Cliff Lee suspended

Cliff Lee, the former Cy Young winning left hander, went from the Cleveland Indians to the Philadelphia Phillies at the trading deadline last year, and it was a beautiful thing for all concerned. Lee was strong for the Phils during their stretch run, and he was dominating in the post season. Philadelphia rewarded Lee by trading him to the Seattle Mariners for a trio of prospects around the same time they made a deal for Roy Halladay.

On Monday Lee was backing up a play at home plate in an exhibition game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and he got tangled up with D’backs catcher Chris Snyder. Lee must have felt that Snyder initiated unnecessary contact, and the next time he stepped to the plate, Lee threw an inside pitch followed by a fastball in the vicinity of Snyder’s helmet. Lee was ejected, and now the American League has issued a five game suspension of Lee at the start of the regular season.

“I don’t know if I was really surprised. Major League Baseball, over the last couple of years, has really been bearing down on issues like this. I knew we’d hear something. I’m not the one who decides who gets suspended and the duration, but I figured something was coming,” Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said.