Line of the Day: Cliff Lee: August 4th, 2011

Cliff Lee threw a seven-hit shutout, striking out eight and not allowing a walk, in a 3-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants. It was his fifth complete game of the season and his major league-leading fifth shutout. (video recap)

Line: 9 IP | 7 H | 0 ER | 0 BB | 8 K; W | QS | CG | SHO

(box score)

My fantasy perspective: According to FanGraphs' leaderboards, Lee is tied for the sixth-highest K% (Strikeouts/Total Batters Faced) in the majors at 25.3%. Of those six players, he has the lowest BB% at 4.8%. That rate ties him for the sixth-lowest BB% in the majors, too. So it should be no surprised that he has the third-best K/BB ratio in the majors at 5.22 behind Roy Halladay (7.95) and Dan Haren (5.67).

Speaking of Lee's strikeouts, he's on pace for 34 starts, 239 innings and 244 strikeouts. Those numbers would tie a career-high for regular season starts, set a new career-high for innings pitched (231.2 in 2009) and SHATTER his career-high for strikeouts (185 in 2010).

Question: Is the one-two-three punch of Halladay, Lee and Cole Hamels the best in baseball?

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