CC Sabathia Dominates Red Sox, Living Up To Hype For New York Yankees
August 8, 2009 · Doug Rush · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
In the winter, the Yankees signed CC Sabathia to a seven-year, $161.5 million dollar deal to be their ace.
Some have been very critical of that contract, saying Sabathia hasn’t lived up to the expectations of that deal. Saturday’s performance against the Red Sox will help silence all those critics.
In a game with playoff-like expectations and a battle for positioning in the American League East, Sabathia stepped up to the mound and delivered for the Yankees.
Sabathia went 7 2/3 innings, allowed two hits and no runs, walked two and struck out nine to get the 5-0 victory.
Sabathia improved to 12-7 with a 3.76 ERA on the season.
The Yankees are now 5 1/2 games ahead of the Red Sox now in the A.L. East standings.
These were the type of games Sabathia is getting paid to win. Sabathia gave the bullpen a major break today, put the game on his shoulders and carried the Yankees against Boston.
Last season, Sabathia was the same pitcher who carried the Milwaukee Brewers into the postseason and was pitching numerous games in September on three days rest while dominating National League offenses. Without Sabathia, Milwaukee doesn’t make the playoffs.
The Yankees are relying on good, solid starting pitching with help from an improved bullpen to win games in 2009. This was part of their formula from the 1996-2001 dynasty team that won four World Series titles.
The other key to that component was clutch hitting and being able to get runs by any means necessary.
This has been a trait the Yankees were lacking over recent years, but the 2009 Yankee team is showing they can play situational baseball and do the little things to win.
The Yanks went ahead 1-0 on a Mark Teixeira RBI single. They then went to 2-0 with a Jose Molina sacrifice fly to center field. The score was 3-0 after Nick Swisher was walked with the bases loaded.
Derek Jeter hit the lone home run of the game off Enrique Gonzalez, a two-run shot to make the score 5-0 and essentially put the game out of reach in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The new Yankee Stadium has been called a bandbox for home runs and offensive explosion, but in the last two games, only two home runs have been hit. The Yankees are showing they can rely on situational baseball to go along with the home runs hit, which is very important in trying to win championships.
But the most important component is starting pitching. Great pitching can always beat a good offense. The Yankees are showing that this weekend and have been showing that during the week.
Andy Pettitte out-pitched Roy Halladay, who is considered the best pitcher in baseball, and won an important game Tuesday night for the Yankees while silencing Toronto to one run.
Friday night, A.J. Burnett went inning-for-inning with Josh Beckett, who is considered one of the best playoff pitchers in baseball and silenced the Red Sox to one hit.
Saturday, it was Sabathia who kept the Red Sox bats quiet for two hits and no runs in another critical game in August.
Sunday night, Pettitte will take the ball again in a game against Jon Lester, another good starting pitcher for Boston. The Yankees will look for the sweep while Boston will look to win one game and try to score a run, something they haven’t done in 24 innings.
The Red Sox really look like they are in trouble. Not only are they now 5 1/2 back of the Yankees, but they are only one game ahead of the Texas Rangers in the Wild Card race and the Tampa Bay Rays are slowly creeping up on them; the Rays are two games behind Boston in both the A.L. East and the Wild Card. The Red Sox are going to have to start looking over their shoulders now.
The Yankees on the other hand are getting stronger and mentally prepared for a possible return to the postseason. 2008 may have been a major wakeup call to the Yankees as they missed the playoffs for the first time since 1994.
They are more focused, determined, and they have the ability to come from behind and win games when down or tied. The 2008 team never was able to prove they could come back and win.
With 52 games to play, the Yankees are clicking on all cylinders at the right time and things couldn’t be better for Yankees Universe.
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