“Cliff showed exactly what he’s capable of doing,” Rangers third baseman Michael Young said. “He had to be tired from all the travel and all that’s been going on for the last couple of days, but he showed exactly what he’s capable of giving us. … We’re all excited about what we have.”
Obtained July 9 in a six-player deal with Seattle, Lee (8-4, 2.64 ERA) made his Rangers debut last Saturday in a 6-1 home loss to Baltimore. The 2008 AL Cy Young winner yielded six runs and a season-high three homers.
“It is what it is,” Lee said. “The first one is out of the way and hopefully I can do better from here on out.”
Lee should be rested enough to go nine again despite pitching an inning in Tuesday’s All-Star Game. He needed only six pitches to retire all three NL batters he faced.
He will be opposed by Boston’s biggest pitching acquisition of 2010 in John Lackey (9-5, 4.78), who hasn’t lived up to expectations since signing a contract worth $82.5 million over five years.
Lackey allowed seven runs and eight hits in 4 2-3 innings of last Saturday’s 9-5 loss at Toronto. He walked six, a season high.
“That’s kind of the way things have been going for me,” he said.
Lackey will now try to avoid losing three consecutive starts for the first time since Aug. 4-14, 2006, a slump that included a defeat to Texas while with the Los Angeles Angels.
He’d probably prefer to face a different team. Lackey is 11-12 with a 5.87 ERA against Texas - the ERA is his highest against any AL opponent. In his last 10 starts versus the Rangers, he’s compiled a 7.74 ERA and a .356 opponent batting average.
Young is 31 for 83 (.373) off the former AL West rival right-hander - both his most hits off any pitcher and the most hits allowed by Lackey to any batter.
The AL West-leading Rangers (52-38) appear primed to give Lackey fits again, as they’ve had no problems hitting the Boston staff hard while winning the first two games of this series. Texas has racked up 15 runs and 24 hits in the victories. Lackey’s former batterymate Bengie Molina hit for the cycle in Friday’s 8-4 win, including a fifth-inning grand slam to break open a close game.
Forecast: (My time for my run-on paragraph that just keeps going and going...) I guess I should not be doubting the Ranger bats right now. So, I will pencil them in for six runs in tonight's game. Cliff Lee hasn't pitched against the Red Sox this season, but did pitch against them before being traded last season. That was on April 27th, 2009 with Cleveland, in which the tribe dropped the game 3-1. Lee didn't get a decision as he pitched eight shutout innings, leaving the game with a 0-0 time into the ninth inning. He also pitched one game in 2008 against Boston, his final game of the season in '08, losing that one 5-4, which was his third loss that season. Boston knocks him for a .257 batting average, which is what hitters average against him on 'Pre-All-Star' statistics, but bat .295 off Lee in Fenway in four games (I'm thinking he's glad to not be a Yankee). Oddly enough, this could be a slumpbuster for the Red Sox. It could be, but I really don't think they will muster more than three runs tops off Lee tonight and when you consider that the current roster is batting .235 against Cliff Lee, I feel like I am being generous in saying three runs off Lee. OK, I am being generous. I'll still be nice and say two runs for Boston, one due to the Rangers bullpen coughing it up (sorry, no complete game for Lee tonight, but he will grab at least seven innings, as Boston tends to walk on Lee). So, the Rangers take this one 6-2 tonight, Lee grabbing his first win as a Ranger and Molina doesn't hit for the cycle.
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