a 3.39 ERA down the stretch for the Phillies and 4-0 in the postseason, but the team lost to the New York Yankees in the World Series. Lee was traded to Seattle in the off-season. On July 29, 2010, the Phillies, again eyeing a postseason run, traded with Houston for Roy Oswalt, the former Holmes CC standout who had won an ERA title in 2006. Oswalt went 7-1 with a 1.74 for the Phils and 1-1 in the postseason as the team lost to San Francisco in the National League Championship Series. After the 2010 season, Philadelphia brought Lee back as a free agent. The Phils entered the 2011 season with a fantastic rotation — famously hailed as the “legion of arms” on the cover of Sports Illustrated — of Lee, Oswalt, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Joe Blanton. The team won 102 games — Lee won 17, Oswalt nine — and the NL East title but fell in the division series to St. Louis. Lee and Oswalt both lost their starts. Oswalt left after the 2011 season and was soon out of the game. Lee pitched three more years in Philly with only modest success. Neither would appear in another postseason game, and the Phillies didn’t make the postseason again until last year. P.S. Props to Millsaps College coach Jim Page and former Mississippi State and big league pitcher Paul Maholm for their formal induction today into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, a very deserving honor for each.

31 May

cy young watch

The competition is stiff for the Cy Young Award in the National League, home to Jacob deGrom, Trevor Bauer, Yu Darvish, Max Scherzer, et al. If Brandon Woodruff wasn’t in the conversation entering 2021, he certainly is now. Woodruff beat Scherzer head-to-head on Sunday, allowing just two hits while fanning 10 in a 3-0 win by Milwaukee over Washington. The former Mississippi State star from Wheeler is 4-2 with a 1.27 ERA — second in MLB only to deGrom — and has racked up 10 straight quality starts. Batters are hitting .138 against him — that’s second-best in MLB — and he is tied for seventh in the majors with 83 strikeouts. He toyed with the Nationals’ hitters on Sunday, utilizing three effective pitches. “I was mixing it up and getting ahead and moving the ball around to different quadrants of the zone. That’s what helps out,” Woodruff said in a classic understatement in an mlb.com article. What’s more, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound right-hander just exudes confidence on the mound. The only Mississippi-connected pitcher to win a Cy Young is Cliff Lee, the Meridian Community College product who claimed the American League honor in 2008 with Cleveland. (BTW, Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn — 6-1 with an AL-best 1.37 ERA — is off to a Cy Young-caliber start with the Chicago White Sox.)

17 Mar

and that happened

On this date in 2005, former Mississippi State star Rafael Palmeiro infamously wagged his finger during a Congressional hearing and declared, “I have never used steroids. Period.” Less than two months later, while playing for Baltimore, he failed an MLB drug test for steroids and was suspended. Though Palmeiro has steadfastly denied using steroids, that incident has stuck to him and is the main reason he is not in the National Baseball Hall of Fame despite having 3,000 hits and 500 homers over a 20-year career that ended in 2005. … On a somewhat lighter note, it was also on this date in 2010 that Meridian Community College product Cliff Lee, pitching for Seattle, was ejected from a spring training game – and subsequently fined and suspended – for throwing a pitch over the head of an Arizona batter. The fine and suspension, which would have been for five regular season games, were later rescinded. That incident is largely forgotten and is definitely not the reason Lee isn’t in the Hall of Fame despite 143 wins, a 3.52 ERA and a Cy Young award in a 13-year career. Lee was on the ballot for the first time for the 2020 election and promptly dropped off the ballot.

19 Nov

putting it to a vote

The list of first-timers on the baseball writers’ 2020 Hall of Fame ballot includes two notable names with Mississippi ties: Cliff Lee and Bobby Abreu, both of whom figure to get decent support. Neither, however, is likely to be named on 75 percent of the ballots to earn election. The real question is, will they get enough support to stay on the ballot for a second term? A player needs to appear on at least 5 percent of the ballots to do so — a bigger hurdle than you might think. Consider: Weir native and Holmes Community College product Roy Oswalt and former Jackson Generals Lance Berkman and Freddy Garcia were first-timers on the 2019 ballot, and none of them came close to making it for 2020. Both Lee, who pitched at Meridian Community College before going on to Arkansas, and ex-Generals star Abreu have some eye-catching numbers. Lee, a four-time All-Star and a Cy Young Award winner, went 143-91 with a 3.52 ERA over 13 seasons. Abreu, a two-time All-Star, batted .291 with 288 homers, 400 steals and eight 100-RBI seasons. But it’s a very crowded field. Still on the ballot is Billy Wagner, another ex-Gens star who has lasted five years. The little left-hander, who has 422 career saves (sixth all-time), got just 16.7 percent of the votes in 2019. The only Mississippi-connected players enshrined in Cooperstown are former Negro Leagues stars Cool Papa Bell and William Foster.

