CLEVELAND — Judging from his first four starts of the season, Cliff Lee is back and better than ever.
Lee, who endured the worst of his four seasons in the majors last year, has returned to the form he displayed as a staple of the Indians’ rotation from 2004-06. The statistics say he’s taken it a notch further.
“It’s way too early for that,” said Lee, who thanks to a three-hit shutout of Kansas City on Thursday, is off to a 4-0 start, while carrying a microscopic 0.28 ERA and .109 opposing batting average — both tops in the big leagues. “I’m just going to continue to pitch the way I have been and ride it out until it stops. I feel like if I can continue to locate my fastball the way I have, I can keep giving us a chance to win games. That’s what a starting pitcher’s job is.
“It feels nice to be able to do my job.”
Better fastball location has been a large part of Lee’s early success, which has seen him allow just one earned run over 312/3 innings — none over his last 21 innings. His ERA is the lowest by a pitcher who won his first four starts since Roger Clemens posted the same number in 1991. He is the first Cleveland pitcher to win his first four starts since Chad Ogea in 1995.
“I just think his focus and the concentration you see from him from pitch to pitch,” said manager Eric Wedge when asked to pinpoint Lee’s reversal of fortune. “He’s always been a great competitor, always had a lot of confidence in himself.”
That was not on display last season when Lee began the year on the disabled list with an abdominal injury, was ineffective upon his return and lost his spot in the rotation to Aaron Laffey.
“I don’t think he ever got caught up,” Wedge said. “If you’re not at 100 percent, it’s hard to go out and compete. I think he has a greater respect for the game. When you go through injuries or setbacks, it just reminds you how (darn) tough it is to play this game.”

A little R&R

First baseman Ryan Garko and second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera got the night off after playing in both games of a doubleheader with Kansas City on Thursday. Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner also played both games, but were in the lineup Friday.
“Grady doesn’t count and Hafner’s a DH,” Wedge said.
Sizemore owns the longest consecutive-games-played streak in the majors at 380, while Garko was out of the lineup for the first time this year.
The doubleheader in KC didn’t start until 6:10 p.m., with the Indians touching down in Cleveland at 4:30 Friday morning.

Getting better

The Indians entered the series opener with New York riding their longest winning streak of the year (three games) and with five victories in their last seven games.
Cleveland, which has lagged near the basement of the Central Division since the season began, entered Friday in a second-place tie with Minnesota, 2½ games behind division leader Chicago.
“We still have a long ways to go,” Wedge said. “We’ve been a little more consistent offensively and our starting pitching continues to be pretty good for us. We’ve still got a lot of work to do in the bullpen, and, defensively, knock on wood, we’ve been pretty consistent. It’s not a lot of one thing, but a little bit more of everything.”

Joe Bo’s journey

Wedge said that disabled closer Joe Borowski hasn’t been able to throw yet, but that he expected the right-hander to begin playing catch soon. Borowski has been on the injured list since April 15 with a strained right triceps muscle and is not expected to return until at least mid-May.

Roundin’ third

The Indians went 0-6 against the Yankees in regular-season games last year before beating New York in four games of the Division Series. Cleveland entered Friday on an eight-game losing skid in regular-season meetings with the Yanks.
• The Indians entered Friday leading the majors with 19 batters hit by pitches. Sizemore led the team, getting hit four times through Thursday.
Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

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