A guy named Cliff Lee who pitches up in Cleveland is putting up ridiculous numbers. They'd have been ridiculous in the Dead Ball Era.
Lee is off to a 4-0 start this season. He has given up 11 hits, walked only two batters and surrendered a lone earned run, making his ERA a beyond-minuscule 0.28.
If you haven't heard of Cliff Lee, he's not exactly a household name, even after the Indians' playoff run last year. Following a 14-win season in 2006, he spent much of '07 in the minors, and his future in Cleveland was in doubt entering this spring.
The Indians as a whole are off to a disappointing start, especially reigning AL Cy Young Award winner C.C. Sabathia. He did put in a six-inning, 11-strikeout, no-earned-run performance against Kansas City on Tuesday for his first win of the year. That stellar outing dropped his season ERA to 10.12; he'd given up nine earned runs in each of his previous two starts.
The two Cleveland pitchers might have similar numbers by the end of the year. But for now, they're at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Another good start, and Sabathia will have a better earned-run average than Pittsburgh's Matt Morris. The team's highest-paid pitcher is up to 9.15, which, of course, represents more than one earned run per inning. And almost one earned run per million dollars he earns.
Bruce Brown's trivia: The answer to yesterday's question is Doug DeCinces, whom Pirates fans may remember as playing for the Orioles against Pittsburgh in the '79 World Series.
Today, Bruce asks: What future Rookie of the Year winner was released by the Dodgers in 1978 after having spinal fusion surgery? (Hint: He was the first manager of the Schaumburg Flyers.)
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The answer is Ron Kittle. He was Rookie of the Year for the White Sox in '83.
According to his Web site (www.ronkittle.com), his hobby is making benches out of bats. (With the rate at which today's maple bats break, he should have plenty of material with which to work.)
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