Tonight CC Sabathia will show if he has fixed anything since his last start and if he will pitch the way the Yankees need him to down the stretch.
The struggling Sabathia is set to take the hill against Oakland tonight in The Bronx in another key start and, once again, the Yankees left-hander will attempt to right his ship. The ace has gone awry in his last four starts, going 0-3 with a 4.67 ERA as his team has lost all four games.
Sabathia has dropped three straight decisions, remarkably for the first time in his four-year Yankees tenure. He’s endangering the Yankees’ chances at a division title — and at a playoff berth.
“I have a lot of faith in CC. He’ll figure it out and get this right,” manager Joe Girardi said before the Yankees’ 10-7 victory over the Blue Jays last night. “He’s still pitching OK. It’s not what we’ve seen in previous years. We need him to get on a roll and [tonight] would be a good day to start.”
Sabathia has pitched poorly in his last four games against the Blue Jays, the Rays (twice) and the Orioles. He has blown leads in five straight starts, and his 3.63 ERA is the worst he has ever had in a season since he was at 4.03 in 2005.
Normally extremely accessible with the media, Sabathia politely said he could not speak to reporters before last night’s game because he needed to receive treatment. The left-hander has insisted he’s healthy, as has Girardi, and pitching coach Larry Rothschild said that’s his understanding, too.
“I think it’s going to just come down to executing pitches a little more often,” Rothschild said.
The Athletics rank as one of the AL’s best teams this season, but Sabathia has dominated them this year, as well as over the last few years.
This season, Sabathia has faced them twice, allowing two earned runs in seven innings on May 26 and three earned runs over seven innings on July 22. The last eight times Sabathia has faced Oakland, going back to 2009, he has posted a sparkling 2.55 ERA.
Rothschild said he believes that due to Sabathia’s recent disabled list stint, “He hasn’t really gotten into that rhythm.”
Maybe that’s true. As Girardi said, the Yankees need it. — Additional reporting by George A. King III