This was as much a Command Performance from CC Sabathia on the Stadium mound last night as it was a commanding one.
The type of domination the big left-hander displayed against the Mariners on a night he came with perfect game stuff against an inexperienced, free-swinging lineup is exactly what the Yankees will require from their ace against much better and much more patient and disciplined teams when the money is on the line in October.
“Very seldom am I ever going to worry about CC,” manager Joe Girardi said after the 6-3 victory in which Sabathia allowed three hits in going the distance. “I know who he is, what he’s done and I believe in him all the time.
“CC’s a winner.”
There is enough power in the Pinstriped batting order to create regular-season glory in The Bronx, but might doesn’t make it right in the playoffs. Superior pitching is necessary, and so much the better at the top of the rotation.
So much the better if it comes from Sabathia, whose left arm will or will not point the way to the Canyon of Heroes.
Indeed, Sabathia was an ordinary pitcher down the stretch last season, pitching to a 4.06 ERA his final 10 starts, a full 1.5 over his ERA his first 26 starts. He allowed 87 hits and 11 home runs over his final 68 2/3 regular season innings after having allowed 143 hits and six home runs his first 168 2/3.
“Last year was last year,” Sabathia said. “I had some problems but I’m not thinking about last year; I’m looking forward to the rest of this season.”
When David Cone threw his perfect game against the Expos on July 18, 1999, he was aided and abetted by an impatient and inexperienced Montreal order that was overmatched from the get-go.
Last night, a nondescript Seattle lineup was overmatched from the outset. Sabathia induced 21 swings-and-misses among the 52 strikes that were not put into play of his 103 pitches. One by one, Mariners were reduced to feeble, defensive swings, unable to lay off two-seamers that dived into the dirt.
“I got some swings early in the count, and when I get ahead with two strikes, that allows me to throw pretty much anything,” Sabathia said after his team’s second consecutive victory following four straight defeats. “They were being super-aggressive, which helped me.”
Sabathia set down the first 10 men he faced before Casper Wells parked a first-pitch change-up in the Seattle bullpen with one out in the fourth. The lefty then retired the next 12 Mariners before Miguel Olivo drilled a first-pitch fastball down the left field line for a double.
Those blows plus a Jesus Montero line drive out to right field in the second represented the only well-hit balls off Seattle bats through eight innings.
“Every time I go out there I try to dominate,” said Sabathia, 11-3 with a 3.53 ERA. “Today was a day I did even though I felt horrible coming out of the bullpen [before the game].”
Sabathia was the only Yankee pitcher to come out of the bullpen, allowed to finish what he started by Girardi despite a ninth-inning leadoff walk followed immediately by a Dustin Ackley home run into the lower right field stands that reduced a 6-1 lead to 6-3.
Indeed, Girardi himself went from the dugout to the mound after the home run, a trip that generally implies a pitching change. But not last night, not even with closer Rafael Soriano ready to go.
“I just wanted to find out that he was all right,” Girardi said. “When he said he was, I just told him, ‘Let’s go.’”
Go he did, getting the final three men he faced to complete the three-hitter in which he fanned 10 men.
“I wanted to finish,” Sabathia said. “When the bullpen guys say, ‘Thank you for the day off,” you feel pretty good.”
That’s not half as good as the Yankees felt about this commanding Command Performance whose left arm will (or will not) point the way to the Canyon of Heroes.