AP Photo | Matt Slocum
Cliff Lee had a fabulous month of August, going 5-0 with a 0.45 earned run average. He had a 0.78 WHIP and opponents batted .173 against him. Pretty impressive numbers, right? But guess what is even more scary? That wasn’t even his best month of the 2011 season. While Lee had an unbelievable August, his month of June was even more incredible.
Lee’s first start during his terrific month was on June 6. The Phillies beat the Dodgers 3-1 as Lee struck out 10 over seven scoreless innings.
On June 11, Lee pitched 8 solid innings surrendering just one run in the Phillies 7-1 win over the Cubs.
Lee just kept getting better as June moved on. On June 16, Lee blanked the Marlins in his complete game. He gave up just two hits and two walks. In his next start on June 22, he shutout the St. Louis Cardinals in the Phillies 4-0 victory. And finally, on June 28, Lee stunned the Boston Red Sox allowing just four baserunners over 9 scoreless innings.
Overall, Lee went 5-0 with a 0.21 ERA and 3 complete game shutouts in the month of June. In addition he had a 0.69 WHIP and opponents batted .151 against him during the month.
Lee carried a scoreless inning streak from June into the month of July. He went 34 innings before allowing a run — a home run to Jose Bautista.
One number that was not off the charts for Lee in the month of June was strikeouts. He only had 29, the least of any month he had in 2011. Batters may have made contact, but this shows that Lee was able to locate the ball and jam hitters. It may also be a sign of good defense, but Lee has to deserve most of the credit.
Lee’s month of June was for the record books. Having a stellar season, Lee found himself as the star of several Top Moments in 2011. It’s expected that he will appear many times in 2012’s version as well.
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