Thursday, July 1, 2010

CC Sabathia every inch the ace for Yankees


CC Sabathia did what every ace must do to earn their paycheck and the respect of their teammates: he stopped a two-game losing streak that could have become an embarrassing sweep at the hands of the inferior Seattle Mariners.

"You never want to get swept," Sabathia said in what qualified as the understatement of the day.
Sabathia dominated the Mariners through the first seven innings before giving up a couple of runs in the 8th, but still notched his 10th win when the New York Yankees came right back with a two-run homer by Alex Rodriguez. CC was the happiest guy on the bench when ARod hit the blast because if the Yankees had lost the game, CC said it would have been tough for him to sleep, being so close to giving the ball to Mariano Rivera with a two-run lead.

The hefty lefty has snatched his ace mantle back with his third straight dominant performance, coming at a critical time due to AJ Burnett’s struggles. You don’t want a two-game losing streak to stretch into four, which likely would have happened if the Yankees lost today and AJ took the ball tomorrow and had another rough outing.

I thought it was interesting that Joba Chamberlain didn't come into the game when Sabathia got into some trouble. But Sabathia is Joe Girardi's horse, so he gets a longer leash than the other starters for the Yankees.

“CC’s done that since he’s been here for us and that’s just the type of pitcher he is,” Girardi said. "We didn't give him a lot of wiggle room, but I thought he shut Seattle down today. That’s what you expect from your ace. When you're on a little losing streak, that's what aces do."

Indeed, that’s what aces do.

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