"Cliff Lee is hardly impressed with himself. That's just the way he is. Sure, winning is fun and he likes to pitch well, but don't think for a second that he's trying to impress his teammates or anyone else. That's just not what it's about for the Phils' white-hot lefty.

Lee talked about his sixth complete-game shutout of the season on Tuesday night at the Bank with his trademarked country Zen. Most of his answers to questions came with shrugs of the shoulders or responses of, "I don't know…"

"I don't believe in that," Lee said when asked if the Phillies' pitching staff uses each other for motivation. "I want everyone to do well every day, but if someone is successful one day I don't think I have to one-up him. I don't feel that way. I want to do the same thing every time and I want to be consistent and that's it. I don't play off what other people do."

Still, for us mere mortals it's tough to not be impressed by the recent streak of well-pitched games from Lee after the Phillies' 9-0 victory over the Braves. Lee went the distance, allowing just five hits (only two left the infield) with zero walks and six strikeouts. He threw 100 pitches on the dot and retired 16 in a row from the second inning to the seventh.

Twice Lee gave up singles and promptly erased them by getting a double-play grounder to the next hitter."