Major League Baseball

Sabathia good, but not good enough in Series debut

Published Oct. 29, 2009 5:55 a.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

foxsports

CC Sabathia sounded a bit glum. His World Series debut didn't turn out the way he wanted. The Big Man was outpitched by former Cleveland teammate Cliff Lee, just like on opening day at the new Yankee Stadium. After carrying New York into the championship on his broad back, Sabathia struggled somewhat as the Yankees lost to the Philadelphia Phillies 6-1 in Wednesday night's opener. "I wish I could stand here and say it was just two pitches, but I was behind pretty much the whole game," Sabathia said. On a night when the Yankees returned to the World Series for the first time in six years, the pinstriped fans expected greatness, hoping those famous ghosts had made the trip across 161st Street from the old home, where 26 World Series champions resided. Instead, Chase Utley homered twice on badly located 95 mph fastballs that drifted over the heart of the plate. He drove a 3-2 pitch that was supposed to be down and away into the right-field seats in the third inning. Then, went Sabathia shook off catcher Jorge Posada's call for a cutter and tried to go up and in with an 0-2 offering in the sixth, Utley sent it deep into the right-field bleachers. "He got some balls in the middle of the plate to Utley, and Utley made him pay," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We all know Utley is a great player. He's got power." Sabathia had not allowed a home run to a left-handed hitter at Yankee Stadium in 104 at-bats this year before Utley connected on the ninth pitch of his at-bat in the third, according to STATS. When he did it again in the sixth, Utley became only the third left-handed hitter to homer off Sabathia twice in a game, following Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki on July 30, 2005, and Jim Thome of the Chicago White Sox on March 31, 2008. Other than that, the Phillies were 2 for 23 against Sabathia. "We wasted a great pitching performance from CC," Johnny Damon said. Sabathia's teammates thought more of his outing than he did. "CC did exactly what we needed him to do," Derek Jeter said. "We just didn't score any runs." In the first two rounds of the postseason, Sabathia was nearly untouchable, muffling Minnesota and annihilating the Angels. He was 3-0 with a 1.19 ERA, proving to be worth every penny of the $161 million, seven-year contract New York lavished on him last offseason to become its ace. George Steinbrenner must have been a bit dismayed. The 79-year-old Yankees owner has watched just two games at his $1.5 billion ballpark. Sabathia started both, and Lee came away with wins both times. Those new "WIN IT FOR THE BOSS" shirts worn by the grounds crew didn't mean much. "We definitely don't like this situation," Damon said. Sabathia walked just three batters over his first three postseason starts but put two on in the first inning. He required 58 pitches to get through three innings, and his pitch count was up to 104 by the end of the sixth. By the time he left after seven innings, he had given up two runs, four hits and three walks, striking out six. His pitch count was up to 113. "CC pitched well enough to win," Alex Rodriguez said. "We didn't swing the bats well. But again, you have to have a short memory." Sabathia figures to face the Phillies again soon. New York appears set on bringing the 29-year-old left-hander back on three days' rest for Game 4 and to pitch him on short rest again if a seventh game is needed. "I've been saying all postseason I've had enough rest that I'll be able and be ready to pitch whenever they need me to," Sabathia said. "I pitched a lot on three days' rest last year and figured out that I can do it. And, you know, I'm pretty confident that I can go out there and do it again."

share

Get more from Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

Major League Baseball