Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Less than a week ago, Cliff Lee occupied this space – through no fault of his own – after pitching 10 shutout innings against San Francisco and still recording no win after his reliever gave up a run.

Let that sink in for a moment: 10 innings. 102 pitches. 81 strikes. 7 strike outs. 7 hits. No walks. No runs. No win.

Another former Razorback, Drew Smyly, may be following Lee's lead. The Detroit Tiger owns a 1.13 ERA after three starts. He's the first Tiger since at least 1918 to limit opponents to fewer than two runs in each of his first three starts.

And Smyly is 0-0 in his three starts. Eerily similar to Lee, his latest game ended by a one-point difference in the 11th inning.

It's strange how a game like football, where you basically have four teams competing against each other (two offenses, two defenses), comes across a bit more unified than baseball. Sure, Drew Brees could throw six touchdowns and still lose the game, but it would be a rare event. Meanwhile, baseball, where all the players on defense also take their swings on offense (in Lee's league, at least), can look like two lopsided squads on the same night.

Smyly's doing his job though, and in the end, that's what we're watching.