Cliff Lee: Master of the inside corner

On Wednesday, Cliff Lee improved his playoff record to 5-0 with a win over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 1 of the ALDS.  Sure it wasn’t a no-no like Doc’s, but Lee’s performance was nothing short of dominant as he surrendered 1 ER on 5 hits, walking none and striking out 10 in 7 innings of work.

Here are a few notes from his start on Wednesday:

– Lee threw a first pitch fastball to 21 of 27 hitters

– 90 of Lee’s 104 pitches were charted off the plate; yes, that means Lee only threw 14 pitches that could be described as “over the plate”

– Tampa Bay only managed to notch a single 2-0 count against the Rangers southpaw

– 27 of Lee’s 37 inside pitches were strikes

– 17 of his 36 2-strike pitches were inside

– 7 of his 10 strikeouts were on inside pitches