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Indians should have top hurler examined
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal columnist
Published on Saturday, Oct 13, 2007
BOSTON: The Indians have a Psychology Department at Jacobs Field.
Maybe someone in there can conduct a study and figure out why the C.C. Sabathia of the regular season has been AWOL from the playoffs.
For the second game in two series, Sabathia was all over the plate and all over the place.
Result: A big win for the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series.
Sabathia's numbers just do not seem appropriate for a pitcher who was so good in the regular season.
He had five walks Friday night, giving him 11 in two postseason games. He threw 85 pitches in 41/3 innings, and gave up eight runs all earned.
That gives him 199 pitches in 91/3 postseason innings, more than he usually has in two games.
The Red Sox pretty much treated him like that tea they dumped in Boston Harbor years ago. Chop it up and throw it out.
David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez faced Sabathia six times. They got on base every time. Ortiz singled, got hit by a pitch and walked after two quick strikes. Ramirez singled home a run in the first, walked after two quick strikes, and singled.
Sabathia did breeze through the second and fourth. Maybe the Indians could have pitched him only in even innings. But then they would have had to find someone for the first, third and fifth, when Sabathia gave up his eight runs.
This was all bad enough to get the Indians beat.
Because Josh Beckett out-aced the Indians' ace in a big way.
So the Red Sox lead the series 1-0.
And much hope rests on Fausto Carmona, because falling behind 2-0 in this series would not be a good thing. Though it is a good thing to have Carmona pitching Game 2 tonight.
Before Game 1, Sabathia talked of being more relaxed, of learning from his outing against the New York Yankees, when he conceded that he was too geared up and overthrew.
Friday night, he said it was not a case of being too worked up, but of being too careful.
''I didn't really challenge guys, and that's what happens,'' he said.
Sabathia had said Thursday that he had his best command when he threw in the 91-to-94-mph range.
His first pitch was 94.
But he soon started hitting 96, and the Red Sox got three hits in a row in the first inning. All were rips, but the hardest rip was from leadoff hitter Dustin Pedroia, who sent one right at Sabathia's head. Somehow the Indians pitcher got his glove up to catch it.
An 11-pitch, three-strikeout second inning seemed to say that Sabathia had settled down, but the immortal Julio Lugo, the No. 9 hitter, led off the third with an opposite-field double.
Sabathia then walked two, hit one and gave up a double before an intentional walk.
He lamented walking Manny Ramirez after having him 0-and-2. It almost seemed that he out-thought himself after the Yankees game, that he thought so much about overthrowing that this time he was doing anything not to overthrow.
He wound up, by his own admission, being too fine.
Quite frankly, the way he pitched was a letdown.
Against the Yankees last week, his six walks were partly attributable to umpire Bruce Froemming's strike zone.
Well, Froemming was not in New England on Friday, and Sabathia still threw a lot of pitches outside the strike zone. Maybe Sabathia wasn't just taking the high road after that Yankees game when he said it wasn't Froemming but his own lack of command that was to blame. Maybe Sabathia was right.
With Beckett pitching, Sabathia had to be on. The Indians weren't going to score a lot, so their hope to win was to keep it close and scratch out a run or three.
They hammered one run home in the first on Travis Hafner's home run a clean hit of a fastball by a pure fastball hitter.
But after Sabathia gave up four in the third, the Prudential Building beyond right field seemed like a shorter climb.
Now the ball goes to Carmona, who cannot afford to lose if the Indians are to keep this series manageable.
Sabathia's strong season cannot be discounted because of two playoff games. But this second outing sure was disappointing. The Indians deserved better from the guy they call their ace.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/mcmanamon/.
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