Philadelphia Phillies: Can Cliff Lee Pass Roy Halladay as Staff’s ‘Ace’?
January 26, 2012 by Joe Iannello
Filed under Fan News
Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay may currently be the two biggest superstars in the city of Philadelphia. There is a good chance that you will see a Halladay or Lee jersey if you walk around the city, and that’s even during the offseason.
That’s also in a city that features the likes of Michael Vick, Jaromir Jagr, Claude Giroux Hunter Pence, and to a lesser extent the first-place baby Sixers with Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner and Co.
Who would’ve thought that Philadelphia would have even half of those names a decade ago? Anyone?
Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee form the most dominant one-two punch in MLB, and even third starter Cole Hamels would be a starter on almost any other in team in the league. Both Lee and Halladay have won a Cy Young in the American League, and Halladay won it for the second time in 2010 while pitching in the NL for the Phils.
Halladay became only the fifth pitcher ever to win the award as a member of both leagues and almost won it again in 2011. This article by Fangraphs does a great job proving why Halladay and Lee were both more deserving of the Cy Young than Clayton Kershaw last season.
Halladay is the consensus best pitcher in baseball, but could Cliff Lee be better in 2012?
Let’s take a further look as to why Lee could outshine the “Doc” this season.