Cliff Lee: he never wanted to leave Phillies in the first place

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Cliff Lee came and went in 2009 and came back in 2010

During what all fans of the Philadelphia Phillies have been led to believe will be one of the most significant off-season periods ever for the franchise, I’ve been taking a look back at the team’s ‘Hot Stove’ history.

So far we have recalled the signings of Pete Rose (1978), Jose Mesa(2000), and Jim Thome (2002) in free agency. We have also revisited key off-season trades: the 1981 three-way deal that resulted in Lonnie Smith leaving and Bo Diaz arriving, the 1982 trade of future Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, and the trading away of Thome.

Probably the most recent important Phillies move during a Hot Stove season came in the middle of December back in 2010. It was then that general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. began trying to reverse a huge prior mistake from exactly one year earlier. Both decisions were among the most influential during the 2009-11 period when the club was trying to get back to the World Series.

Those two moves involved a left-handed starting pitcher named Cliff Lee. His pro career had begun after he was drafted three times. Lee finally signed after being selected by the Montreal Expos with their fourth round selection in the 2000 MLB Amateur Draft.

In June 2002, Lee was dealt to the Cleveland Indians as part of a four-prospect package that also included Grady Sizemore and Brandon Phillips in an overall six-player deal that brought starting pitcher Bartolo Colon to Montreal.

LEE DEVELOPS INTO AN ACE

In Cleveland’s minor league system, Lee showed enough with Buffalo of the Triple-A International League that he was given a two-start cup of coffee with the Indians in September 2002. He went 10.1 innings allowing just six hits over those two outings.

Lee won the 2008 AL Cy Young Award with Cleveland

After beginning the 2003 season back at Triple-A, Lee received a spot start with Cleveland in late June. Then in mid-August he was called to the big-leagues for good. Lee would enter the Tribe’s starting rotation and remain there for the next six years.

Lee would develop into one of the top starting pitchers in the game, culminating in a memorable 2008 season. While the Phillies were driving towards their first World Series crown in nearly three decades, Lee was putting together a Cy Young Award-winning season in Cleveland.

In that 2008 campaign, Lee went 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA and 1.110 WHIP. He also had a fabulous 170/34 K:BB ratio over 223.1 innings across 31 starts. In addition to the Cy Young honors, he was an AL All-Star for the first time, and even received AL MVP votes.

Lee was scheduled to become a free agent after the 2010 season, and it became obvious that the Indians would not be able to get him to sign a contract extension. Looking at a rebuilding situation, Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro decided to find a deal for him a year early.

LEE ACQUIRED BY CHAMPS IN-SEASON

As defending World Series champions, the Phillies were struggling to open up a lead in a tight NL East race in July 2009. A big reason was that the team’s starting pitching was looking a bit fragile.

Can the 2018 Eagles do what the 2009 Phillies could not?

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Despite Utley's heroics the Phillies fell just short in repeat world title attempt

Tonight is the 2018 NFL season opener between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Atlanta Falcons. That would be the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, by the way. Those words still look and sound so glorious, do they not?

The Birds and their fans will celebrate their title one final time with the raising of the first-ever Super Bowl banner at Lincoln Financial Field this evening. But after that, the game will begin. The football calendar will officially turn to a new season.

In that new 2018 season the Eagles will be defending an NFL championship for the fourth time in franchise history. It marks just the second time in the last 35 years that a Philadelphia major pro sports team will attempt to repeat as a champion.

Philly fans remember well the last time it happened Just nine years ago the Philadelphia Phillies played the 2009 season as defending champions of Major League Baseball.

The long playoff run and Fall Classic triumph had been punctuated by a Halloween parade around City Hall and down Broad Street to Citizens Bank Park.

The Eagles experienced pretty much the same thing. A long playoff run, early February Super Bowl, parade this time up Broad Street from the stadium area and out the Ben Franklin Parkway to the Art Museum.

There was a shorter than normal off-season as the Phillies did the banquet and awards circuit that winter and then returned to Clearwater for spring training in February 2009. The Eagles had a month shorter off-season as well. While the Birds and their coaching staff were prepping for the Patriots, the rest of the NFL was already getting a jump on 2018 preparations.

As far as personnel were concerned, the 2009 Phillies returned largely the same cast of lead characters who had won the crown. The only change among starting position players came with Raul Ibanez replacing Pat Burrell as the left fielder.

On the mound, the biggest change at the start was that young lefty J.A. Happ stepped into the starting rotation in place of the Kyle Kendrick and Adam Eaton combination from the previous year.

Lee arrived at the July 2009 trade deadline to provide a needed shot in the arm.

