Friday, April 16, 2010

Yanks Take Rain Shortened Opener From Texas

The Texas Rangers rolled into Yankee Stadium for a three game set and they ran into a brick wall in CC Sabathia. Coming off of his almost no-hit start in Tampa Bay, it looked like Sabathia was even better tonight. He had a rough first inning, but he quickly settled down and began the strikeout parade.

The big lefty struck out nine in six innings and even had an impressive six in a row. It was good to see Sabathia get some strike outs. Something that seemed missing from his debut season with the Yanks was the strikeouts. While his 7.7 K/9 was more than adequate during 2009, it was down a tick from his rate over the last three seasons before he joined the Yankees.

The bats did their thing against C.J. Wilson. Wilson is no match for a team like the Yankees. He just doesn't have the control to go up against a patient lineup like New York's. It is curious that Texas thinks he can be an effective starter again simply because he seemed to do well enough as a closer unless he was hurt.

The Ranger defense didn't help Wilson either as Chris Davis made a two-run error to give the Yankees the lead and there were a few other plays that could have been made to lighten the load on Wilson that weren't made. Of course there was one where Wilson hurt himself too.

But back to the big man. Last Year it took Sabathia until the second half, more specifically August and September, to go off and put together a dominant run that saw him win nine of his last 12 starts. Sabathia could easily eclipse his 19 wins from last year if he puts everything together sooner rather than later.

Speaking of big win totals, I don't know about anyone else, but I am very closely watching Roy Halladay in Philadelphia to see how much he embarrasses the National League. He has won his first three starts with vicious efficiency and I wouldn't bet against him to be the first pitcher since Bob Welch in 1990 to win 25 games or more.

4 comments:

Dennis said...

Hold on a second with the National League bashing.

Roy Halladay is a great pitcher, and his numbers may improve slightly in the NL East compared to the AL East, but to say he is going to embarrass the entire league because he has had dominant starts against Washington and Houston is a little ridiculous. Those may be the 2 worst teams in baseball.

Peter said...

And what offensive juggernaut is awaiting him in the NL?

Listen I'm not saying that Halladay's numbers will be remarkably better, but the fact that he was throwing ten complete games a year in the AL means that he will probably be able to go into the seventh in almost every game he starts for the Phillies and with that offense behind him there will be fewer games where he doesn't leave with a lead and a chance to win.

Of course it is entirely possible the Phillies bullpen does the same thing it did on Friday night and he loses five wins to their ineptitude.

Peter said...

Btw what ridiculous stat loophole gives CC a complete game for last night's start? It would seem common sense would say you have to pitch at least 9 innings.

Dan said...

That is weird, Pete. Baseball is so strict with most of it's stats, it doesn't make a ton of sense to give CC a CG.