"For fans of the local baseball team, this week's stomach growling is not a medical disorder or a reaction to an abundance of jalapenos in the salsa.

I checked with my doctor, who says he's seen a lot of these cases lately.

His prognosis:

"Cliff Lee withdrawal pains."

It's enough to make you sick, the way this guy just ripped through the month of June with three straight shutouts and 32 consecutive scoreless innings entering July.

Plus, there was the 5-0 record and the 0.21 ERA as Mr. Lee just wrapped up the greatest pitching performance for a month in 23 major league years.

Kristen Lee also reports that the traffic is light in Philadelphia and the weather is pleasant. As opposed to her after-the-fact summation of her husband's stay with us.

Locally, the "seventh year" question still hangs there, and where the Rangers' off-season decision on Lee is concerned, it will be hanging there for probably the next five seasons at least.

Don't start me or anyone else second-guessing the Rangers on this, not until the Lee thing has plenty of time for the sorting out process. But when an opinion was needed in mid-December, and this opinion sided with the Rangers, it was conceded then that there would be plenty of second thoughts.

The month of June for Lee forced those second thoughts to surface.

I hear you, however. I read your e-mails."