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Do IT this week: Layering
Indians lefty hasn't faced Yankees since changing approach in 2005
By Sheldon Ocker Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Thursday, Oct 04, 2007
CLEVELAND: The thinking goes like this: It's important for the Indians to win the first game of their American League Division Series on their home turf, because few of their players have postseason experience and a victory will settle down everyone.
All well and good, but New York Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang is no pushover. When it comes to sinker-ball pitchers, the baby-faced, Taiwanese right-hander is among the elite. Cleveland-area fans know how devastating a well-placed sinker with sharp movement can be. Witness the workmanship of Fausto Carmona and Jake Westbrook.
On the other hand, the Yankees will have to cope with C.C. Sabathia, whose legend grows daily. That's what happens to a pitcher who racks up a 19-7 record and 3.21 ERA, a man who seems to be the favorite to win the American League Cy Young Award and has become the focus of the national print and electronic media.
By the time Sabathia throws the first pitch of tonight's game, scheduled for 6:37 at Jacobs Field, he will be to Northeast Ohio fans what Zeus was to the ancient Greeks. Elevating Sabathia to such high station has merit. When he is on, which is most of the time, he can be among the most dominating pitchers in the game.
He does not have a history of success against the Yankees, however, as his career record of 1-7 and 7.13 ERA attest. But he has faced the Yankees only eight times and not at all since September 2004.
''He's come a long way; C.C. is a different pitcher than he was three or four years ago,'' Indians manager Eric Wedge said. ''He made some strong adjustments in really every facet of his game in the mid-part of '05.''
Those adjustments, dating to precisely Aug. 5, 2005, have been chronicled extensively and involve his attitude as well as the kind and location of the pitches he throws.
So will the ''new'' Sabathia tame the Yankees tonight? Two members of the Bombers' lineup in particular, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, have been a plague on Sabathia's house. Jeter is 12-for-22 with two doubles; Rodriguez is 7-for-17 with three doubles.
Then again, all of those numbers were amassed against the pre-2005 Sabathia.
''I wasn't aware of those numbers, Sabathia said. ''But I guess I'm going to have to take them into account. . . . Those guys have had some success, obviously. But it's a new year. I'm a different pitcher now. So we'll see what happens.''
As far as attacking the Yankees generally, Sabathia added: ''Just throw strikes. They take a lot of pitches. They're a patient team with a lot of veteran hitters. I'm going to attack the zone and try to make them put it into play early.''
Yankees manager Joe Torre was asked if he would juggle his lineup, maybe remove some of the left-handed hitters.
''We thought about (Shelley) Duncan at first base,'' he said. ''But you know with (Doug) Mientkiewicz, and Wang being a ground-ball pitcher, we feel defensively we're trying to hold people, pretty much like we did in the last game in Boston.
''I have no hesitation to have them (left-handed batters) hit against a left-handed pitcher. I grant you that Sabathia is something special. I would have trouble going into Game 1 if I didn't have (Hideki) Matsui and (Bobby) Abreu and all these guys in the lineup.''
The Yankees' lineup is dominated by left-handed batters, mostly good ones: Robinson Cano, Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi, Matsui, Abreu and Mientkiewicz.
Wang doesn't give away much to Sabathia when it comes to numbers a 19-7 record and 3.70 ERA. The Tribe, however, was not among his victims. He hasn't faced a Cleveland lineup since 2006. Overall, he is 2-1 with a 3.72 ERA against the Indians.
Asked if he thinks he is a different pitcher than he was a year ago, Wang said: ''I use more change of speed, a change-up. So maybe I'm different.''
Who has the advantage when a pitcher and an opposing lineup haven't confronted one another for more than a season?
''I think it's very good for me,'' Wang said, ''because I can use a scouting report a lot.''
Most Indians have so few at-bats against Wang that it's difficult to make any projections. Grady Sizemore and Trot Nixon (who probably won't be in the lineup tonight) are the exceptions. Nixon is only 1-for-13 against Wang; Sizemore is 3-for-9 and has the only Tribe home run against him.
Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com.
CLEVELAND: The thinking goes like this: It's important for the Indians to win the first game of their American League Division Series on their home turf, because few of their players have postseason experience and a victory will settle down everyone.
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