(Sports Network) - Cliff Lee hopes to add to his already impressive postseason resume this evening when the Texas Rangers play Game 3 of the American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
With his two wins against the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS Lee is now 6-0 in his first seven postseason starts, with his teams winning all seven of those contests.
"Regardless of what other people expect of me, I expect as much out of myself or more than anybody is going to expect out of me," Lee said. "So I don't look at it any different than I would any other game. I expect to be successful and that's the game plan [Monday] and every time I take the mound."
Lee was terrific in pitching the Rangers into the ALCS with a dominating performance against the Rays in Game 5 of the ALDS, as he gave up a run and six hits and struck out 11 in the complete-game effort.
His 1.44 ERA in the postseason is the fifth-lowest in major league history for a pitcher with at least five starts. Three of the four pitchers ahead of him are in the Hall of Fame.
The Yankees know full well how good Lee, who is a free agent at season's end, has been in the playoffs, as he beat them twice in last year's World Series, including a complete-game effort in Game 1 of the Fall Classic for Philadelphia.
"I don't think there's an exact science how you approach Cliff Lee," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "But to me, he's a lot like Roy Halladay. If you try to take a couple of pitches and get deep in the count, you might be 0-2. So for me with Cliff Lee, I think you have to be ready to hit from pitch one. And if he makes a mistake, don't miss it."
In 12 regular season starts against the Yankees Lee is 6-4 with a 4.42 ERA. He held the Yanks to just a run and two hits in eight innings the last time he faced them back on September 12.
"They're basically an All-Star team," Lee said. "From top to bottom, they have threats everywhere. I know it's a team that if you miss out over the plate and find yourself in 2-0, 1-2 [counts], bad things are going to happen. I have to stay away from 2-0, 3-1, not walk guys and stay out of the heart of the plate and mix speeds. That's what I'm going to try to do, locate and keep the ball down and away, down and in, up and in, out of the strike zone here and there to keep them honest, and just try to keep them off balance."
New York, though, will hand the ball to a left-hander with pretty solid postseason credentials as well in Andy Pettitte, who has won more games in the playoffs than any pitcher in baseball history.
"There's been talk about Cliff Lee before he even started this series and people were talking about Game 3," Girardi said. "But let's not forget that we have a pretty good guy on the mound, too, that's won a lot of postseason games and has won a lot of clinchers in his career. I can go back to catching him in 1998 when he won the [World Series] clincher against San Diego, and he's been doing it a long time.
"The guy that's getting lost in this is Andy Pettitte, and he's pretty good."
Pettitte picked up his 19th career playoff win with a victory over the Minnesota Twins in Game 2 of the ALDS. Pettitte gave up two runs and five hits in seven innings of that one.
At 19-9 with a 3.87 ERA in the postseason, he holds major league records for wins, starts (41) and innings (256) in the postseason. He hasn't lost a postseason game since the 2005 National League Championship Series as a member of the Houston Astros.
"In my opinion he's probably the best postseason pitcher of all time just by the number of wins and the number of rings he's got," Lee said of Pettitte.
Pettitte is 11-9 lifetime against the Rangers.
Texas won its first home postseason game in franchise history and evened this series at a game apiece on Saturday, as David Murphy homered and drove in two runs while the Rangers bullpen held steady in a 7-2 win.
One night after blowing a five-run lead to the Yankees, Texas snapped a 10- game playoff losing streak against New York.
On Saturday, the Rangers again built up a big lead, going ahead 7-1 after five innings against Yankees starter Phil Hughes. But their bullpen didn't implode this time, following Colby Lewis (1-0) with 3 1/3 scoreless innings to seal the win.
"I think we just knew what we needed to do," Lewis said. "We had two games here at home and we needed -- after last night, we just needed to come out today and split it and go back to their place, plain and simple."
Lewis limited the Yankees to two runs on six hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings, with six strikeouts. He was supported by a Texas offense that got to Hughes (1-1) for seven runs and 10 hits in only four-plus innings.
"Our starters have not pitched well so far," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "Our starters pitched extremely well and everyone was giddy about them the last series. I don't ever get too involved in snapshot pictures because those can be dangerous. I believe in our guys and I believe that they will pitch well as we continue forward here."
Robinson Cano has been on fire in this series for the Yankees, going 5-for-9 with a pair of home runs and three RBI. He is hitting .429 for the entire postseason.
The Yankees and Rangers split eight games during the regular season.