Well, folks, it seems CC Sabathia's playoff mental block is still there -- and as a result, he may have pitched his last for the Milwaukee Brewers. And he probably cost himself several million dollars.
As we Clevelanders all remember, if Sabathia had pitched well in the 2007 postseason, they Indians might have won the World Series. Going into tonight's game, the Brewers were in even more desperate need of a great start from their ace than the Indians were last year. But he laid yet another egg.
Before I go any further along these lines, let me say that Sabathia's failure in tonight's game brings me no pleasure. CC seems like a genuinely good guy and good teammate, and I have no doubt he wants to succeed for his team. I bear him no grudge. And there is absolutely no question that without him, the Brew Crew would have ended their season on Sunday, as the Indians and 21 other teams did.
But the man has obviously developed some sort of psychological trouble with pitching in October. He went just 3 2/3 innings, giving up five runs on six hits and four walks. Those runs all came in the second inning, when he gave up an RBI double to Pedro Feliz (aka Peter Happy) and a grand slam to Shane Victorino. One of the runners who scored on Victorino's blow was the opposing pitcher, Brett Myers, who hit .069 this year, and whom Sabathia walked. Myers actually managed to foul off three pitches during the plate appearance. When CC was pulled with two outs in the fourth, it was after having walked the last two hitters to load the bases.
One more loss to the Phillies, and the Beermakers are done. And CC's erratic performance will be one of the reasons why. I'd say I feel for the guy, but he's probably about to sign a contract worth at least $80 million. Some teams might shy away, based on his playoff performance, but someone's still going to drive a truckload of money up to his door. So yeah, he's undoubtedly having a worse night than I am, but I have a hunch he'll be OK.
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4 comments:
I don't think you can completely believe his bad outing was a mental block with playoff baseball. I agree, he tanked last year, but wasn't this the fourth consecutive start on three days rest? The guy's gotta be worn down, esp. since the Brewers were riding him hard down the stretch with complete games and high pitch counts. As announcers point out on game casts, at least the Tribe ones did, when Sabathia is tired, he loses command, not speed. He walked Brett Myers after an 11-pitch AB. Tell me, that's because of a mental thing, no, I think it was because his command/control was done. I think all the innings, big games down the stretch finally caught up. Gotta give him credit for sacking up and agreeing to pitch so much on short rest. I'm predicting he's not going to lose any cash in free agency, he's going to get at least, $25 million per year, and perhaps up to $30 million (remember the Yankees really want him and they will have to give him tons of cash to leave the AL and go to the east coast).
Hutch, I cannot deny the validity of your point, and I meant to mention the fact that it was his fourth straight start on three days' rest. And you're right, he does deserve credit for that. But I still say he let the pressure get to him. Perhaps I'm wrong, but that's what I think.
I agree with Hutch and want to underline that C.C. was pitching on 3 days rest for the 3rd time in a row. It's a lot to ask a pitcher to pitch ONCE on 3 days rest, and it's quite another to ask him to pitch THREE TIMES IN A ROW on 3 days rest.
The statistics for pitchers throwing on 3 days rest is not all that good, and I wonder how many decades it's been since a starter went on short rest three consecutive outings? My guess is that it's been at least since the 1970s.
It's true that C.C. didn't pitch well in the 2007 L.C.S. against the BoSox, however I want to cut him some major slack for not pitching well in his last game of the 2008 season.
Steve, what will it take for the Tribe to re-sign C.C. back into Cleveland?
All right. Geez, you guys don't have to gang up on me! Just kidding. I appreciate the comments, even if they're made to take issue with my opinions.
Jeff, what it will take for the Indians to re-sign CC is to suddenly tap into some magical revenue stream, i.e. become the Yankees. In other words, it's just not going to happen.
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