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Worth Every CCent
First of all, the NY Post better pay me royalties when they steal this headline for their back page tomorrow. Now, the game. CC looked every bit like the guy who dominated both the American and National leagues over the past two seasons. Any concerns over his velocity were gone when he came out throwing 95+ in the first, and left after throwing a 95MPH heater 7.2 innings later, the game pretty much in the bag.
The offensive star of the game was Nick Swisher, who filled in for a surprisingly gimpy Mark Teixeira who has a sore wrist (he's expected to play tomorrow). In my mind, Swisher has penciled his own name in as the starting right fielder for this team, we'll see if our diminutive manager is on the same page. His two-run bomb in the top of the fifth put this game away. Just to show you how my faith in Swisher has never wavered, this is the first note I wrote down tonight, verbatim, "Swisher batting third, apparently Girardi was too lazy to fill out a whole new lineup card, so he just stuck Swisher in Teixeira's spot."
Let's get back to CC for a minute. He threw 69 fast balls with an average speed of 94.02 MPH, 16 change-ups with an average speed of 84.84 MPH, and 21 sliders with an average speed of 79.77 MPH. He threw all of his pitches for strikes, and he mixed them up throughout the game. If you're a young kid trying to figure out how to pitch, watch this guy. Throwing 95 MPH alone is not enough. Even throwing 95 and having a good slider isn't going to get the job done. CC Sabathia took a huge leap forward as a pitcher when he perfected his change, and that pitch is what I believe separates Sabathi from the very good pitchers out there. The speed difference of 10 MPH, the movement. Having three devastating pitches, at three distinct speeds, that you can throw for strikes, well, when he's on, he's unhittable.
Looking at the larger picture from the team perspective, that's two excellent outings from starters in a row. The pen is fully rested heading into a stretch of 11 games in 11 days. You can't quantify the long-term benefit of that on the team, but let's just say it's huge.
One point about strategy from the game. With the Yanks up 6-0 in the 7th, Swisher drew a lead-off walk. The Royals decided to play behind him at first. Girardi decided to honor the "gentleman's agreement" and keep Swisher planted right there. The guys in the booth were going nuts, and I agree with them. 6 runs is not an insurmountable lead in the 7th inning. I'm not blaming Joey, so much as Hillman. That's just a b.s. move on his part. If Girardi really had balls, he would've sent Swisher just to send the message that we aren't done playing yet, but I doubt there's a manager in the league who would've made that move. The disappointing thing is the message Hillman was sending to his own players.
Joba takes the hill tomorrow for the first time this season. He'll face off against Gil Meche at 2:10 p.m. I'm really looking forward to seeing the kid on the hill again. A lot of people have forgotten how dominant Joba was as a starter last season, if he can stay healthy, we could be looking at the Yanks' one-two punch in the rotation for years to come.
Player of The Game: CC Sabathia
Team Record: 3-2
Up Next: Joba vs. Meche, tomorrow at 2:10pm.
I'll be on the lookout to see if the Post or any other paper steals that headline. Nice breakdown of the pitch speeds. Do you have state-of-the-art equipment to gauge it that closely?
mlb.com tracks the speeds this season, along w/ movement etc.
Beautiful game all around, boring in a great way. Really nice to watch a pitcher like CC pitching for your favorite team.
Swisher was fantastic, I wonder if Kenny Williams saw the highlights and swallowed his tongue. This could end up being the most shrewd move that Cashman made all offseason (in giving up very little for him with numerous relatively cheap years).
Joba's dealing early.
I really hope we don't see a whole lot of Swisher at first, I'll be perfectly happy to see him starting in right over Nady.
Understatement of the day after Swish let that ball go right under his glove.
I see you haven't wavered in your faith on Swisher since your post from the trade when it happened. But call me crazy, do you even think about hitting him clean-up with Matsui struggling or move Posada up a spot in the order playing it safer?
Swisher seems to be zeroed in for it to be so early in the season. With questions abound about who would replace Abreu's numbers offensively, at this pace he sure looks like a prime candidate. Will he sustain it? I like his chances with the rest of the talent we have in the order. If only Girardi doesn't screw it up, which may be asking for too much.
I'd say go w/ the hot hand in the cleanup spot until a-rod gets back. Teixeira is out again today, though, so Swisher is back in the three hole.
am i the only one who knows CC fatbathia pitched agains the royals aaa lineup?? not one of their starting 9 can start for any other team in the east. how could people be so high on this scrub?? did we all forget his AL era and horrid post season performance??? in the post season if i were the manager it would be AJ andy cc and joba in the rotation wang hasnt had in in over a year now. CC is nothing more than a high priced fat kid with a high era . i cant wait to see cleveland light him up on opening day final score will be 12-8 yanks
He had a horrible April last year, then didn't have an ERA over 2.44 the rest of the way, in either league. He won the cy young the year before, in the american league.
I was more concerned with his velocity and location than who he was pitching against. Thinking bigger picture than that game alone.
Oh, and I'll be at the Stadium to watch him beat the indians on opening day. looking forward to it.