Wahoo Wakeup: One Year Too Late

Written by: Michael Taylor on 10th April 2009

Wahoo Wakeup: One Year Too Late | read this item

Game #5 – Saturday, 1:05 ET
Toronto Blue Jays (4-1) at Cleveland Indians (0-4)
Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio
Radio: WTAM
TV: STO

Today at Progressive Field fans will get to view something special – two Cy Young award winners battling it out on the same hill. What makes it even more special is the fact that each of today’s pitchers, Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay, finished #1 & #2 in the award voting just last season, but never faced each other in their quest to win the prestigious award.

Some argue that Roy Halladay was snubbed by BBWAA voters in the voting because of the stiffer competition that he faced in the AL East, and the fact that he threw so many more innings, 246 to 223.1, and complete games, nine to four. And it’s not as if there was a huge difference in ERA (2.54 for Lee, and 2.78 for Halladay) either.

But what Cliff Lee had was a story, a story of perseverance that people latched onto during such a special season. The year before he had found himself demoted to the minor leagues due to his ineffectiveness to get batters out consistently. This left him off of the Indians post-season roster. But the competitive drive inside of Lee kept him working hard to prove to his teammates that 2007 was an aberration and not the true Lee.

What transpired was one of the most impressive performances turned in by any pitcher in recent memory. A 22-3 record, 2.54 ERA, and a very impressive five-to-one K:BB ratio – and this was on a team that finished the season with an even .500 record!

To win over a quarter of your team’s games in a single season is quite an impressive feat, but what Halladay has done over the course of his career is no slouch either. In 12 major league seasons, Halladay has a 132-66 record, a 3.53 ERA, 1289 strikeouts to just 421 walks, and 40 complete games in 1814.2 innings of work. He also has his own Cy Young award from 2003, and three more finishes in the top-5 of the voting for the award in 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Today they will meet for just the second time of their careers. The first meeting was July 6, 2007 when Halladay bested Lee in an 8-6 ballgame where each struggled by allowing five earned runs, but Halladay at least lasted past the fifth inning with the lead to get the victory. Today Lee will look to get the best of his counterpart on the field this time, and get the Indians pitching staff headed in the right direction.

Team Notes:
CLE…The Indians are currently 4-30 with runners in scoring position…The Indians have been hit by pitch five times already this year in four games, they set the MLB record last year by being hit 103 times…The Indians are 0-4 for the first time since 1985, they finished that season with a 60-102 record…The average age of the Indians roster is 28.67, 3rd in AL/7th youngest in MLB. Last year it was 29.33, 7th in the AL, and 13th in MLB…The Indians have been outscored 17-4 through innings 1 & 2 so far…TOR…Friday nights 3 hour 49 minute rain delay was the longest such delay in Toronto history…Toronto won for just the third time in their last 17 games at Progressive Field last night…Toronto scored more runs Friday night against the Indians, 13, than they did in seven games against them in 2008…The Blue Jays are 4-1 for the first time since 2001.

Indians Player Notes:
Scott Lewis failed to win his fifth consecutive start to begin his major league career Friday, which would have made him the first to accomplish the feat since the Angels Jered Weaver in 2006…CF Grady Sizemore has 18 career leadoff HR, tying Kenny Lofton for franchise record…SS Jhonny Peralta remains 1 HR away from breaking Woodie Held’s career HR mark for Cleveland shortstops…Ryan Garko has a 43 game errorless streak…Travis Hafner needs just one more home run to reach 150 career HR…RP Rafael Perez and Masa Kobayashi both have pitched in three of the four games thus far. They should have today off. Should.

Who’s Hot:
CLE…DH Travis Hafner belted his second homer in as many days Friday, hitting a 92mph Scott Richmond offering into the visitors bullpen…C/1B Victor Martinez extended his hitting streak to four games with a 2-5 night last night, and hit his 2nd HR of the season….1B Ryan Garko collected his second hit of the season (.500, 2-4) last night, he also walked three times…TOR…OF Adam Lind continues to destroy the baseball, hitting his third home run of the season, and collecting two doubles in game one of this series…SS Marco Scutaro is hitting .409 as the leadoff hitter for the Jays, and has scored eight runs already this season…3B Scott Rolen collected three hits last night including a 2B, raising his average to .467.

