Cliff Lee of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched an impressive game at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks, striking out 11 batters and only giving up two hits in a complete game. Of the 11 strikeouts recorded by Lee, four of them came against Mark Reynolds, who's among the NL leaders with 38 home runs and 83 RBIs. Lee is now 4-0 in his first four starts with the Phillies with a 0.82 ERA. This is similar to last season, when C.C. Sabathia was traded by the Cleveland Indians to the Milwaukee Brewers. He went 4-0 in his first four starts as well. Lee was traded by the Indians to the Phillies just before the trading deadline.
Lee is certainly proving that he belongs on a contending team. When the Indians were in the ALCS in 2007 against the Boston Red Sox, Lee wasn't among the starting pitchers who were successful in their run. He had a monstrous year last season en route to a Cy Young award. I believe the Phillies are ready to contend with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals to repeat as NL champions and World Series champions. They have a front line starter who can win ball games in the playoffs, and the Phillies lacked that before they got Lee this season.
I still don't believe the Phillies have enough for the Cardinals or Dodgers. The Cardinals have probably the two best pitchers in the NL in Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter. The addition of Matt Holliday has certainly helped, as he has been playing well alongside Albert Pujols. The Dodgers have fallen as of late, but they have a good front line starter in Chad Billingsley themselves. They also have a good hitting lineup, just like the Phillies even though the Phillies lineup is better. The Dodgers got perhaps the best hitter in the game in Manny Ramirez, however, so it's going to be real interesting come playoff time.
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