This space was originally intended for a piece on NFL coaches who are currently in the hot seat, but after watching the Phils’ Cliff Lee twirl yet another gem last night, I asked myself, “who cares about football right now?”

As the Roy Halladay sweepstakes dragged on through the dog days of July, I wrote (July 21) about how the Phils should give up whatever Blue Jays GM JP Ricciardi was asking for and call it a World Series.  Little did the sports world know that Ricciardi was actually working on a swan song of colossal, career-ending proportions while the neophyte Phils’ GM, Ruben Amaro, was working on the greatest coup in baseball in the last fifty years.  In short, thanks a bunch JP, ya’hoser.

When news broke that the Phils were turning their attention to the Tribe’s Cliff Lee, I was giddy. Unlike so many jaded (doesn’t a championship quell that for at least a year?) fans who were convinced this was simply a knee-jerk move based on saving money rather than on winning, I simply started my own mantra while I waited.

The guy was 22-3 and won the Cy Young last year. The guy was 22-3 and won the Cy Young last year. The guy was 22-3 and won the Cy Young last year.

 On one hand, I totally understand where the old guard of Phils’ faithful was coming from.  They had suffered through Lance Parrishes and Craig Jeffereieses for so long that anything besides the prohibitive best (Doc Halladay) would seem like a classic lay up with the 5 iron. Thankfully, my friends, this isn’t our fathers’ Phils, so what it took Tin Cup Roy McAvoy to do in twelve strokes, Ruben Amaro did in two.

He knocked it on.

Amaro tutored under a proven winner in Pat Gillick, a man who said he came here to win a championship and then, well, did it.

Let’s not forget that it’s not like Gillick packed up his Hawaiian shirts and rode off into the sunset.  He’s still very much involved in the proceedings, but his capacity comes with more of a whisper than a roar.  When it became clear that the Jays were willing to sit tight with Halladay unless they got every possible high end prospect in the Phils’ system, Gillick and Amaro parted ways with the hottie with no personality and focused on her younger, plainer, cooler sister.

Die hard fans don’t need the stats to back up what they already know—Lee is a stud—but just for the fun of it:

4-0/ 37 IP/ 18H/ 6BB/ 34K/ 3ER/ 0.82 ERA/ 2CGs

The guy’s even hitting .385 since coming over for Pete’s sake. You paying attention, Eric Bruntlett?

What sets Lee apart from so many chest-thumping, shark-tooth necklace wearing egomaniacs is his workmanlike humility.  Much like Chase Utley, the guy is not even his own biggest fan and cringes at talking about his dominance.  Fans who haven’t seen him pitch will be surprised to know that he basically sprints off the mound after every third out.  Now, Phils’ fans haven’t seen him get touched up yet, in any inning, so we don’t know what will happen at the end of a laborious inning, but I’m willing to bet that he still beats the catcher to the dugout.

During his countless interviews when he first arrived, Lee consistently reiterated that is was his job to “put up zeroes” and “give the team a chance to win.” Clearly, he couldn’t have been more prophetic in his assessment.

Finally, I would be remiss to not thank the brilliant Cleveland Indians GM, Rachel Phelps Mark Shapiro for including the Phils on his fire sale. After dumping CC Sabathia last year and Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez this year, you have to wonder if Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore are going to invoke their inner Jake Taylor, get one of those peel-away cardboard cutouts of Shapiro and vow to “win the whole…thing.”

Good luck with all that, Tribe.

And thank the good Lord for Cliff Lee.