DW: So what's it like to be Cliff Lee these days?
CL: Just like every other day, preparing for my next outing.
DW: Have you needed to make any specific adjustments from American League to National?
CL: Not really. Other than having to hit, and pitching to the opposing pitcher, it's basically the same deal. You're facing major-league hitters. You've got to make pitches. You miss over the plate, you're going to get hurt.
DW: You don't seem to be missing your personal catcher in Cleveland, Kelly Shoppach.
CL: Honestly, (Phillies catcher) Paul Bako reminds me a lot of Shoppach. He's a pretty savvy catcher. It didn't take long for him to understand the way I like to pitch. Bako and Shoppach are pretty crafty. They both call unbelievable games.
DW: What percentage of your success with the Phillies would you attribute to Bako/studying scouting reports/relying on your ability?
CL: I'm relying on Paul Bako, what he throws down, and a feel for the game. Obviously, scouting reports are important, but it's mostly working with my strengths.
DW: Last year, you rode your fastball to the Cy Young. This year, it's still the dominant pitch, but you appear to be mixing in more curves and changeups.
CL: I still feel like I'm commanding the fastball, but yeah, you've got to use all your pitches. It helps to be unpredictable.
DW: In your first two starts this season, you gave up 11 runs in 10 innings and lost twice. Most of the 25 starts since have been quality. Are you pitching as well as you did in 2008?
CL: Similar. Every year's different. I'm giving the team a chance to win. I'm getting deep into games, throwing strikes, not walking many guys. I keep it simple -- you know that. I just try to put up as many zeros as I can.
DW: Did any of the trades the Indians made as part of the summer sell-off surprise you?
CL: My getting traded surprised me.
DW: Seriously?
CL: Yeah. For sure. I really was expecting to stay. I figured that, I was pitching well and I potentially could have been back if they picked up the option. Victor (Martinez), the same thing. They had Grady (Sizemore). They had some pieces there that you could build around to make a pretty good team.
They viewed it differently. I'm not a GM, I'm not a coach. I don't make any of those decisions. I play the game. I was an Indian until I was told I was a Phillie, and now I'm here and I've got to help this team win.
DW: After the trades, Indians President Paul Dolan said you were not going to re-sign with the Indians after 2010. Did Dolan present it accurately?
CL: They told my agent that when we got to spring training this year, we'll talk about an extension. We get there, the first half of spring goes by...nothing. We get down toward the end, they call me in the office and tell me, 'Never mind. We've changed our minds.'
At that point, I told them: 'For me, now's the time. After this year, I'm going to be one year from free agency, and you're going to have to pick up my option if I'm pitching well. Otherwise, I'm a free agent. It doesn't make sense to do it one year out when I just watched what CC did.'
DW: Sabathia, of course, was traded to Milwaukee in 2008 and signed with the Yankees over the winter.
CL: Free agency is where you want to get as a player. That's where you get strength and have control of a situation. Obviously, the closer you get to that, the less likely an extension would be. That's kind of what I told them.
DW: What was their reply?
CL: They said, 'We respect your stance on that, and if anything changes, let us know.' And they said, 'If the economy turns around, if things change, if we start winning, maybe we'll change our opinion, too.' I said, 'OK, fine.' That was kind of the end of it.
DW: Do you feel sad about the sell-off in Cleveland?
CL: Yeah. You get comfortable with a city, teammates, coaches, staff, guys in the training room. Those things make it tough to leave. They run a really good program. They basically helped mold my program and what I do. I was wondering how I was going to be able to translate all those things over here, but it's worked out pretty smoothly for the most part.
DW: Do you feel bad for the fans who see the core of their team traded, fans who wonder, 'Why can't Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez still be around in 2010, to try to make another run at it?'
CL: Uh, it would help if the fans showed up and came to the games. That's why the team didn't make money, because the fans weren't there, supporting the team. That's what happens when the fans don't support --
DW: But you guys weren't winning.
CL: Right. It goes hand-in-hand, though. It definitely goes hand-in-hand. Yeah, I feel sorry for them. I wish we were all still there, that we had won the World Series in '07, come back and won it again last year and were going to win it this year. That's not reality. That's not...It's a business. It's a total business.
DW: Many Tribe fans, and other observers, think you began to grind an ax on management when you were sent down to Class AAA Buffalo in 2007 -- two years removed from an 18-win season -- and that that was the beginning of the end. True?
CL: No. Not at all. I wasn't upset at anyone. They were in position to go to the postseason and potentially win a World Series and were arguably one game away from doing that. Their concern was not whether they're making me happy, it was trying to get to the postseason and winning a World Series, as it should be. I was not getting the results I expected out of myself. You can look at the stats. They were black and white.
Obviously, I didn't want to go to Triple-A. But you have to make the best of the situation. I didn't want to be a major leaguer sent to Triple-A who's bitter and mad at the world. I've seen that before, and I didn't want to be that guy. I tried to do everything they asked me to do, and I expected to get back to pitching well, to get back to Cleveland and help the team get in position to win the World Series. It didn't work out that way.
DW: You pitched out of the bullpen four times in September and were not on any postseason roster. Still not bitter?
CL: No. In the long run, I think (what happened in 2007) motivated me to push that much harder in the offseason and prove everybody wrong. I wasn't mad at anybody or anything. I felt like they had kind of changed their views on me as a pitcher, and I wanted to prove that that wasn't right, that it wasn't the real me.
DW: So when you say they changed their view of you, and that you wanted to prove people wrong -- that's not indicative of grinding an ax?
CL: No. That was the Indians doing a business move. They were trying to win a World Series. That's what it's all about. They viewed me going to Triple-A and replacing me with someone else as making the team better. That's their prerogative.
DW: As objectively as you could view it, did you think the Cleveland team that broke camp this spring would contend?
CL: I thought our ballclub was a lot better than it turned out to be.
DW: What went wrong?
CL: We figured out how to lose every way possible, it seemed like. What made it the toughest is, it wasn't one thing. It wasn't something you could put your finger on and say, 'This is what you need to get better at.' It was one thing one day, something else the next. For whatever reason, we weren't playing complete baseball.
and will always follow them in some capacity, if I smell championship potential in one I'm all over that team. My desire to see a team "break the curse" sometimes overshadows the enjoyment I get from just watching a Cleveland team.