2010 world series

Cliff Lee Is Human

When Texas scored two early runs against Andy Pettitte during Game 3 of the ALCS, they essentially ended the game: Cliff Lee, as he so often does in the playoffs, cruised from that point forth, and in doing so somehow made a two-run deficit seem awfully insurmountable. This wasn’t the case in Game 1 of the World Series, though. After falling behind 2-0 after two innings, the Giants would hit Lee about as hard as Lee can be hit, en route to an 11-7 victory. Lee’s line: seven runs (six earned) on eight hits in just four-and-two-thirds innings. In the fifth inning alone, he allowed two doubles, a walk, and two singles — before Juan Uribe blew the game open with a three-run shot off reliever Darren O’Day. So Cliff Lee has been downgraded from “borderline invincible” in the playoffs to merely “typically amazing.” And if there’s a dollar figure associated with that downgrade, rest assured that Brian Cashman is calculating it as we speak.

Cliff Lee Is Human