Four Horseman of the Apocolypse

With the news that Cliff Lee had joined the Philadelphia Phillies, and joined a rotation that currently includes Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt, Joe Blanton, Kyle Kendrick or Jamie Moyer, it occurs to me that their 2011 rotation will rival some of the best ever assembled.

Think 90's Braves with Maddux, Smoltz and Glavine, or A's Hudson, Zito and Mulder, or harken back 40 years to the 4 man rotation of the early 70's Orioles of Mike Cueller, Dave McNally, James Palmer, and Pat Dobson, each won 20 games that season, but had 36-37 starts in those days.

Even the A's of that era had Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, Ken Holtzman and Blue Moon Odom, not shabby or Tigers of Lolich, McLain, and Earl Wilson were dominant, but then pitchers were dominant then, ballparks were bigger, hitters were smaller ( No PED's yet ).  Reggie was still swinging for the fences, but 47 homers was a lot in that era.

This new rotation sensation startled the baseball world Tuesday because we all were expecting a New York Yankee cap, or a return to home spun Texas Rangers, and be close to the home base for Lee in Arkansas.
Nope, we were wrong, and they both got punked by maybe the "LeBronian" approach of the super rotation.
Despite the Phils scoring dipping in 2010 , they still were a dominant team down the stretch and won the NL East going away.  How much are they prohibitive favourites now with Cliff Lee back ?

Many have had 3 excellant starters, but the rotations don't always stay together lately, salaries, free agency and egos pull them apart.  Even the Braves rotation could not withstand the dollars and sense of moving to greener pastures, so keeping these 4 happy is going to be fun to watch.

Is the over under on Phils wins 100 ?  have read that too, and think they top 100 easily, there run production might dip even lower without Werth, but their ERA just dipped a third of a run, and these are all competitve guys, and there certainly be a " watch what I can do " attitude as they try and out do each other.

2 lefties , 2 righties, very similar to the Orioles 4 man squad, and while I won't quibble that the 2011 Phils 4 dudes are maybe more impressive as a group, remember that in 71', the Orioles starters did their deeds on 3 days rest, these 4 have the luxury of that additional day off.

A reminder that when Lee was asked in 2009 to perhaps pitch on short rest, he grudgingly said " I guess so", but it was evident he did not want to, the 70's Orioles did not have that luxury. Earl Weaver would just ask Boog Powell to remind the guys what the playoff bonuses meant, and they all sucked it up.

I will cast my vote for the O's 71' rotation until I see how the 2011 Phils perform, but I suspect the division was decided by a stroke of the pen, not a fastball on the inside corner.