Those Phillies had to make a big injury adjustment when Brett Myers hit the DL for three months in late May. You probably won’t recall that they gave Antonio Bastardo five June starts, or that they signed Rodrigo Lopez and plugged him in for five July starts. But you will recall that they traded for Cliff Lee and signed Pedro Martinez in July, bolstering the rotation for August and beyond.

There was a World Series hangover at the beginning of the season. Six weeks in, the Phillies went through a stretch in which they lost six of eight games. On Friday, May 15, the 2009 Phillies woke up with a 16-16 record. And then it all changed.

Following that mid-May rough stretch, the Phillies went on a five-game winning streak. It began a stretch that saw the club capture 19 of their next 26, moving them to a season-best twelve games over the .500 mark and to a four-game lead in the NL East.

And then the bottom seemed to again drop out. A loss on Friday, June 12 began a horrendous stretch in which the club dropped 11 of 13 games. Despite falling to just three games over .500 they remained atop the division, but barely. With just a half-game lead, they once again turned things around.

From June 27 to the MLB All-Star Game break the Phillies went 11-4, hitting the break with their lead back up to four games. They didn’t let up when play resumed, winning their first five. It kicked off a 10-2 run that pushed their record overall to 58-40 and stretched their division lead out to seven games.

Phillies have found it tough to win at Fenway Park in recent years

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Fenway Park during Red Sox 4-1 series victory over Phillies in 1915 World Series

Major League Baseball has been doing this Inter-league stuff in the regular season for just over two decades now. The Phillies and American League’s Boston Red Sox will face off as a pair of first place teams over the next two nights at Fenway Park in Boston.

Fenway Park is particularly famous to opposing fans due to its huge left field wall. The “Green Monster” stands 37.2 feet tall and is just 310 feet from home plate. For the Phillies, it has been the stuff of nightmares.

The Phillies have visited Fenway Park on 10 separate occasions over the last 21 seasons prior to this one. Those visits have seen the two club square off in 28 regular season games in Boston. The Phillies have walked out a winner just nine times. That’s a miserable .321 winning percentage.

Things weren’t so bad in the early years of Inter-league play. The host Bosox swept the Phillies in the first-ever three game series at Fenway Park back in 1997.

But over the next seven seasons between 1998-2004, the Phillies captured six of the 11 games spanning four series. In one memorable game on June 9, 2001 the Phillies beat Boston’s Hall of Fame ace Pedro Martinez 5-2 behind the pitching of Omar Daal.

However, since the Red Sox ended their “Curse of the Bambino” by winning the 2004 World Series, things have not been good for the Phillies. The Red Sox swept a three-game series between the two clubs in 2006 and have gone 11-2 against the Phillies under the backdrop of their Green Monster over the last five series between the teams in Boston.

A year ago, the Red Sox pulled off a pair of dramatic walkoff victories against the Phillies at Fenway. That gives Boston five straight victories over the Phillies at Fenway Park entering tonight’s contest.

After losing three of four to the last-place Cincinnati Reds over this past weekend, the Phillies cannot afford to get swept in Boston. A loss tonight would make it four defeats in a row, something that the team has experienced just twice all season in pushing to the top of the NL East. They have yet to drop five in a row.

If the Phillies are going to come back home for their big Alumni Weekend still in first place, they are likely going to have to figure out a way to beat the Boston Red Sox in front of the Green Monster. That will be even tougher this year. Boston’s record of 74-33 is the best in baseball.

Originally published at Phillies Nation as "Fenway's Green Monster has been the stuff of Phillies nightmares"

Nationals / Expos All-Time 25-Man Roster

The Washington Nationals emerged for the 2005 season after the relocation of the original Montreal Expos franchise.

Major League Baseball expanded by four teams and split into a divisional format beginning in 1969. 

The Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots (now the Milwaukee Brewers) went to the American League. The Expos and San Diego Padres were  assigned to the National League.

The Montreal team was named after the successful World’s Fair “Expo 67” held there in 1967 during the Canadian Centennial celebration.

After a decade of losing, a young core of players emerged in the late 1970’s to turn the team into a contender for the first time. Then from 1979-94 the Expos were consistent winners.

There were 11 winning Expos campaigns and another two .500 seasons during that 16 year stretch. However, Montreal reached the MLB postseason only one time in its history.

Hall of Fame Votes for Pedro

Pedro Martinez ended his career with 2009 Phillies

The Baseball Hall of Fame announced the results of voting today for its 2015 class, and former Phillies starting pitcher Pedro Martinez was one of four elected.

Joining Pedro are fellow pitchers Randy Johnson and John Smoltz, and 2nd basemanCraig Biggio.

Martinez played parts of 18 MLB seasons, but it wasn’t until the end that he finally donned the red pinstripes. 

In 2009, Pedro signed with the Phillies in mid-July in hopes of winning a final World Series crown. The Phils were the defending champs, and were leading contenders again.

