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Sabathia fails to get out of fourth in Indians' loss
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Saturday, Apr 12, 2008
CLEVELAND: You can bet that throughout the nation, fantasy baseball fanatics, tears welling up in their eyes, are hoping against hope that it's not true. You can almost hear them wail in unison, ''Say it ain't so, C.C..''
Or is that manager Eric Wedge, General Manager Mark Shapiro and Sabathia's lodge brothers in the Indians' clubhouse?
Unfortunately for all of them, it is true. Sabathia is walking around today weighed down by an 11.57 earned-run average after pitching his team to oblivion Friday night at Progressive Field. Yes, it was the Oakland Athletics earning a 9-7 win, their second effortless victory over Sabathia in a week.
But don't blame Oakland for Sabathia's problems. He was equally vulnerable — or nearly so — against the Chicago White Sox in the season opener, when he gave up five runs in 51/3 innings.
When Wedge talks about consistency, this is not what he means. Not only has Sabathia pitched poorly, but his early-season performances rank as the No. 1 unexpected event of April.
''It was a tough night for C.C.,'' Wedge said. ''He just couldn't get it going. He got a little better toward the end. He wanted to get something out of it to take into his next start, but he just couldn't lock it in.''
Friday night, Sabathia failed to get through the first inning without allowing a run, on Emil Brown's double and Mike Sweeney's single.
But that was only the appetizer to the second-inning's full-blown buffet, as the A's unleashed a six-hit, five-run attack, sending 11 batters to the plate.
''I got an 0-and-2 count on Brown and didn't make a good enough pitch,'' Sabathia said. ''I'm just not making good enough pitches to get guys out. On 0-and-2, 1-and-2 counts, I'm leaving the ball over the middle
of the plate.''
Sabathia did not survive the fourth inning. After retiring the first batter, he gave up consecutive singles to Sweeney and Bobby Crosby and was gently led to the dugout by Wedge, who probably has a welt etched in his forehead from all the head-scratching he has done trying to determine what is wrong with the ace of his staff, the man who won the American League Cy Young Award last year and stands to be offered a free-agent contract worth at least $100 million when the season is over — unless he keeps pitching the way he has lately.
The outing against Oakland was Sabathia's shortest since June 21, 2006, when he gave up nine runs to the Chicago Cubs, the same number he allowed Friday night, matching his career worst (dubiously achieved three times.
He also yielded 12 hits and two walks to the A's, who admittedly mixed in a couple of cheapies, which hardly takes Sabathia off the hook.
In three starts, he is averaging 15.4 hits per nine innings and 5.8 walks. But he also is averaging 8.4 strikeouts per nine innings, a seemingly contradictory statistic.
So does that mean Sabathia is fighting a battle to locate his pitches rather than having diminished movement on his pitches? Or is a little of both?
''I've felt great all three starts, so that's not an excuse,'' he said. ''My pitches are moving the same way as always. I just suck right now. I'm not putting guys away with two strikes. It's definitely frustrating. I'm not giving these guys a chance to win; I'm not doing my job.
''But I've been here before in my career, and I'm definitely going to get things right.''
The game was effectively over when the A's jumped to a 9-1 lead in the fourth. Or at least, it appeared to be over. But David Dellucci began the eighth with a double off starter Joe Blanton, and suddenly the Tribe remembered how to score.
Run-scoring singles by Jason Michaels and Travis Hafner, an RBI double by Ryan Garko and a bases-loaded walk to Jhonny Peralta — who homered for the Indians' first run — trimmed the Oakland advantage to three runs. Then with two outs and an 0-and-2 count on Dellucci, up for the second time in the inning, it began to rain.
Play was interrupted for 59 minutes before closer Huston Street took over. He threw a wild pitch to cut the lead to 9-7 before retiring Dellucci on a fly ball.
Over the first seven innings, Blanton held the Tribe to four hits. Peralta's home run, Grady Sizemore's line drive to right in the first inning and Victor Martinez's liner to the center fielder in the seventh were the only hard-hit balls during this span.
Wedge still is not happy about the erratic offense.
''Our approach was a little better in Anaheim,'' he said. ''We got away from that tonight. We had the one big inning, but that was more to do with grit.''
Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com.
CLEVELAND: You can bet that throughout the nation, fantasy baseball fanatics, tears welling up in their eyes, are hoping against hope that it's not true. You can almost hear them wail in unison, ''Say it ain't so, C.C..''
Get the full article here.
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