ANAHEIM, Calif. — It will be CC on three.
Manager Joe Girardi made it official yesterday, announcing that CC Sabathia will start on three days’ rest for the Yankees in Game 4 of the ALCS tomorrow. If a seventh game is need at the Stadium on Sunday, Sabathia would then be ready on full rest.
“We’re comfortable going with him on short rest,” Girardi said. “He feels good, and we’re going right to CC.”
Sabathia played catch yesterday at Angel Stadium instead of throwing a full-blown side session. The announcement that Sabathia will get the call comes as little surprise, given that Girardi last week admitted it was an option, and the Yankees had little interest in thrusting Chad Gaudin or Joba Chamberlain into the rotation.
But it wasn’t until Friday’s game got played — after threats of rain — that Girardi’s plan could be utilized. Had Game 1 been postponed until Saturday, the Yankees likely would have needed a fourth starter.
“We had thought possibly about going to the four-man rotation,” Girardi said. “But with this extra day off [Wednesday], it allows us to do [three]. You wouldn’t be asking him to go on short rest twice in a seven-game series if it went all seven.”
In four career regular season starts made on three days rest, Sabathia is 3-1 with a 1.01 ERA. But all was not peachy in last year’s NLDS, when Sabathia worked on short rest for the Brewers against the Phillies and allowed five earned runs over 3 2/3 innings.
Nevertheless, the Yankees have first-hand knowledge that a horse can succeed on short rest at this time of year. Josh Beckett showed no signs of fatigue on short rest for Florida in Game 6 of the 2003 World Series while acing the Yankees. Two years earlier, Curt Schilling pitched on short rest for Arizona against the Yankees in Game 7 of the World Series and dominated.
The Angels are expected to pitch Scott Kazmir on full rest. The significance? Since 1999, teams using a pitcher on short rest against a fully-rested opponent in the postseason are 7-27. That includes an 0-7 record for pitchers on short rest since Game 5 of the 2004 NLDS, when Houston’s Roy Oswalt won on short rest against fully-rested Jaret Wright of the Braves.