Cliff Lee wins his 20th as tribe defeats White Sox

Cleveland beat the Chicago White Sox on Monday night behind a 5 hit shutout by Cliff Lee, giving him his 20th victory of the season.  Lee, now 20-2 on the year, became Cleveland’s first twenty game winner since well travelled Gaylord Perry in 1974.  More impressively, Lee has become a dominant pitcher on a less than dominant team—the Indians with the win moved their record to 66-70 on the year.

Lee’s meteoric rise to the top of the AL pitching foodchain is amazing, bordering on improbable.  Lee struggled during the early part of the 2007 season and following a particularly disastrous outing in July was booed off the field by Cleveland fans.  He was subsequently sent to the minor to work on his “mental game” and pitching mechanics.  Apparently, both are now in top form and Lee is now the toast of Cleveland.

Statistically, his season has been amazing any way you slice it—he started 2008 on a 5-0 run, was 12-2 at the All Star break and finished the month of August with a 5-0 record and 1.86 ERA.  He’s become more of a Greg Maddux like pitcher and has quickly found Maddux-like success and consistency:  he’s gone at least 5 innings in every one of his 27 starts and he’s allowed 2 or fewer runs in 21 of those.  He’s been effective on the road (11-2) as well as at home (9-0).

Now he joins legends like Bob Feller and Bob Lemon as Cleveland 20 game winners.  He’ll get several more starts in the final month of the season to add to his amazing season.  His 20th win was one of his most impressive—after allowing two singles to lead off the game Lee retired 21 straight batters en route to his 4th complete game victory of the season.

A stoic, low key player, Lee was characteristically subdued in the wake of his monumental accomplishment:

"It's nice to get this behind me and not have to answer questions about matching Gaylord Perry. I'm glad I got it over with on the first try. It's a good feeling, especially not giving up any runs."

Lee’s next start will be Sunday at Kansas City against the woeful Royals.  Facing a team with a 57-79 mark, Lee has a very good chance at chalking up win #21.