Hello Tribe fans everywhere!

Thank goodness the Pirates wanted an arm and a leg for Jason Bay. Cliff Lee wasn't enough, as the Bucs demanded Adam Miller and other prized farmhands. Fortunately, Cleveland General Manager Mark Shapiro backed off last December, thinking, perhaps, that he might need Lee in 2009, after C.C. Sabathia and Paul Byrd departed.

Or maybe Shapiro was thinking he could use Lee as trade bait in the spring. Either way, Lee was damaged goods after a miserable 2007 season -- a year in which he couldn't even make the playoff roster after spending most of the second half of the year in Buffalo. But the 29-year-old lefthander showed grim determination in spring training to make the club, and his grit paid off.

As the fifth starter in the Indians' rotation, it was hoped Lee might win 11-12 games. But with Thursday's 3-hit shutout of Kansas City, Lee improved his record to 4-0. He's allowed only 1 run in just under 32 innings of work. It means his earned run average is a spectacular 0.28.

Lee could always pitch. From 2004-06, he averaged 16 wins per season and posted an 18-5 record in 2005. That's why his fall from grace was so spectacular a year ago. He quarreled on the field with catcher Victor Martinez and sulked once he was demoted to Buffalo. But Lee has pulled it together and has never pitched more effectively than he is right now. It couldn't come at a better time, as the Indians have stumbled out of the starting gate.

Thanks to Cliff, however, they swept the Royals and take a three-game winning streak into the opener of tonight's series against the Yankees.

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The answer to yesterday's quickie quiz is: Vic Power and Woodie Held came to the Indians from Kansas City in 1958 in a trade for Roger Maris. Yes, that Roger Maris. Would have been nice to have Maris and Rocky Colavito in the same outfield in Cleveland during their prime seasons. Oops! Colavito played in Detroit during his prime.

Today's quiz: Name the current Cleveland players whose middle name is Phifer.

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-- Kevin Cuneo