KTTC Classics – Page 4 – Keefe To The City

Sep 25, 2013

I Believe CC Sabathia Because I Have To

CC Sabathia’s 13 losses are a big reason the Yankees won’t be playing in October, but he promises to be back in 2014.

The Yankees had to give CC Sabathia an extension. Coming off a 19-8 season with a 3.00 ERA in 2011 and 59-23 record with a 3.18 ERA in his first three seasons with the Yankees, he had been the first free-agent pitcher to truly live up to his hype and billing during the Brian Cashman era (unless you consider Mike Mussina the first to, which I don’t). Even if he was the biggest reason (aside from the runners in scoring position debacle) the Yankees lost to the Tigers in five games in the ALDS, the team had to re-sign him.

If Sabathia had opted out and signed somewhere else, the Yankees rotation entering 2012 would have been A.J. Burnett (thankfully he was eventually traded), Ivan Nova and Phil Hughes and who knows who else since Hiroki Kuroda had yet to sign and Andy Pettitte was still retired. Just a year after we were believed to be looking at a rotation of Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Pettitte, Burnett and Hughes before Lee ruined the Christmas season, if the Yankees didn’t extend Sabathia, they would have most likely had the worst rotation in the American League and I would have had to dust off the Cliff Lee Sad Songs Playlist.

The season after getting that extra year worth $25 million in 2016 and the $25 million vesting option for 2017, Sabathia started 28 games, his lowest total since 2006 (when he also started 28), posted his highest ERA since 2005 with 3.38, won his fewest amount of games since 2006 with 15 and allowed the most home runs in a season in his career despite the missed starts. He bounced back in the postseason by beating the Orioles in Games 1 and 5 of the ALDS (17.2 IP, 12 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 16 K), but then looked 2007 ALDS Chien-Ming Wang against the Tigers in Game 4 of the ALCS (3.2 IP, 11 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 2 HR). Still there wasn’t any reason to be worried about the Yankees’ ace since.

And there wasn’t any reason to be worried even when the Red Sox beat him on Opening Day since he had been beaten up by the Orioles on Opening Day in 2009, the Red Sox in 2010 and the Rays in 2012. Three starts later, Sabathia was 3-1 with a 2.57 ERA, the Yankees had a 1.5-game lead in the AL East and everything seemed to be going according to the plan the way it had the previous four seasons with Sabathia at the front of the rotation. Even when he entered his final start of the “first half” with a 9-7 record and 3.99 ERA, Sabathia was going to go on his “second half” run after the break because that’s what he does.

But then the Twins torched him in that final start (4 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 HR), in the most embarrassing loss of the season, the Red Sox lit him up in his first start after the break (5 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 2 HR), the Rays knocked him around five days later (5 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 6 K), and the Padres (the Padres!!!) roughed him up six days after that (5.2 IP, 11 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 HR). After losing to the Padres on Aug. 2, Sabathia was 9-10 with a 4.78 ERA and the Yankees were just 12-11 in games started by him. Five days later he later the White Sox creep back from a 4-1 deficit to make it 4-3 in the eventual double blown save game. The day after that I wrote that the Yankees’ season was over.

Sabathia won’t pitch again in 2013 and rightfully so. There’s no point in running $76 million of guaranteed money out there to face the Astros in an exhibition game when it’s likely that he’s only one of two returning current starting pitchers in 2014. And because only Sabathia and Ivan Nova are likely to return to the rotation next season, it’s important, no it’s imperative that CC Sabathia return to the 2009-2012 CC Sabathia or something pretty freaking close to it to avoid a chase for the second wild-card spot a year from now.

Sabathia finished the 2013 season at 14-13 with a 4.78 ERA and somehow won five of his final eight starts despite pitching to a 4.94 ERA over that span. He won’t pitch again in a real, meaningful game until April 2 in Houston on Opening Day 2014, when he will earn the same nearly $700,000 he earned per start in this lost season. But even though a little over six months separate Sabathia and the bottom of the first inning in Houston that doesn’t mean he isn’t already thinking about finding himself on the mound or finding a new way to be successful on the mound and he talked about it on Tuesday. Let’s analyze what Sabathia had to say about his 2013 season and what he expects in 2014.

On it being hard to make adjustments.