23 Jan

one and done

The results of the National Baseball Hall of Fame voting should not, by any means, diminish what Roy Oswalt, Lance Berkman and Freddy Garcia accomplished in the game. Oswalt, arguably the best pitcher the state has ever produced, and former Jackson Generals stars Berkman and Garcia were among the 16 players who appeared on the ballot for the first time and didn’t garner enough support to appear again. It was a tad surprising how little support each received, but such is the nature of a process that had 35 names on the ballot, including the four truly great ones who were elected to Cooperstown. Each voter is limited to 10 picks. Oswalt got just four votes total. Berkman got five and Garcia none. It took 319 votes (75 percent) to get elected. Oswalt, from Weir and Holmes Community College, won 163 games, posted a 3.36 ERA and was a three-time All-Star. Berkman batted .293 with 366 homers, made six All-Star Games and won a World Series ring. Garcia won 156 games over 15 seasons, was a two-time All-Star and also won a ring. Though they’ll slip off the Hall of Fame ballot, Mississippi baseball aficionados won’t forget them. … Former Generals standout Billy Wagner, in his fourth year on the ballot, got 71 votes (16.7 percent), enough to stay on for the 2020 election. Meridian Community College alumnus Cliff Lee and Generals alum Bobby Abreu are among the players who’ll make their first appearance on the 2020 ballot.

26 Oct

jogging the memory

Kept seeing and hearing Cliff Lee’s name pop up after Corey Kluber’s brilliant performance for Cleveland in Game 1 of the World Series. Former Meridian Community College star Lee, who last pitched in the big leagues in 2014, never won a World Series ring but did post some impressive postseason numbers that are worth recounting. The stoic left-hander was 7-0 in the postseason at one point and finished 7-3 with a 2.52 ERA in 11 starts; he struck out 89 and walked 10 in 82 innings. He was never better than in Game 1 of the 2009 Series, when he was pitching for Philadelphia against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Lee went nine, allowed six hits and a lone unearned run, struck out 10 and walked none. Excellent. He beat the Yankees again in Game 5 of that Series, but those were the only games the Phillies won. Lee won 143 games and a Cy Young Award (with Cleveland in 2008) over his 13 big league campaigns. He averaged 7.6 K’s and just 1.9 walks per nine innings for his career. Baseball America once wrote of Lee that he “will be remembered as a pitcher who had arguably the best control and command of any lefthander of this generation.”

01 Aug

home cooking

The Mississippi Braves are surging. Sorta. Having limped in last Saturday after a rough road trip, the M-Braves have won five of six during the current homestand. But … they’ve gained no ground in the Southern League South during this stretch. At 23-18, the M-Braves are 3 games behind Jacksonville, which has displaced Mobile at the top of the standings. Still, Thursday’s 7-4 win over Mobile was significant. The BayBears, first-half champs in the division, took a series at Trustmark Park in mid-July, winning three straight after dropping the first two. In the opener of the new series on Thursday, the M-Braves got home runs — a rarity at the TeePee — from Cedric Hunter and Rich Poythress and some nice pitching — a regular occurrence — from J.R. Graham and Jason Hursh. Hunter, a one-time big leaguer, leads the M-Braves with 12 bombs. Poythress, the big first baseman signed recently to replace injured slugger Seth Loman, hit his first homer with the club. Graham, still on the mend from arm issues, threw two scoreless innings before giving way to Hursh, who worked six strong to get the win. The 2013 first-round pick by Atlanta out of Oklahoma State is now 10-6 with a 3.56 ERA. His future looks bright. P.S. Philadelphia did make a move on Thursday with ex-Meridian Community College star Cliff Lee. The Phillies put the veteran left-hander back on the disabled list after he experienced elbow discomfort during his start against Washington. Lee only recently returned from a two-month stint on the DL with the same problem. The chances he might be traded now look rather slim. In fact, his season may be over.