Pedro had sat out the first few months of that 2009 season at age 37. In 9 starts after signing, Martinez went 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA. In 44.2 innings he had a 37-8 K/BB ratio. 

In Game 2 of the 2009 NLCS, Pedro pitched 7 shutout innings, leaving with a 1-0 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers. LA rallied against the bullpen to win 2-1. It would be their only win, as the Phils returned to the World Series.

In that 2009 World Series,

It Was 20 Years Ago Today

Buck Showalter was just 38 years old
managing the 1994 New York Yankees

As the MLB action ended on August 11th, 1994 the defending National League champion Philadelphia Phillies were floundering 7 games below the .500 mark, and already 20.5 games behind the front-running Montreal Expos in the N.L. East Division race. But neither those floundering Fightins or the explosive Expos would win the division that year. No one would win it that year.

On August 12th, 1994, exactly 20 years ago today, a work stoppage occurred in the form of a strike action called by the Major League Baseball Players Association in response to ongoing labor problems with the MLB franchise owners. The strike would last the rest of the '94 season, resulting in inconclusive division races and the cancellation of the playoffs and World Series.

Many people believe that the entity most injured as a result of the 1994 strike was the Montreal Expos, as well as their fans. The Expos led all of baseball with a 74-40 record at the time, and led the N.L. East by 6 games over the 2nd place Atlanta Braves. Many of these same folks believe that the Expos would have won the World Series that year, and perhaps would still be in Montreal today. Instead, that franchise would see attendance plummet for a decade before moving to become the Washington Nationals.

But don't count me among them. The Expos, never having won anything to that point, would have needed to hold their lead over the Braves for another month and a half. I believe that a good case can be made that instead of Montreal in the World Series, we instead would have witnessed what became the 1996 Series, only a couple of years earlier, between the Atlanta Braves and the New York Yankees.

1-0 Means A Little; 2-0 Means A Lot

The Fightin' Phils received a magnificent performance from Cliff Lee, who has been superb throughout these 2009 playoffs, and a "you ARE the man" 2-homerun show from Chase Utley to lead the way to a big 6-1 victory and a one game to none lead in last night's Game One of the World Series.

For the Phillies that means an awful lot. Much has already been written and spoken in other venues this morning relating to the fact that the last 6 teams to win Game One went on to win the World Series.

Some have even pointed out that, even more ominously for that loser of the opener, 11 of the last 12 teams to win that first game have gone on to win the Series.

The one time in the past dozen years that the team winning the opener did not ultimately win was in the epic 2002 all-California World Series between the Barry Bonds-led San Francisco Giants and the Anaheim Angels.

The GMen took the opener that year, lost the next two, then won games four and five to take a 3-2 series lead back to Anaheim.

There they took a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the 8th before the Angels rallied to win, then won the 7th game and the franchise' only-ever World Series.

But tonight when Pedro Martinez takes the mound at the new Yankee Stadium he will be trying to tie an even tighter knot in the collar around the Yankee necks.

The World Series began in 1903 and has been held every year with the exceptions of 1904 and 1994, making this the 104th Fall Classic. Only 11 times has a team fallen behind by 2 games to none and gone on to rally and win the World Series. Do the math - that's an 11% success rate.

So if the Phillies can somehow, in any way, fight their way to another victory tonight in the Bronx and take that 2-0 lead in the series, they odds tilt enormously in their favor with an 89% probability that they will win the World Series.

Those numbers would actually likely be even a bit higher considering that the next three games will move to their home field at Citizens Bank Park.

Three Aces Are Keys to Phils Series Success

Pedro Martinez. Cliff Lee. Cole Hamels. One righthander and a pair of lefties. Three different levels of experience. All have filled the role of a true 'Ace' for their respective baseball organizations in the past.

And now together, these three aces represent the absolute keys to the Phillies repeating as World Series champions.

There is much being said and written about the two team's offenses in this matchup. The top offense in the National League featuring Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Jayson Werth, Shane Victorino, and Raul Ibanez. The top offense in the American League featuring Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Jorge Posada, and Hideki Matsui.

There is talk about the importance of the bullpens, especially the Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, possibly the best at his craft in baseball history and the Phillies closer Brad Lidge, last year's hero turned this year's goat, but now apparently born again hard. And pitchers such as Phil Hughes and Ryan Madson will certainly play a big role in at least a couple of games.

It says here that no matter who the Yankees run out to their mound, from starters C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Andy Pettitte to Rivera, this Phillies offense will find a way to get to them. The Phils will score enough runs to win four games in this series. The key will be keeping the Yanks' offense from outscoring them. That will fall largely on the shoulders of Martinez, Lee, and Hamels.