Cliff Lee has been nothing short of amazing the month of June. It probably won't surprise anyone that the Philadelphia Phillies pitcher continued that performance Tuesday evening by tossing a two-hit complete game against the Boston Rod Sox to lead the Phillies to a 5-0 victory.
The most impressive part of Lee's Tuesday night performance didn't begin against the Red Sox in their Tuesday night interleague match-up, though, but against the Chicago Cubs on June 11. That's when the staff ace started his 32-inning scoreless inning streak. In total, Lee allowed just one run in the 42 innings he pitched this month. It was his third consecutive complete game shutout.
To put Lee's performance this month in persepective, the last Phillies pitcher with a shutout streak this long was Robin Roberts in 1950.
"When he's locked in, he has command of the game," Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel told the Courier Post after Lee's most recent gem. "Even though he's sitting 90 or 91 (mph), they have trouble catching up on his fastball. The ball kind of sneaks up on them."
Regardless of pitch speed, it's been made quite clear that Lee should continue to do what he's doing. It works.