The CC And Curtis Show
September 3, 2010 – 10:01 amNYY 5, Oakland 0. CC Sabathia is in the process of putting together one amazing year, as he totally shut down the Oakland A’s on just one measly hit over eight innings, and he made it all look quite routine. Of course the reality is that this is “routine” business-as-usual for CC these days. Since June, he is 15-2 with a 2.40 ERA and has averaged 7.1 innings per outing. Over that period he’s only had one no decision, and the Yankees won that one, giving the team a 16-2 record when he starts. This was win number 19, so CC’s all but assured his first 20-win season ever, a season that is arguably the best one yet in his career.
Even with CC’s great pitching though, this one still could have gone either way, as Dallas “Get Off My Mound” Braden was pretty much doing to the Yankee offense what CC was doing to the A’s. Through five innings, the only difference was Jorge Posada’s solo home run which gave NY a 1-0 lead. But then Braden cramped up in the sixth, so Oakland had to turn to their bullpen, and that was that as far as the pitchers’ duel was concerned. Curtis Granderson immediately homered off of Jerry Blevins, and then got a 2-run homer in the seventh, and that was all the offense the Yankees would need. The verdict is still very much out on Granderson and his new hitting approach, but after a short slump he does appear to be back in a groove as he finished the Oakland series going 5-for-15 with three home runs.
So now the win streak is at six games, and Toronto is in for a 3-game series. So far this year, the Yankees have struggled somewhat against the Jays, going 5-7 to date — so this will be a good test to see just how well the team is playing right now. Ivan Nova gets his third MLB start Friday, which should tell us a lot about just how good he is. And Javier Vasquez, after proving himself with a short stint in the bullpen, gets a chance Saturday to prove that he has his act back together. And then Phil Hughes starts the series finale. Between those three pitchers, we might learn a lot about just where the starting rotation is going in to the final stretch. Everyone knows exactly what we have in Sabathia and A.J. Burnett — it’s the rest of the rotation that’s the big question mark right now.
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NYY 4, Oakland 3. As I’ve said before, there’s nothing more predictable than A.J. Burnett’s unpredictability. So after two terrible starts, you had to figure A.J. would pitch a good game in this one against the A’s, and sure enough that’s exactly what we got — 6 innings, 3 runs, 6 hits, 8 Ks, and just 2 BBs. There were a couple of situations where it looked like Bad A.J. was getting ready to take over, but Good A.J. settled down and kept things under control.
Poor Joe Girardi has some tough decisions ahead of him once Alex Rodriquez returns to the lineup. Does he really want to mess with the 3-4-5 punch he has right now in Teixeira-Cano-Swisher? Collectively they went 9=for-11 with 7 RBIs and 2 HRs and 3 doubles. And what does he do with Lance Berkman when he gets back? Marcus Thames continues to hit just like you want your DH to hit, getting a 3-run home run, making it 6 HRs in his last 6 games. As they say, I guess those are the types of problems you like to have.
NYY 2, Chicago 1. So maybe Ivan Nova is for real? As good as he looked in his first start last week, he looked even better yesterday as he shut down the White Sox for 5.2 innings, giving up just one run on five hits while striking out seven. It’s still way too early to pencil him in to the post-season rotation, but so far you have to like what you see, particularly with the struggles of everyone else in the starting rotation. And with Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira out with injuries, and Derek Jeter mired in a terrible slump, who else but backup catcher Francisco Cervelli to provide the little offense that was needed to win this pitchers’ duel? Marcus Thames got one of the runs with a solo homer in the second (looks like Thames is the DH for the time being, as I hoped for), but it was Cervelli scoring what turned out to be the winning run after leading off the third with a double. And he went on to go 4-for-4 for the day, although his last three hits went for naught, as the rest of the lineup couldn’t do much of anything. But with Nova dealing on the mound, those two runs were all it took.
In spite of putting up 12 runs on 14 hits, there was also cause for concern with the offense. Mark Teixeira went out in the third inning with a bruised hand — supposedly he’ll be back in the lineup today, but isn’t that how Alex Rodriquez’ current stint on the DL started out? Losing Tex at this point could be disastrous. Beyond that though, lots of stuff to smile about. Robbie Cano may be getting back in his groove, going 3-for-5, and ditto for Jorge Posada who had two key doubles. Then there’s Marcus Thames, who went 2-for-5 with 3 RBIs, including two home runs, giving him four homers in the last four games. I know this guy is supposed to be a platoon player who has trouble hitting righties, but hey — over the month of August he’s got a .380 BA and 1.135 OPS. I say give him the permanent DH spot until he cools off regardless of who is on the mound.
NYY 10, Seattle 0. CC Sabathia and Robinson Cano both made great cases today for why they might be deserving of post-season awards, like the CY Young and MVP. CC has become Mr. Automatic over the last three months, as you have to go all the way back to May 29 to find a start where he gave up more than three runs. Since then his record is 13-2 with just one no decision, and the Yankees over that period are 14-2 in his starts. Sunday he totally shut down the Mariners on just 3 hits while striking out eight — although to be fair, it took a phantom call at home when Jorge Posada clearly missed tagging out Franklin Gutierrez to keep CC’s shutout in order. And credit the bullpen for yet another good performance, with Kerry Wood and Joba Chamberlain putting the finishing touches on the combined shutout
