A Look at Cliff Lee

It really boggles my mind that Cliff Lee would start this year 5-0 with an ERA of 0.96. Last year in 20 games in the big leagues (16 starts), he pitched to a 6+ ERA, giving up a ton of hits and not striking very many people out. Suddenly, he's given up less than a hit per inning, while having almost a strikeout per inning ratio. Even in his best stretch of years ('04-'06) he didn't strike out very many, pitched to contact, gave up runs, but won games.

How to explain this season, then? Early season dominance, in this case, points to the lineups he's been facing. His opponents in five starts this year go as follows:

April 6: @ Oakland
April 13: Oakland
April 18: @ Minnesota
April 24: @ Kansas City
April 30: Seattle

He's managed to miss pitching against the White Sox (struggling now, but not when Cleveland first saw them), Red Sox, Tigers, Angels and Yankees so far this year, teams his team has struggled to a 6-9 record against thus far. So there's no indication of how he will perform against a deep, patient, veteran American League lineup. Granted, he's still getting major league hitters out when he's facing the lineups that he's beaten, but I will be very curious to see the kind of start he puts up against an established, formidable lineup.