Roy Oswalt

Well, it is finally official.

Cliff Lee is signed sealed and delivered to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Including all option years, Lee was offered a total of $148 million by the New York Yankees and $161 million by the Texas Rangers. Surprisingly, the Rangers offered MORE total dollars than the almighty Yankees.

Surprise, surprise...coveted free-agent ace Cliff Lee has signed with his former club the Philadelphia Phillies.  According to multiple media outlets, the 32 year-old All-Star hurler will make a return to the team who he helped lead to the 2009 World Series and reportedly has agreed to a five-year, $120 million deal with a vesting option for a sixth year.

In one of the more surprising developments of the baseball offseason, Cliff Lee has decided to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies. Lee's deal with the team is worth $115 million over five years. This signing comes as a surprise as most people expected Lee to either stay in Texas with the Rangers or sign with the New York Yankees.

The New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies avoided elimination by winning Game 5, as both teams trailed 3-1 in their respective series. 

The New York Yankees down travel down south to play the Texas Rangers in Game 6 of ALCS Friday night.  If the Yankees can stay alive, Game 7 will take place on Saturday night. 

The San Francisco Giants must head back east to play the Philadelphia Phillies in Citizens Bank Park in Game 6 of the NLCS.  The game will either be played on Saturday afternoon or night, depending on the outcome of Game 6 of the ALCS. 

Last night’s NLCS game followed a script very familiar to Phillies fans.

The team scratched out a first-inning run, helped along by the miscues of their opponent.  They got key contributions throughout the lineup.  The unexpected hitting star continued to shine.  They were patient and did some damage against an opposing reliever.  The relief ace was lights out.  And they won the game thanks to some late-game heroics.

After three games into the 2010 NLCS, we have already seen as many confusing turn of events as one could've imagined.

But for the Philadelphia Phillies, being down two to one in the series is a by-product of their own design in many ways.

This is not to say the Phillies are playing bad necessarily, rather, just making some key errors that favor the competition.

Let's take a look at how the Phillies have graded through three crucial games in the NLCS, since at this point, it becomes ever so important to really tighten any loose bolts.

It took a stellar performance from Roy Oswalt to beat budding start Jonathan Sanchez. Oswalt went eight masterful innings giving up only one run and striking out nine and allowing only six base runners. What Giants fans should be upset about is manager Bruce Bochy’s decision to pitch Sanchez in game two instead of Matt Cain.

Surprise, surprise.  A 2010 playoff game ended up being all about pitching.

Game 2 of the National League Championship Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants ended up being a story of the two starting pitchers:  Roy Oswalt and Jonathan Sanchez.

Oswalt pitched an absolute gem, throwing eight innings of three-hit baseball, allowing only one run while striking out nine and walking three.

When Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie Manuel walked to the mound in the eighth inning, talked with his starting pitcher, and walked back to the dugout, as a San Francisco Giants fan I was hoping this would be his Grady Little moment. Little, once the manager of the Boston Red Sox, infamously left ace Pedro Martinez on the mound in the 2003 ALCS and watched him implode against the New York Yankees.