BOSTON — CC Sabathia understands the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, knows what it means in the AL East and to the fan base of each club.
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Nevertheless, when the Yankees’ ace faces the Red Sox for the first time in pinstripes tonight and the Red Sox riding a seven-game winning streak against the visitors, the large left-hander doesn’t anticipate making any changes.
“Very rarely do I change my approach,” Sabathia said before the Red Sox 6-5 victory last night. “They have good hitters and are patient but I want to get ahead and pound the strike zone.”
Sabathia is 2-4 with a 3.91 ERA in seven career games against the Red Sox; 1-1 with a 2.35 ERA in three Fenway games.
“I can’t tell you my record but it hasn’t bothered me,” Sabathia said of working Fenway. Sabathia, who is 5-3 with a 3.56 ERA in 12 Yankees starts, said he hopes to feed off the bedlam that often smothers a Yankees-Red Sox meeting.
“The atmosphere is great, a lot of intensity,” Sabathia said. “I am looking forward to it.”
Bench coach Tony Pena took a batted ball off the right cheekbone during batting practice yesterday. Melky Cabrera hit a ball off the railing of the protective screen that struck Pena, who was pitching. Pena leaned over but stayed on the mound and completed throwing to his group that included Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter.
Pena was walked off the field by trainer Steve Donohue and sported a bright red bruise and small cut where the laces of the ball caught him.
“I was all right,” said Pena, who had a small bandage on the laceration.
Yankees starters continue to struggle against the Red Sox. After Chien-Ming Wang’s putrid outing in last night’s 6-5 loss, Yankees starters are 0-5 with a 7.47 ERA in seven games. They have allowed 47 hits and 25 walks in 31ñ 1/3 innings.
Weather permitting, Brian Bruney will pitch against live hitters today, and the Yankees will decide afterward if the right-handed reliever is ready to be sent on a minor league rehab assignment.
“It would be beneficial for him to go,” manager Joe Girardi said of Bruney, who has pitched one inning since April 21 due to a flexor muscle problem in the right elbow.
Until Xavier Nady plays the outfield in a minor league game he won’t come off the disabled list.
“He has to give us that option,” Girardi said of the outfielder who has been on the DL since April 15 with a ligament injury in the right elbow.
There is a chance right-hander Sergio Mitre could help the Yankees after the All Star break. Mitre, who missed the first 50 games of the season due to a suspension for using a banned performance enhancing substance, is 10½ months removed from Tommy John surgery and pitching well in three minor league games.
Tuesday night he went six innings for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Triple-A) against Charlotte, allowed a run and three hits. In three games (two for Single-A) Tampa, Mitre has worked 15 1/3 innings and is 1-0.
Signed as a free agent in January, the 28-year-old Mitre has a 10-23 major league record in 78 games (52 starts) with the Cubs and Marlins.
The Yankees game on June 5 that was rained out against the Rays at Yankee Stadium has been rescheduled for Monday, Sept. 7 at 7:05. It will be the second game of a day/night Labor Day double-header at the Stadium.
The Labor Day twinbill will be the first on the holiday since they split on Sept. 4, 1978 against the Tigers. Ron Guidry won his 20th in the first game.