Cliff Notes: Lee's road back to stardom was a short one

After a disastrous 2007 season, Cliff Lee is 6-0 with a 0.67 ERA for the Indians. Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

Entering spring training, Indians left hander Cliff Lee was a forgotten man, a former 18-game winner forced to battle for the No. 5 spot in the rotation with the un-established duo of Aaron Laffey and Jeremy Sowers. A month and a half into this season, however, Lee has blown past both of them, and everyone else in the game, to become the best pitcher in baseball.

Lee, 29, is so good now, they're running out of adjectives in Cleveland to describe what he's doing. "Awesome, unbelievable,'' were the only two words from C.C. Sabathia, last year's AL Cy Young winner who in normal times is the Indians' ace. Sabathia, though, won't dare say as much to Lee at the risk of throwing him off his newfound game. "Right now, I ain't sayin' a thing [to him],'' Sabathia said.

There almost aren't words, anyway, for one of the greatest personal turnarounds ever. How bad was Lee in 2007? He began the year on the disabled list, saw his ERA balloon to 6.29, got booed off the mound at home, was sent to the minors in July and was left off both of the Indians' postseason rosters. He was so awful, in fact, it was almost forgotten that he won 46 games from 2005 to '07. Now anything short of 20 wins will be a disappointment. Lee is 6-0 with an 0.67 ERA, and those numbers don't even fully describe his brilliance.

• Since the end of World II only three pitchers have won their first six starts with lower ERAs than Lee's: Fernando Valenzuela, 1981, 0.33; Roger Clemens, 1991, 0.73; and Pedro Martinez, 1997, 0.79.

• Through five starts, Lee had allowed the lowest on-base percentage (.163) in 99 years; only Frank Smith of the 1909 White Sox was better (.159).

• Lee had not allowed a walk in 28 innings prior to Monday's no-decision against Toronto (after walking two vs. the Blue Jays, Lee has walked only four in 2008, against 44 strikeouts, in 53 2/3 innings), and he now is limiting batters to a .176 average.

• His road ERA is zero. As in 0.00.

All of this is being pulled off by a pitcher whom no one expected to do anything of note this year. "I don't get too caught up in the stats,'' Lee says. "I just try to go deep into games and put up zeroes.''

To see him, it's hard to believe this is the same fellow who was the worst starting pitcher for the Indians last year. Lee is using four pitches, including a pinpoint 93-mph fastball, to dominate American League hitters.

Lee was at his best his last time out, and he did so under a microscope that he doesn't often see: pitching at Yankee Stadium on national TV against an also-unbeaten ace (Chien-Ming Wang). Lee tossed seven shutout innings, allowing six hits and no walks while striking out seven. In other words, he was exactly how he's been in every road game this year. So far he has started four games away from Progressive Field and he has yet to regress: four starts, no earned runs allowed. "Obviously, we can't expect him to put up zeroes every time,'' Indians manager Eric Wedge says. But so far he's doing it.

He's surprised everyone, including himself. "No doubt, it would have stunned me," Lee says. "I'd probably have a hard time believing it. But that's why you play the game.''

Lee's success has compensated for the Indians' many other early disappointing beginnings, from Sabathia's 6.55 ERA to Fausto Carmona's two-to-one walk-to-strikeout ratio (35 walks, 18 K's) to Victor Martinez's zero home runs to Travis Hafner's .354 slugging percentage. ("We're going to need him most of all,'' one Indians person said of Hafner.)

For now, Lee has been enough to keep the Indians in striking distance in the AL Central (20-19, 1/2 game behind the Twins).

Lee says the keys to his comeback are his ability to locate his fastball and a newfound patience. Now, he says he takes extra time whenever he gets behind a batter. When he gets to 2-and-0 or even 1-and-0, he says, "I take a deep breath and step off, and make sure I make a quality pitch.''

Carl Willis, the Indians pitching coach, says the difference is that Lee is now commanding his fastball to both sides of the plate. Even though Lee struggled at times this spring -- in one game he failed to get out of the first inning -- the changes were evident.

Wedge attributes Lee's incredible improvement to "rededicating'' himself to the game. He says that Lee is "more mature, just because of everything he went through'' last year.

That may be true, but last year was nothing compared to five years before that, when Lee's infant son Jaxon was diagnosed with leukemia. Jaxon, now 6, is healthy and is considered to have beaten the disease years after undergoing chemotherapy, radiation and transplant surgery. It's the biggest win of Lee's life, and there isn't even a close second.

"Baseball doesn't even stack up in importance for what really matters in life. It doesn't hold a candle,'' says Lee, who along with his wife Kristen raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. One benefit to Lee's incredible start is it may allow him to draw attention to his favorite charity. The spotlight is starting to find him now.