“Yeah, it is (difficult). It’s me being stubborn, too, and not wanting to change and thinking that I’ve got stuff figured out. It was a lot of different things. Of course, you want to have more time to work on things, especially when you’re trying to change things in your delivery. I’ll have the whole offseason to work on my throwing and my mechanics and be back right.”

I’m not sure “stubborn” is powerful enough for a starting pitcher who rejects change and midseason adjustments while losing 13 games. Sabathia was asked to carry the team (along with Robinson Cano) through injuries and earn his $23 million, but he failed to do so. At least he has an extra month to work on his mechanics! So I guess it’s a good thing the Yankees won’t be playing in October!

On if he can return to being a dominant pitcher.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to be that same guy again. I’m 33 this year, but pitching against San Francisco the other night, I felt like back to myself more so than any other start. It wasn’t velocity — I was 90 to 93 — but just pitching inside, being aggressive, throwing fastballs in hitters’ counts. Just going out there and being a bully. That’s something I feel like I was before and kind of lost that this year.”

The Giants suck. You know this, right? They haven’t seen .500 since June 24 and are 24th in runs score in MLB, 29th in home runs and 27th in slugging percentage. Being a “bully” against the Giants shouldn’t make you feel like yourself. It’s the Giants! The Giants!

“I feel like at certain times, I kind of fell in the same pattern, pitching the same way. Hitters watch video and they know what to expect out of me, so it’s only right for me to do the same thing. … I’ve always been a guy that never watched video and that’s something that I need to change.

You mean guys like Mike Napoli? Yeah, I would say watching video might be something you want to change if it’s going to result in career .258 hitters like Mike Napoli turning into Manny Ramirez vs. Andy Pettitte (36-for-92, five home runs, 23 RBIs) against you.

On changing the way he prepares for games.

“My preparation for games probably needs to get a little better in that way. That’s something me and Larry talked about, and going forward will be better.”

At what point did you and Larry talk about changing your preparation? Was it before or after (or possibly during) your winless six-game stretch from July 9 to Aug. 9 (36 IP, 49 H, 33 R, 28 ER, 12 BB, 27 K, 7 HR)? I’m going to hope it was sometime after this since losing to the Royals, Twins, Rays and Padres and picking up no-decisions against the Red Sox and White Sox over the course of 31 days isn’t a good look for the “ace” of the staff. Even Phil Hughes can shake his head at that disappointing stretch, which helped ruin the Yankees’ season.

On what went wrong this season.

“I’m just talking about going out and pitching like I did the other day (against the Giants). Grinding games out. That’s something I feel like I didn’t do a good job of this year. Getting runners on base and being able to get a double play. Giving up a run or two, and being able to shut the inning off. I feel like I gave up too many big innings and big situations. We come out and score a couple of runs off a tough pitcher, and I come back and give the lead right back. That’s stuff that I didn’t do, or I don’t do, and it happened this year. I think that’s what I say when I talk about coming back and being right.”

I would have to say I trust Sabathia the least when it comes to pitching a shutdown inning right after the Yankees get on the board. It got so frustrating this season watching him give up leads or increase deficits that actually became funny. It became funny because it got to the point that all you could do was laugh as CC built picket fences on the scoreboard for the opposition, put the Yankees in early holes and blew late leads. I’m just glad he realizes what he was doing and didn’t just go to into A.J. Burnett “Eff It” mode when things unraveled even if it looked like he went into that mode.

On what will change in 2014.

“I think I’ll be back to myself. I know a lot of people have written me off and said I’ve thrown too many innings and whatever, whatever, but I’ll still be here and still be accountable and still be the guy that signed up in 2009.”

That quote made me go back and watch CC Sabathia’s press conference from December 2008 when he was introduced with A.J. Burnett 10-plus months before they would help end the eight-year World Series drought. And in that press conference CC said, “I want the ball every day if they’ll give it to me.” There was a time when I wanted him to have the ball every day. If he holds true to his promise, I will want him to have the ball every day next season.

ALDS Game 5 Thoughts: CC Sabathia Is an Ace

The Yankees won Game 5 of the ALDS thanks to CC Sabathia as the left-hander improved to 7-1 in the postseason as a Yankee.

I felt like I was waiting for results from a pregnancy test on the morning and afternoon leading up to Game 5 with each passing minute causing me more concern, heartache and forcing my blood pressure to dangerously high levels. The Yankees had spent the entire month of September fighting avoid this very scenario: a one-game playoff.

