He may end up in a New York Yankees uniform in 2011. Or not. But chances are, it may be a long time before anyone puts together as efficient a season as the one Cliff Lee just completed.
The 12-9 record he compiled for Seattle and Texas does not come close to reflecting the historic nature of what Lee, the Rangers left-hander who is scheduled to start against the Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night, has accomplished.
In 212 1/3 innings, Lee walked only 18 batters, two intentionally. This is how remarkable that is: No pitcher in the last 70 years has thrown so many innings and yet walked so few.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, since 1900, only two other pitchers who threw 200 or more innings in a season had fewer than 20 walks: Babe Adams of the 1920 Pittsburgh Pirates (262 innings, 18 walks), and Red Lucas of the 1933 Cincinnati Reds (219/18). Neither Adams nor Lewis struck out even 100 batters. Lee had 185 strikeouts.
''The ones that have had similar command are sitting in the Hall of Fame or on their way in," said Mike Maddux, the Texas pitching coach, whose brother, Greg, a four-time Cy Young Award winner, is one of those pitchers.
Lee's 10.28 strikeout-to-walk ratio was the second best among qualifiers since 1900, trailing only Bret Saberhagen's 11.00 mark for the Mets in the strike-shortened 1994 season. Lee was far ahead of the record until walking 11 batters the final two months.
This all happened in a season Lee began on the disabled list with a left abdominal strain. He did not make his first start until April 30.
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