Cliff Lee gets victory, help Philies to a 5-1 win

Benton native Cliff Lee, who pitched for the Arkansas Razorbacks and was last year’s Cy Young Award winner in the American League, now has his first playoff victory under his belt.

“That’s kind of how I look at everything,” Lee explained recently. “The simpler you keep it, the better off you’re going to be.”

That’s why Lee vowed he wouldn’t complicate things as he prepared for the biggest start of his career, his first taste of the postseason, against the Colorado Rockies today.

“It’s still the same game,” Lee said about his playoff baptism. “It’s still the exact same game. It’s still the same strike zone, the same distance to home plate.”

Last week, when asked to assess his performance in Philadelphia following the deadline deal that brought him here from Cleveland three months ago, Lee’s answer sounded like something you might find on a youngster’s “My Summer Vacation” essay.

“It was good,” Lee said. “I did good more than I did bad.”

Pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies, Lee dominated the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday, tossing a six-hitter to help the Phillies to a 5-1 win.