Rain not Mariners CC Sabathia's real opponent

For CC Sabathia, the rain was his real opponent last night, not the hapless Seattle Mariners.

Sabathia was so focused and sharp that for about 90 minutes it looked like he was going to accomplish one of baseball's most challenging feats: the perfect game. It helped that the team he was facing on the field was a total mess after losing 16 straight games up to that point. But the way Sabathia looked yesterday in throwing strike after perfectly placed strike, it didn't look like anyone could stop him. And no one did. But the rain accomplished what the Mariners could not.

If the rain hadn't started pouring down at the stadium, I truly believe we would be talking about Sabathia becoming the latest member of the New York Yankees to achieve baseball immortality. It was fitting that David Cone was in the building last night. He was the last member of the Yankees to pitch a perfect game and he did so with the added distraction of a brief rain delay, which made you think that the Yankees big lefty could also pull of the miracle. But the baseball gods just weren't on CC's side last night, as shown by not one but two rain delays.

I just hope Sabathia's near-perfecto doesn't distract from what was another terrific performance by a pitcher who is on such a roll that calling it a roll doesn't do it justice. CC is on his way to winning his first Cy Young Award as a member of the Yankees.