Who’s Not:
CLE…Indians stating pitching has yet to make it into the sixth inning of any start, allowing now 26 runs in 15.1 innings…RP Rafael Perez who is arguably the best setup man on the team, has allowed runs in back-to-back appearances, including five last night to take the loss…OF Ben Francisco struck out an unusually high three times last night to lower his average to .143(2-14)…TOR…C Rod Barajas started three games behind the plate for the Jays, but had just one hit in 10 at-bats (.100)…1B/DH Lyle Overbay hit .200(3-15) against the Tigers, but did hit 2 doubles…RP Brian Tallet threw the ball well last night in relief, but did serve up a two-run HR to Victor Martinez and another solo HR to Shin-Soo Choo to raise his very young season ERA to 6.23.

Pitching Matchup
A year after finishing 1-2 in the AL Cy Young award voting, Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay finally get to face off against each other. Lee took home the prized possession after a 22-3 season with 2.54 ERA, while Halladay finished 2008 with a record of 20-11 and a 2.78 ERA.

Cliff Lee (L) 0-1, 12.60 ERA
Lee is coming back on normal rest after his Opening Day start against the Rangers. He was uncharacteristically wild in the strike zone that day when he allowed seven runs on ten hits in five innings. But if you believe in sabermetrics, Lee’s ERA based on what he could control that day, using Fielding Independent Pitching, should be 4.38. He continued to command the strike zone with five strikeouts and a single walk, and his BABIP against was an unfortunate .497.

Career vs. TOR – (1-3) 4.02 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 40.1 IP, 44H, 6HR, 13BB, 24K, .277AVG
Career @ Progressive Field – (37-19) 3.92 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 465.2 IP, 472H, 59HR, 137BB, 363K, .264AVG

VS.
• Aaron Hill – .125(1-8), BB, 2K, GIDP
• Kevin Millar – .364(4-11), 2B, RBI, BB, 2K
• Alex Rios – .316(6-19), 3 2B, 2RBI, BB, 2K, 3GIDP
• Scott Rolen – .571(4-7), 2B, RBI, K
• Marco Scutaro – .353(6-17), 2 2B, BB, K
• Vernon Wells – .250(3-12), 2HR, 6RBI, 2BB, K

vs. Roy Halladay (R) 1-0, 6.43 ERA
Started his seventh Opening Day for the Jays (franchise record) against the Tigers and cruised through the first six innings retiring the side in order five out of the six innings. But in the seventh he was hit hard for four hits including a Brandon Inge 2-run HR. Halladay finished the day with the victory, allowing five runs on six hits in his seven innings of work. He was 0-2 against the Indians last year in two starts, receiving three runs of offensive support.

Career vs. CLE – (5-2) 3.73 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 72.1 IP, 67H, 2HR, 31BB, 67K, .241AVG
Career @ Progressive Field – (1-1) 4.07 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 24.1 IP, 20H, 0HR, 10BB, 26K, .222AVG

VS.
• Ben Francisco – .500(3-6), 2 2B, K
• Travis Hafner – .286(4-14), 2 2B, RBI, 3BB, 4K
• Victor Martinez – .375(3-8), 2B, BB, 2K
• Jhonny Peralta – .250(4-16), 2RBI, BB, 5K
• Kelly Shoppach – .000(0-6), RBI, 3K
• Grady Sizemore – .176(3-17), 2B, BB, 4K, 2SB

Mash Units:
CLE
LF David Dellucci – Left Calf (15-day DL), IF Jamey Carroll – Left Hand (15-day DL), SP Jake Westbrook – Right Elbow (60-day DL)
TOR
SP Casey Janssen – Right Shoulder (15-day DL), SP Dustin McGowan – Right Shoulder (15-day DL), SP Shawn Marcum – Right Elbow (15-day DL)

On Deck:
Sunday: Indians (Anthony Reyes, 0-0 0.00) vs. Blue Jays (David Purcey, 0-0 0.00), 1:05 ET
Monday: Indians (Fausto Carmona, 0-1 10.80) @ Royals (Zack Greinke 1-0 0.00), 8:10 ET
Tuesday: Indians (Carl Pavano, 0-1 81.00) @ Royals (Kyle Davies, 0-0 0.00), 8:10 ET

Topics: Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay