At Least Cliff Lee Is Good

The Indians struggled with Oakland this past weekend for the second time this season, losing two of three to drop to a paltry 5-7 on the year. The only positive was that Cliff Lee recorded his second straight dominant outing.

Lee beat the A's on Sunday for the second time in as many starts, going eight innings and allowing one earned run on just two hits while striking out eight. The start lowered Lee's season ERA and WHIP to 0.61 and 0.48, respectively.

So far, Cleveland's pitching staff has seen C.C. Sabathia string together his worst three game stretch since 2002, Fausto Carmona struggle with control to the tune of a 8:17 strikeout-to-walk ratio, Paul Byrd look awful and Jake Westbrook and Lee throw gems in each of their starts.

While Byrd's struggles are worrisome because of his age and lack of strikeout potential and Sabathia and Carmona should be fine after a couple more outings, it's very encouraging that the No. 3 and No. 5 starters are pitching so well early on this season.

If Westbrook and Lee continue to have anywhere close to this kind of success, the Tribe will have a very formidable, perhaps the best, rotation in the A.L. Obviously that's a big 'if,' but Westbrook and Lee both have the potential to be very effective back end of the rotation guys.

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