Ron Washington, not surprisingly, was asked today if he plans on using Cliff Lee in Game 4 on three days’ rest. He, not surprisingly, wouldn’t say one way or the other.
My view of this is that asking the Cliff Lee question today is premature. Even if Washington knows in his heart that he’s going to bring back Cliff Lee on short rest for Game 4, he’s not going to say anything about until the end of Game 3, is he? Does this not become a totally different series if Colby Lewis shuts down the Giants tomorrow? Wouldn’t Washington like the option to change his mind? What purpose would it serve for Washington to even comment on it, because implicit in the question — or explicit in a followup — is an assumption of a loss in Game 3, which is nothing a manager is ever going to touch.
Either way, it’s unlikely in my view that Washington uses Lee in Game 4. Lee has never done it and rumor has it that he was not at all receptive to even the suggestion of it when he pitched for the Phillies last year. I think it’s Lewis and Hunter and if the Rangers die before they get back to Lee’s slot in the rotation, well, then they die.
