Cliff Lee is a beast

That is some rarified air you’re breathing this morning Cliff Lee.
In no uncertain terms, Lee was a superhero last night. Has been the whole post-season really. He dismantled the best lineup in baseball, in their bandbox of a home stadium, and he did it without walking a batter while striking out ten. Nobody has ever done that in October history. Not Gibson, not Drysdale, not Koufax. Pretty amazing.
Watching the game in the second inning, you knew he simply wasn’t going to lose. He just toyed with Mark Tiexeira and suddenly-clutch A-Rod, blowing them both a way. And he did it with such a badass demeanor, that I actually said to myself “my god, the Yankees are NOT scoring tonight”. Turns out I was wrong because they scratched out an unearned run, but in a way I was right. That game could have gone on 20 more innings, and it still was not going to happen for the Yanks.
Two iconic plays which will make this performance legendary and a staple on October highlight reels for years. First one, a simple pop up to Lee, that he caught with such a nonchalant flair. It was not an instructional video, and probably made Charlie Manuel have an embolism, but it was classic. There was Lee, the man at trade deadline considered to be the Roy Halladay consolation prize, catching the ball with such a care-free arrogance that it seemed to say to the Yanks “Do you see how easy this is for me? It’s actually boring me getting you guys out, because it’s too easy.”
The second of the plays came on what should have been a sure up the middle single. Lee threw his glove behind his back, almost like a pool shark readying for a trick shot, and stabbed the come-backer to rob Robinson Cano of a hit. He then gave the same head shrug that Michael Jordan gave after hitting all those threes against Clyde Drexler and the Trailblazers. Stuff of legend.
I have absolutely no idea how the rest of the series plays out, but regardless Lee has entrenched himself into the October Hall of Fame with that start. And with his 0.54 playoff ERA (and dropping), the pinstripers can’t be happy about having to face him again.
Who could blame them.