I went back to my roots (and the pre-2009 world) for Game 5 of the ALDS and stayed off Twitter. Well, I tried to stay off Twitter, but the power of Nick Swisher’s incompetence forced me to tweet the following: “Nick Swisher is the worst player in Major League Baseball.”

I stole a line from Mike O’Hara (Daniel Stern) in Celtic Pride on Friday afternoon and said, “The Yankees won’t lose because I won’t let them lose.” I didn’t even need to kidnap Lewis Scott, or in this case, Nate McLouth to make sure the Yankees won. All I needed was to know that CC Sabathia was on the mound.

There isn’t much to say about the Yankees’ Game 5 win because it was all about CC Sabathia and had very little to do with any of the other Yankees. It was more of the same from the offense that runs and hides when the going gets tough in October and the No. 4 and No. 5 starters from last-place teams are nowhere to be found. The Yankees survived the ALDS because of their pitching and because of the man they extended for two more years in the offseason.

Here’s what I wrote about CC Sabathia after Game 1.

If anyone ever says CC Sabathia isn’t an ace, they’re wrong. CC was a beast on Sunday night and had his best postseason start since 2009 after rocky Octobers in 2010 and 2011. He’s now 6-1 in 11 postseason starts for the Yankees, and oh yeah, he’s 74-29 with a 3.22 ERA in four years in the regular season. That’s 74 and 29. He’s averaging an 18-7 record with a 3.22 ERA in 32 starts over four seasons with the Yankees. If he isn’t an “ace” then who is?

Change “Sunday night” to “Friday afternoon” and change “6-1 in 11 postseason starts” to “7-1 in 12 postseason starts” and there you have it. Sabathia won Game 5 for the Yankees and for an offense that might have trouble with Luke Hochevar or Bruce Chen. Games 1 and 5 are why Sabathia made $23 million this year and will next year and the year after that and that year after that and $25 million the year after with and a vesting option the year after that. He put the team on his back when the offense certainly wasn’t going to and he went out and won a do-or-die elimination game.

Three down, eight to go. This train carries Andy Pettitte in Game 1.

ALDS Game 1 Thoughts: Land of Hope and Dreams

If anyone ever says CC Sabathia isn’t an ace, they’re wrong. CC was a beast on Sunday in his best playoff start since 2009.

Back in February I did a retro recap of the NFC Championship Game and then also wrote down my thoughts from Super Bowl XLVI and those teams game played out nicely, so I decided to take it one step further and do the same for every Yankees playoff game this October. Here are some thoughts from Game 1 of the ALDS.

– I’m so scared of “Land of Hope and Dreams” forever being associated with postseason failure. I love the song and can’t get enough of it even with TBS playing it 79 times during each game. I liked “Written In the Stars” and still do, but whenever I hear it I think of the Yankees losing to the Tigers in the 2011 ALDS. I think of Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher leaving men on base every time through the order and I see Ivan Nova giving up two solo home runs in Game 5 and Joe Girardi using Luis Ayala before a rested David Robertson and Mariano Rivera. But when I hear the Black Eyed Peas’ “Meet Me Halfway” I think of the 2009 playoffs and all of the glorious memories. When I hear Nonpoint’s version of Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” I think of the 2004 playoffs and I start to cry. Please don’t let “Land of Hope and Dreams” forever be associated with negativity.

– Derek Jeter is the all-time Yankees hits leader. Derek Jeter is the all-time postseason hits leader. Derek Jeter was Major League Baseball’s hits leader this year. He sounds like a good candidate for a sacrifice bunt in a tie game, right? No, not at all. Like Stevie Janowski tells Reg Mackworthy in Eastbound and Down, “No bunts! No bunting!” But Joe Girardi will stop at nothing when it comes to sacrifice bunting and no matter what the outcome of the bunt is, he will bunt in the same situation from Sunday night every single time.

– If anyone ever says CC Sabathia isn’t an ace, they’re wrong. CC was a beast on Sunday night and had his best postseason start since 2009 after rocky Octobers in 2010 and 2011. He’s now 6-1 in 11 postseason starts for the Yankees, and oh yeah, he’s 74-29 with a 3.22 ERA in four years in the regular season. That’s 74 and 29. He’s averaging an 18-7 record with a 3.22 ERA in 32 starts over four seasons with the Yankees. If he isn’t an “ace” then who is?

