Playoff struggles a thing of past for Sabathia after Game 1 outing
NEW YORK – The numbers did not lie.
Whenever you saw the graphic of CC Sabathia’s postseason statistics, they looked so bad that there was no justification.
The big left-hander fairly or not was going to be judged by these numbers and it would be up to him to write a new chapter and officially earn his “pinstripes”.
In Game 1, he took a significant step in doing that.
Of course, it was not without its dramatic moment early on that had many in the crowd and watching on TV saying to themselves “oh no, here we go again”. Yankee fans such as me were looking for the littlest thing to complain about. This is what happens when you have not won a first round series in five years and a World Series in eight.
Once Denard Span began the game with a double to left center, you immediately sensed edginess. Span got to third with one out on a passed ball and the one thing you were hoping for was a fast start and a quick 1-2-3 inning. However, drama was already here with Joe Mauer at the plate. Sabathia to his credit struck out Mauer and then got Michael Cuddyer to fly to center to end the threat.
It was in the third when he would give the fans the most agita. Sabathia was aided by a double play early in the inning, but then allowed three consecutive hits, which included an RBI single by Cuddyer that gave the Twins the early 1-0 lead. Another cross up in communication led to a passed ball that scored Mauer from third to make it 2-0.
At this point, you could not help but think this was déjà vu all over again. Four hits were sprayed off him in the inning, his pitch count was rising and the Stadium was nervous in anticipation of a Postseason CC meltdown.
Derek Jeter would bail him out by hitting a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning. In the fourth, he would be given the lead when Nick Swisher doubled into the left field corner to the Yankees a 3-2 lead.
Now, the game was back in his hand. He had no excuses anymore. The task was simple: Just get it done.
There would be no excuses. Not against a team filled with free swingers who lack patience and numerous automatic outs in the order. Blowing a lead and losing this game to a team that arrived in New York at 3 AM and finally found extended sleep at 6 AM was not going to work.
He was given $161 million for these games. The 19 wins were nice during the regular season, but this was where he would earn his money.
Of the next 11 hitters Sabathia would face, 10 of them would return to the bench and only one of them reached base on a hit. The door was set to slam as he effectively battled through his early game nerves to pitch into the seventh inning.
Matt Tolbert reached on a hit batsmen and Nick Punto got lucky and made first on an infield single that bounced off the foot of Sabathia at the pitchers mound on his 113th pitch of the night. Two men were on base and the dangerous Orlando Cabrera was coming up who had singled twice in the game. In previous years, a manager who had Sabathia as his pitcher would have left him in there even if he had nothing left in the tank. Were he in Milwaukee, no one else would even be warming up.
Instead, Manager Joe Girardi felt very confident in taking the ball from his ace pitcher because there were enough talented relievers ready and able to come into the game and slam the door. It was a night that Sabathia could leave the mound knowing he was in good hands with the offense around him and the bullpen.
When the ball was taken, he walked back to the dugout with the crowd standing and applauding in approval, saluting him for a job well done. Other pitchers like Javier Vazquez, Kevin Brown, Randy Johnson and Chien Ming-Wang never left to that ovation in the playoff games they ever pitched because none of them ever performed to the level Sabathia on a night where he even did not have his truly best stuff.
If this is a sign of things to come out the Yankees ace, he will no longer have to hear about being a choker.
Instead, the percentages are high will be called a “champion”.
NEW YORK – The numbers did not lie.
Whenever you saw the graphic of CC Sabathia’s postseason statistics, they looked so bad that there was no justification.
The big left-hander fairly or not was going to be judged by these numbers and it would be up to him to write a new chapter and officially earn his “pinstripes”.
In Game 1, he took a significant step in doing that.
Of course, it was not without its dramatic moment early on that had many in the crowd and watching on TV saying to themselves “oh no, here we go again”. Yankee fans such as me were looking for the littlest thing to complain about. This is what happens when you have not won a first round series in five years and a World Series in eight.
Once Denard Span began the game with a double to left center, you immediately sensed edginess. Span got to third with one out on a passed ball and the one thing you were hoping for was a fast start and a quick 1-2-3 inning. However, drama was already here with Joe Mauer at the plate. Sabathia to his credit struck out Mauer and then got Michael Cuddyer to fly to center to end the threat.
It was in the third when he would give the fans the most agita. Sabathia was aided by a double play early in the inning, but then allowed three consecutive hits, which included an RBI single by Cuddyer that gave the Twins the early 1-0 lead. Another cross up in communication led to a passed ball that scored Mauer from third to make it 2-0.
At this point, you could not help but think this was déjà vu all over again. Four hits were sprayed off him in the inning, his pitch count was rising and the Stadium was nervous in anticipation of a Postseason CC meltdown.
Derek Jeter would bail him out by hitting a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning. In the fourth, he would be given the lead when Nick Swisher doubled into the left field corner to the Yankees a 3-2 lead.
Now, the game was back in his hand. He had no excuses anymore. The task was simple: Just get it done.
There would be no excuses. Not against a team filled with free swingers who lack patience and numerous automatic outs in the order. Blowing a lead and losing this game to a team that arrived in New York at 3 AM and finally found extended sleep at 6 AM was not going to work.
He was given $161 million for these games. The 19 wins were nice during the regular season, but this was where he would earn his money.
Of the next 11 hitters Sabathia would face, 10 of them would return to the bench and only one of them reached base on a hit. The door was set to slam as he effectively battled through his early game nerves to pitch into the seventh inning.
Matt Tolbert reached on a hit batsmen and Nick Punto got lucky and made first on an infield single that bounced off the foot of Sabathia at the pitchers mound on his 113th pitch of the night. Two men were on base and the dangerous Orlando Cabrera was coming up who had singled twice in the game. In previous years, a manager who had Sabathia as his pitcher would have left him in there even if he had nothing left in the tank. Were he in Milwaukee, no one else would even be warming up.
Instead, Manager Joe Girardi felt very confident in taking the ball from his ace pitcher because there were enough talented relievers ready and able to come into the game and slam the door. It was a night that Sabathia could leave the mound knowing he was in good hands with the offense around him and the bullpen.
When the ball was taken, he walked back to the dugout with the crowd standing and applauding in approval, saluting him for a job well done. Other pitchers like Javier Vazquez, Kevin Brown, Randy Johnson and Chien Ming-Wang never left to that ovation in the playoff games they ever pitched because none of them ever performed to the level Sabathia on a night where he even did not have his truly best stuff.
If this is a sign of things to come out the Yankees ace, he will no longer have to hear about being a choker.
Instead, the percentages are high will be called a “champion”.
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