Kristen_leeNodding approval

That brings the total number of supporters for our aging rail systems to… [calculating]… [still calculating]… one.

The more we learn about why Cliff Lee signed with the Phillies, the more we realize just how damn influential his wife is.

Thanks to reader Tom for sending along this story from the Star-Telegram, which basically just regurgitates what Kristen told reporters last week in Philly- quotes we missed in chaos of CP Lee.

She prefers Philadelphia for the cultural opportunities and the dining, she said.

But mostly — she really likes the trains.

Kristen Lee wanted her husband to return to the Phillies because of "how easy it is to get from point A to point B" in Philadelphia, she was quoted as saying by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Phillies play three miles from City Hall. The stadium is a $1.85 ride from downtown on the Broad Street Line, plus a three-block walk.

Arlington has a train from Dallas and Fort Worth. Barely.

The Trinity Railway Express skirts the north edge of Arlington and stops six miles from the stadium.

So everybody drives. And waits in traffic.

She's also happy to be a 11/2-hour train ride away from road games in New York or Washington.

"We liked the easy travel on a train for our kids to other cities," Kristen Lee was quoted.

 

I'll tell you what, I would not want to mess with Kristen Lee.

It's also funny to read how butt-hurt Texans are, as they lick their wounds and bloviate their introspective insecurities about their city's commuter rail system.  They also really don't like to write in paragraphs.

Of course, none of this is news.  Our source, last Tuesday– before Kristen ever spoke to reporters.

They are happy because they can get a house down at the Jersey shore for Kristen and the kids to stay in, and they like that they are only a short train ride from other big cities.

And that comes five days after ESPN confirmed our report that the Phillies were determined to not let $5 million come between them and the Lees.

I really don't know why you would go anywhere else for your Cliff Lee stalking.