MLB: Cliff Lee is Cy Young Bound and the Yankees Last Stand

Well, there have been some major disappointments during this season and some huge surprises. Leading the disappointments has to be the play of the New York Yankees and the Detroit Tigers. Leading the surprises has to be the play of the Tampa Bay Rays and the pitching of Cliff Lee.

Lee pitched the Cleveland Indians to another win on Monday night. This one was a beauty. Against the AL Central leading Chicago White Sox, Lee pitched a shutout and earned the Indians the 5-0 win.

Lee went the distance – all 9 innings – and gave up just five hits. That’s impressive. But even more impressive is Lee’s record this year. And even more impressive then everything is Lee’s ERA.

Lee is now 20-2 on the season and he’s sporting a measly 2.32 ERA. That’s in the American League where he faces DHs every single game he throws. Yet, his ERA is below 2.50, that is incredible. Then throw in the fact that he’s hit 20 wins on the first day of September and the Cy Young is definately his to lose.

Meanwhile, the New York Yankees are about to open a series in Tampa Bay against the Rays. This is baseball’s biggest surprise and one of baseball’s biggest disappointments meeting. The Yankees need to sweep this series if they have any hopes of coming back. However, the Rays can put the final nail in the Yankees’ coffin if they simply win this series against the Bronx Bombers.

If the Yankees lose this series, the only thing that will be left up in the air for the Yanks is how little Steinbrenner junior will react. Because Steinbrenner junior hasn’t been the best person to say the right things about the Yankees. Yet, it’s his fault (and his father’s fault) that the Yankees are stacked with aging veterans who are almost all past their prime.

So, we will see what happens as we move forward. The Yankees will probably be done after this week. The Rays will probably have to wait a couple weeks before they secure the AL East. And Cliff Lee will probably have to wait more than a month before he wraps-up the Cy Young.