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In CC Sabathia‘s first outing, he allowed six runs in the first two innings and then nothing over the course of the last four, and I wrote a post wondering which one the real CC was. After his second start, I’m still left kind of wondering which CC we will get for the duration of 2014, although I think we saw a lot more good than bad today in the Yankees 6-4 win over the Blue Jays. Here’s how it all went down.

Melky Cabrera, the greatest hitter in all the world, led off the game with a homer, and I thought… here we go again. However, I should have known that Melky’s probably just back on the juice, and that his home run wouldn’t really mean anything in the grand scheme of things. CC settled down nicely after that, not allowing another run the rest of the first inning, and over the course of the next four innings. In fact, until there were two outs in the sixth, the Blue Jays really didn’t even threaten. In that inning, Sabathia got the first two outs easily before giving up a bloop single to Jose Bautista. Suddenly, the walls caved in a little. Edwin Encarnacion singled and a Dioner Navarro double scored Bautista. Erik Kratz then came up and singled home Encarnacion and Navarro, and suddenly, we were in a 6-4 game. However, Sabathia held on to get Brett Lawrie on a fly out, and was removed from the game after the inning.

Overall, this was a very good start. He didn’t have a total meltdown, like he did in the first two innings against the Astros, and he really did look great (aside from the first batter of the game) until late in the sixth. In the first 5.2 innings, he pitched like he pitched in the last 4 innings on opening day. It’s definitely encouraging. His fastball still sat at around 90 with a high of 92.4, but the big man used a lot of sinkers, sliders and changeups to get the job done.a The problem with CC remains location. If, for whatever reason, his location is even slightly off, it’s going to be a harsh inning. He only threw 93 pitches, so I don’t think it was a fatigue thing. I think the bloop by Bautista maybe threw off his concentration a bit, and the other guys teed off. The important part is that he recovered and got through the inning. The final line of 6 innings, 1 run on 7 hits with 6 strikeouts and no walks would have looked a lot better without the last few batters, but it’s an improvement. At least I now think that I might have a shot at seeing a Yankees win when I’m in the house on Friday night. The work in progress continues.

Other notables from this game include the first Yankees home run of the season, courtesy of Brett Gardner, who hit a two-run shot in the third inning. It was an absolute laser, and it’s good to see Brett hitting the ball like that. I unlike some other 80s managers, I wouldn’t make him do 20 pushups every time he hits the ball in the air; especially if the ball goes over the fence. Yangervis Solarte, the conqueror, had another RBI double deep over the center fielder’s head. Prior to this game, I read a stat that he was the first Yankee to get multiple hits in his first three big league starts since “Joltin'” Joe Dimaggio. I know he’s not Dimaggio, but any time you get put in that rarefied air, it’s impressive. The biggest news of the night came from the Captain, Derek Jeter, who had two singles. The hits helped him tie and then pass Paul Molitor for 8th place all-time in hits. Jeter now has 3,320 hits, and is getting into some pretty impressive territory himself. Next up for Jeter is Carl Yastremski (3,419), but Jeets won’t get there for a few months.

That’s it from game six! Up next is this afternoon’s the home opener against Buck Showalter and the Baltimore Orioles. I’ll let you guys know how that goes later tonight.

Featured image courtesy of: Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images

  1. http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/pfx.php?s_type=3&sp_type=1&batterX=0&year=2014&month=4&day=06&pitchSel=282332.xml&game=gid_2014_04_06_nyamlb_tormlb_1/&prevGame=gid_2014_04_06_nyamlb_tormlb_1/  (back)
Martin Stezano

About Martin Stezano

Uruguayan born and American raised with a unique perspective on the domestic and international sports scenes. It will both tickle your funny bone and enlighten your mind. Love it or hate it...just read it.