Inside The Park | Cliff Lee Rules

I've been spending way too much time thinking about Michael Vick and Pedro Martinez. It's time to give attention to athletes who are actually performing. Cliff Lee has been nearly perfect in his first four starts since being traded to the Phillies on July 29th, and he's won over the hearts of Philadelphia fans while also making them instantly forget about Roy Halladay.

We have forgotten that Lee was actually our second choice when the Phillies were pursuing a front-line pitcher at the trade deadline this year. No disrespect to Halladay, but we got the best pitcher available. We got Lee for lesser minor-league prospects than Toronto was demanding for Halladay, and Lee costs about half as much to our payroll (not that I care, really).

And what has Lee done since he showed up in our clubhouse as the consolation prize? How about an ERA of 0.83, WHIP of 0.73, a whopping 34 strikeouts in 33 innings, and 4 wins in 4 outings, including 2 complete games. And just for laughs, he's also batting .385 with two runs scored.

Lee works efficiently, minimizing time between pitches to help keep the game in a rhythm and give it a sense of urgency. He throws a lot of first-pitch strikes and seems to have a great ball-strike ratio. He attacks hitters and then trusts his defense. Lee keeps his head down and plows forward, both on the mound and in front of the media. He downplays his success and talks about working hard.

Phillies fans love players like that. They like it when players keep their heads down and play hard. In his most recent game, Lee beat out a dribbler down the third-base line by running as if his life depended on it. You don't see a lot of pitchers taking their at-bats so seriously, and it's easily recognizable to fans. And he's spent his entire career in the pitcher-coddling American League where he doesn't have to hit. This guy is doing everything right. He almost makes us forget that Cole Hamels is struggling this year.

All credit goes to Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro, who went hard after Halladay but had the good sense not to mortgage the farm and instead go after the next best thing. Lucky for him, the "next best thing" turned out to be the 2008 American League Cy Young winner and a hard-nosed, competitive bulldog of a pitcher like Cliff Lee. Now we've got Lee for the stretch run of the regular season and throughout the playoffs, as well as all of next season and the playoffs, before we have to think about re-signing him. Way to go, Rube. Way to go.