Cliff Lee’s postseason ERA is .54. That’s one of the numbers in Pinstripe Alley’s optimistic pregame post on Monday night’s Game 5; Yankees fans would prefer to focus on some others, most notable that A.J. Burnett is actually pretty good on short rest.
Yankees Fans Find Hope Versus Lee In Numbers
All the debating and arguing about whether Burnett should pitch on short rest will end if the Yanks win tonight. On three days of rest, A.J. is 4-0 with a 2.33 ERA (in 27 innings) in his career. The last time he pitched on short rest was September of 2008 (6 ip, 0 er). Very good numbers, but beware of small sample sizes…
Still, there’s Cliff Lee. He’s looming, and looming large:
Lee hopefully comes back to Earth tonight. His postseason ERA is .54. He’s done incredibly well vs. the Yanks recently: 1.29 ERA in his last four starts, and hasn’t allowed more than three runs since 2006. Surprisingly, Jose Molina hits Lee better than Posada. Tex, Jeter and A-Rod have had a lot of success against Lee, but on the other end of the spectrum are Damon and Cano, who might as well try to bunt for hits.
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