Sweeny: CC Sabathia Needs To Turn Season Around Friday Night In Boston
By Sweeny Murti
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CC Sabathia needs to turn his season around on Friday night in Boston.
While he didn't pitch badly over his first three starts (and pitched quite well in Detroit 11 days ago), he was battered by the Mets last weekend and now finds himself 0-4 with a 5.96 ERA.
There's a school of thought that this is all Sabathia has left after all those innings and all those pitches, not to mention the elbow and knee injuries he's suffered in recent years. He turns 35 this summer.
If there's a chance Sabathia can turn it around, it has to start on Friday night against a dangerous Red Sox lineup in their ballpark.
In 2008, Mike Mussina's season took a turn here in a different way. After four starts Mussina was 1-3 with a 5.75 ERA. He faced the Red Sox twice in six days, the second time lasting only three innings after a pair of Manny Ramirez home runs. At 39 years old, Mussina looked like he was cooked. Hank Steinbrenner groused that Mussina needed to learn how to pitch more like Jamie Moyer, to which Mussina responded, "I'm not left-handed."
Dave Eiland had a better approach. The Yankees' pitching coach sat down with Mussina before his next start and bluntly pounded home ideas that the veteran righty needed to hear: pitch inside more, elevate at the appropriate times, be more aggressive. Eiland wasn't sure that the message got through right away. Mussina had been a bit stubborn, and why not? He had managed to win 250 games doing it his way.
Mussina was listening, though. He pitched seven innings of two-run ball in Chicago to start a streak where he went 9-1 with a 3.25 ERA. He started to rely on a slider that worked well with his old standby curveball and a fastball that never saw 90. He went on to win 20 games for the first time ever.
Sabathia's repertoire has been evolving for a couple of years now. He's been working a cutter/change-up combo that can produce a ton of ground balls, and will remind you of Andy Pettitte when it's on. During that start in Detroit, he induced four double-play balls. He has been trying to throw more change-ups, like he did in 2008 and 2009. His average fastball is around 89, which will still work when the other pitches are doing what they're supposed to.
He also has smaller margins for error than he used to. He can't leave a two-out, 0-2 cutter up in the zone like he did to Juan Lagares last Saturday. Fenway Park could prove even more harmful.
Sabathia has looked us in the eyes the last two springs and told us he was going to have a good year. He believed it. Last year a knee injury took him down. This time will it be the hitters? Or will he find the turnaround in time?
I have wanted to believe him. It's up to him again on Friday night.
Follow Sweeny on Twitter @YankeesWFAN.
