If a woman got pregnant on the night of Cliff Lee's last victory....

....she would be giving birth this week.

And if it was a "preemie", she would be nursing right now.

And.....

Well you get the picture.

Cliff Lee

Cliff Lee: 9 innings, 1 run, 5 hits, 12 strikeouts, 0 walks

Michael Schwimer gets the win for a scoreless inning.

Knows how to "win" obviously.

Ivan Nova

Ivan Nova has 11 wins.

Just one less than Cliff Lee.

His wife doesn't prefer Philly to New York either.

His nickname is "Super Nova".

Not "Cliffy".

Philly cheese steak triggers his gag reflex.

Is a much more appealing sketch card subject too.

Could go on and on.

With Cliff Lee's home run last night....

....both he and Ryan Howard have the same amount of home runs against left-handers this year.

Lee also has more home runs this year (2) than Joe Mauer (don't ask).

I wonder why the Phillies don't consider a position change. I mean he has proven that he can hit with the big boys.

If Ryan Howard could pitch, it would probably be a no-brainer.

Cliff Lee walked Julio Lugo today?!

What the?

That is like Marvis Frazier beating Mike Tyson!

Or any horse beating Secretariat.

Or Ron defeating Harry Potter.

Or...

Just realized this

Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt are in the same rotation!

Obama will be staying away from Phillies games, no doubt.

So essentially Cliff Lee left the Pirates payroll on the table to sign with the Phillies

I am not sure that MLB needs a "salary cap" as much as a "salary floor".

I don't think Jamie Moyer needs to rush back from surgery!

The Phillies can probably also save on middle relievers too.

Can never have too many bats on the bench, you know.

Nationals sales pitch to Cliff Lee

"We will give you that seventh year!

And if you sign with us, you will retire with a 2.13 career post-season ERA. How cool is that?

What?

Hey how about this?

Do you usually have personal plans in October?

Do big crowds at ballparks make you nervous?

We will even make Jayson Werth shave and put his locker on the other side of the clubhouse.

Whad'ya say there Cliff?"

Yanks say they will take those fans over Lee and his wife

What have you done for me lately?

The Yankees price for Cliff Lee just went up

WAY UP!

From Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY:

"Perhaps the Rangers' greatest sales pitch simply was having Kristen (Lee's wife) sit in the visiting family section at Yankees Stadium during the playoffs. She says there were ugly taunts. Obscenities. Cups of beer thrown. Even fans spitting from the section above.

'The fans did not do good things in my heart,' Kristen says.

'When people are staring at you, and saying horrible things, it's hard not to take it personal.'"

Shoulda been nice, people!

Now Cashman is going to have to open up that secondary vault!

Whoa boy!

There are reports of Cliff Lee changing water into wine in a restaurant on East 20th Street.

Yanks, you CANNOT let this get to seven games!

Texas people

"This Clifford Leaf guy is pretty good!

Haven't watched a baseball game in years!

Ok back to that noose for Wade Phillips."

Photographic evidence

C. J. Wilson shows Cliff Lee how to pitch.

Good thing they got this in before the playoffs. 

Did you know...

....that Roy Oswalt was born one day before Cliff Lee in 1977? Oswalt on August 29th and Lee on August 30th.

I am not even going to look up the birthdays of Doug Harvey and that other guy.

Those Lincoln/Kennedy coincidences are just a bit much for me. Who needs more of that?

Ignorance is bliss.

Some things you just don't need to know.

Do you think Cliff Lee will get a no-trade clause in his next contract?

Four teams in twelve months.

He is not a piece of meat, you know.

I know your guys like to go to New York and all but...

Ken Rosenthal reported that the Yankees, Rangers and Phillies all had scouts in New York this week to see the Mariners Cliff Lee pitch against the Yankees.

I did a double take when I read this for the obvious reason being:

Why would anybody need to scout Cliff Lee?

He has a 2.45 ERA, a 0.92 WHIP, a .227 BAA and a 78/5 k/walk ratio.

What is a scout going to say?

He's overrated? The numbers are a mirage? I can spot his problems? We probably don't want this guy? He can't help us?

Further, the Phillies reportedly sent a scout and Lee pitched for them as recently as......oh last year.

Would these teams scout Albert Pujols if they were interested?

What could a scout say?

He is not good when the count is 0-2?

Guys, you are wasting your time here, ok?

Watching a Single A game might be more productive.

"American League hitters are unfamiliar with Cliff Lee"

From the mouth of Tim McCarver (8:35 pm).

I just walked in and frankly that is the first thing I heard from him today so perhaps he previously put this into a context that would make sense though I do not know what that could possibly be.

Of course, Cliff Lee pitched 7 1/2 years in the American League and 182 of his 194 games were pitched in the American League.

He's gonna have to give those American League guys some credit as I don't think they forgot all about Cliff Lee after he was traded out of their league a few months back.

If they are truly brain dead, all Girardi has to do is jog their collective memories and tell them that this is the same Cliff Lee that they used to face in Cleveland. Same guy, different uniform. That's what managers are for.

Oy.

Game 1

1.Numerous empty seats behind first base, third base and behind the dugouts; well kind of everywhere close. Is this game "sold out"? These seats are always empty. Have the Yankees "sold out" a game all year? I know that the Yankees are mega-profitable but when you have all of these empty seats for a World Series game, you really need to look at your business model. Don't look so good, you know.

2.If these six umpires blew that easy double play call on Cano after conferring for all that time, major league baseball should have been prepared to do a Ronald Reagan/air traffic controllers thing.

3.Cliff Lee* should have caught that lazy pop-up behind his back. Why not? Not much different than what he did.

4.Charlie Manuel is wearing a batting glove and he is not on the playoff roster that I know of. What gives? Maybe he's got a sponsorship. Does he wear that at home? It looks pretty white. I doubt it.

*That's gotta hurt in that photo above. The left arm "ain't" doing a natural thing there. No injury though. He signed the card.