– I’m going to talk about Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher together because they are all one unit once the postseason stats. The success of the Yankees will be determined by these three and whether or not they can hit with runners in scoring position, or really hit at all. Before the series I said that either A-Rod or Teixeira and Swisher need to hit. I only expect one of the first two to come through (and that looks like Teixeira right now) since asking both of them to come through would be asking too much. You wouldn’t win the lottery and then expect to win it again, would you? In Game 1, Teixeira and Swisher showed up and A-Rod didn’t and the Yankees won. My theory for postseason success is now a proven formula.

– A lot of people complain about Russell Martin’s bat and of course this complaining comes when the Yankees are losing. FYI: Russell Martin plays catcher. He isn’t a Yankee because of his bat and any offense he can provide should be viewed as extra, but not needed. If the Yankees’ offensive problems are ever blamed on Martin it’s because the guys who are here to hit aren’t. (A-Rod, cough, cough. Teixeira, cough, cough). Martin was the MVP of Game 1 and during the game there was a Jason Hammel fastball that missed his head by an inch that might have forced us to see a lot of Chris Stewart this October. Instead Martin dodged the high heat, made an incredible fielding play, looked like Henrik Lundqvist behind the plate and then showed his muscle with a leadoff home run in the ninth inning. If Martin goes hitless in Games 2 or 3, you will start to hear moans about how bad he is offensively, but he has already done his job offensively for this series.

– Until the ninth inning, Game 1 felt like a continuation of the 2011 ALDS. I really thought I was watching a sixth game against the Tigers from last October. Baserunners every inning and men in scoring position all over the place and nothing to show for it. If the Yankees lost Game 1 after all of the chances they blew in the first eight innings they would have ruined Columbus Day for me.

– How is Cal Ripken doing the Yankees-Orioles series? I don’t care if the broadcast team was determined before the outcome of the one-game playoff. You can’t have the Orioles’ most iconic player sitting in the booth and trying to act objective at Camden Yards’ first playoff game since he played. Ripken was a centerpiece of the Yankees-Orioles rivalry and he’s supposed to not openly root for the Orioles on national TV? If TBS can get away with that then John Sterling’s broadcast might as well double as the national radio feed if you want to really say “Eff it!” when it comes to objectivity for postseason games.

– How about Cal Ripken trying to reverse jinx CC Sabathia while facing Adam Jones and Matt Wieters late in the game? Ripken was talking up Sabathia’s ability to get the duo out so much that it would have made Michael Kay proud if the opposite result happened. Ripken might want to wear a suit to Game 2 because I’m not sure if wearing his actual Orioles uniform with dirt on it should be allowed again.

– John Smoltz was excellent on the broadcast of the game. Maybe Ben Cherington and the Red Sox will think that because he is great at talking about pitching that he is still great at actually pitching and bring him back for the 2013 rotation. I think it would be a good idea. Run prevention!

– I hate Lew Ford. That’s all there really is there. I have a bad feeling Lew Ford is going to dagger the Yankees in one of these games (he tried to in Game 1) and I’m not capable of handling a 35-year-old journeyman who last played in the league in 2007 being responsible for the outcome of a playoff game.

– I think there needs to be a rule or law in place that prohibits fan bases from chanting their team name if it exceeds six letters. “O-R-I-O-L-E-S!” is a bit much and I’m not even sure everyone was spelling it right. If Orioles fans are going to do this then I’m all for Columbus Blue Jackets fans (if there are any) doing the same thing.

– “Yankees Suck!” chants have always puzzled me. It has always been kind of awkward and embarrassing to sit at Fenway Park and have an inferior fan base start chanting this, but then again those are the same fans that will sing and sway to “Sweet Caroline” for a last-place team losing by five runs in the eighth inning, so it has never really bothered me. It also doesn’t bother me that Camden Yards has now taken over as the “Yankees Suck!” haven since the Red Sox are irrelevant, but really Orioles fans? It’s your first playoff game since I was in sixth grade. Orioles fans chanting “Yankees Suck!” would be like UMass students chanting “Safety School!” while playing Harvard. It just doesn’t make sense.

One down, 10 to go. This train carries Andy Pettitte in Game 2.