How To: Beat Cliff Lee part 2

A couple of weeks ago I had a post about a strategy of how to beat Cliff Lee and my conclusion was that there really is no real effective strategy against a pitcher like Cliff Lee when he is going.

There is no way Freddy Sanchez rips 3 doubles in the
World Series if he's still playing for his former team, the Pirates

The Yankees and Kevin Long had their "strategy" and it ended with Lee throwing 8 shutout frames while striking out 13 with one walk.  Kevin Long is a great hitting coach on the best hitting team in the league, so if the Yankees couldn't hit him the Giants, they of the great rotation weak lineup, would surely falter, right?

Wrong.  Last night the Giants knocked Lee for 6 earned runs in 4 2/3 innings en route to a series opening win.  So, it would seem like the strategy for beating Lee then would involve him facing a team in the inferior league with a lineup of castaways from other teams who are 30 years old and up.

Or maybe Cliff Lee was just unlucky?  He did give up 6 earned runs in less than 5 innings, so clearly he wasn't on his game, but he also struck out 7 batters while only walking one.  Also, of the 5 runs in the 5th inning scored off of Lee, 3 of them scored with 2 outs, and 2 of them scored while he was on the bench.  No, Cliff Lee didn't pitch well but he didn't pitch as poorly as the box score indicates.  With just one lucky bounce the Rangers could have won this thing.  I 'm not saying the Rangers were unlucky or the Giants lucky, they clearly outplayed the Rangers and they very well may continue to do so, but I chose the Rangers to win this thing and I'm stickin' to it.