LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas-bred pitchers Cliff Lee and A.J. Burnett faced each other for the first time, at any level, in Game 5 of the 2009 World Series.The national media were slow to catch on to the novelty of the story. But members of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sports staff recognized the event’s magnitude from the start, playing the story prominently when it happened and voting the event as the No. 1 sports story of the year in the state.
Who says Arkansas isn’t a baseball state?
There was plenty of baseball talk in November, when two homegrown products faced each other on the game’s biggest stage.
Game 5 of the World Series pitted Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Cliff Lee (Benton, Arkansas Razorbacks) against New York Yankees right-hander A.J. Burnett (North Little Rock, CentralArkansas Christian), marking the first time in the game’s modern history that two Arkansans started a World Series game against each other.
That matchup, because of the magnitude of the event and the likelihood that something like it would never happen again, was voted as the No. 1 sports story of the year by members of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sports department.
OK, so the actual matchup wasn’t all that profound.
Lee won the duel, pitching seven innings and striking out threein an 8-6 victory. Burnett struggled with his command early, lasting only 2 innings while walking 4, giving up 4 hits and allowing 6 earned runs.
Yet Burnett was the one who walked away with a world championship ring. His season might have ended on a bad outing, but Burnett spent most of 2009 showing just how far he has come.
Occasionally wild and occasionally surly in 10 seasons with the Florida Marlins and Toronto Blue Jays, Burnett nonetheless landed a five-year, $82.5 million contract with the Yankees in the off-season. Burnett repaid the Yankees’ faith by going 13-9 with a 4.04 ERA, all the while showing newfound poise in the New York spotlight and blending in seamlessly with the Yankees clubhouse.
Lee didn’t get a ring but further proved he belonged among the game’s elite pitchers. One year after winning the American League Cy Young award with the Cleveland Indians, Lee went 7-4 with a 3.39 ERA after a midseason trade to the Phillies.
But he didn’t stay in town long.
Lee had barely made it back to Arkansas before learning he’d been sent to the Seattle Mariners in a three-way deal that landed the Phillies Toronto Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay. The normally even-keeled Lee told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Web site that he was hoping a contract extension would be worked out with Philadelphia and that his “initial reaction was disbelief and shock” after hearing of the trade.
Lee is by no means a lock to stay in Seattle, either. He will earn $9 million in 2010 but can become a free agent at the end of the season. Providing Lee continues to post the numbers he’s posted over the past two seasons, he could become one of the most sought-after players in baseball.
So if 2008 was the year he won the Cy Young, and if 2009 was when he competed for a world championship, 2010 could be the year where Lee gets paid.
Still, one thing is certain.
If Burnett stays with the Yankees and Lee stays in Seattle, they won’t face off in the World Series this year. The American League Championship Series would be the best they can do.
Sports, Pages 32 on 12/27/2009