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If Rangers can't curb ballpark heat, they'll likely lose ace Cliff Lee



Rangers third baseman Michael Young gives reliever Neftali Feliz a pat on the chest with his glove after the closer gave up the lead to the Yankees during their ninth-inning rally.

ARLINGTON - By the end of Wednesday's disastrous sweat-a-thon that saw the Rangers blow a five-run lead and lose 7-6 to the New York Yankees, incoming Rangers ownership had determined the approximate starting point for negotiations to retain Cliff Lee.

It's at $200 million. Give or take $10 million.

That's about $100 million or a bit more for Lee, which is just common-sense guesswork, and another $100 million for sun screens. Yes, sun screens. We're talking the high-tech, heat-reducing devices club president Nolan Ryan said the team looked at briefly two years ago before the club's outgoing ownership group went bust.

Because let's face facts: Free-agent pitchers, especially those with their pick of the market, may want saunas after they sign, but rarely do they want to pitch in them.

And "sauna" would be a gracious description of Rangers Ballpark on Wednesday. When Lee took the mound Wednesday, it was officially 99 degrees.

Despite Lee's typical pinpoint command and pitch efficiency, the wilting heat took its toll by the seventh inning. Thanks to a little wrinkle - more secondary stuff early - to help him avoid the first-inning brushfires that have been the closest thing to trouble spots since he joined the Rangers, Lee had only 70 pitches entering the sixth. That's when the panting began in earnest and the perspiration rolled in streams.

While Lee acknowledged the heat wore him down, he also said the weather would be no factor in determining where he pitches in 2011.

"It was one of the hottest games I've ever played in," he said. "But it's hot for both teams. That's just part of playing in Texas. You can't change the heat or the environment. It is what it is, and you deal with it. The heat doesn't bother me."

Bidding for his 11th consecutive start of at least eight innings, Lee never made it through the seventh. He allowed a leadoff triple to Derek Jeter in the sixth but managed to strike out the next three hitters to run his total to 11 for the game against no walks, of course. It also ran his pitch total to 85 and depleted his energy further.

When Lee came out for the seventh, he was spent. Against the bottom-five hitters in the Yankees order, he managed to get one out before manager Ron Washington pulled him. At 6 1/3 innings, it tied for Lee's shortest outing of the year.

On Tuesday, with a game to win, Washington was liberal with his relievers. He replaced C.J. Wilson after 5 1/3 innings and was willing to pitch Neftali Feliz for two innings. With Lee on deck, there was a very good chance Feliz wouldn't be needed Wednesday.

Well, he was. And he wasn't up to the task.

Feliz had nothing a day after throwing 21 pitches in 98 degree weather. He got one out but allowed the tying run to score. Alexi Ogando allowed one of the runners he inherited from Feliz to score to give the Yankees the lead.

It robbed the Rangers of a chance pull off their first home sweep of the Yankees since 1996. It kept the Rangers from inching within three games of the best record in the AL. And, as far as the Yankees are concerned, it helped reinforce the natural order that when the chips are down, they will always find a way to humble the Rangers.

Lee is a guy who could make that change. But whether or not the Rangers can keep him past this year is a huge question. The Yankees collect high-priced free agent pitchers like they are doing a recycling project.

To keep him here, though, the Rangers have got to make it an easy decision. They've got to match dollars with any bidder, which they might try to do. They've got to match bright futures, which they certainly can do. And they've got to make the place more hospitable for a pitcher, which is the $100 million question.

Two years ago, Rangers officials met with a German company that designed the sun-screen apparatus for some European soccer stadiums. The company officials took some measurements, did some studies and said that with the addition of the permanent shades, which would be hung on cables from support beams, the temperature inside the stadium could be lowered by up to 15 degrees.

Everything sounded cool. Well, except the price. They went about $70 million for a shade that provided cover for 40 percent of the stadium; $100 million for 60 percent shade. At this point, it's not considered a realistic option.

That could come in handy. Because without some reduction in the heat, the only place Rangers fans are likely to see Lee next year is on that board.

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