Sabathia Still Winless

Yankees ace CC Sabathia will make his fifth start of the young season tonight against the Baltimore Orioles. Does it bother anyone besides me that Sabathia does not have a win yet?

So far this year, CC Sabathia has a sparkling ERA of 2.37, but an 0-1 record. With an ERA like that, Sabathia deserves a few wins.

On Opening Day, Sabathia threw 6 innings, and allowed 3 runs (2 earned). The Yankees went on to win that game 6-3, but it was Joba Chamberlain who was credited with the victory.

His second start was a true gem: 7 innings of 2 hit shutout baseball. CC left the game with a 4-0 lead. This was the game with the Rafael Soriano/Joe Girardi controversy. Soriano was sent into the game in the 8th inning with a 4-0 lead, and he blew it. Personally, I thought it was silly of Girardi to use Soriano, because with a 4 run lead, I thought it was a night he could let his setup man have a night off. But whatever. The Yankees wound up losing that game 5-4, and Sabathia had nothing to show for his brilliant outing that night.

CC’s third start against the Red Sox was a game he had to grind through. He allowed 9 hits through 5.2 innings, but that translated into just 1 run. Unfortunately for CC, the Yankees were shut out 4-0, and he received his first loss of the season.

Sabathia’s most recent start was against the Rangers. It was another game he had to grind through, allowing  4 runs on 8 hits in 6.1 innings. The Yankees wound up winning that game thanks to a game-winning RBI single by Eric Chavez in the 8th. But CC did not get the win.

Last season, Sabathia led the league with 21 wins. He did not win the Cy Young, despite his 21-7 record and ERA of 3.18, which is extremely impressive for the tough division of the AL East. Sabathia led the league in wins in 2009 as well, with a 19-8 record and a 3.37 ERA that year.

I felt that Sabathia was robbed of the Cy Young Award two years in a row. Felix Hernandez of the Mariners won it with his 13-12 record and 2.27 ERA. In 2009, the then-Royal ace Zack Greinke won it with a 16-8 record and 2.16 ERA. So apparently, the Cy Young Award does not weigh wins heavily, despite the fact that Cy Young is the winning-most pitcher in baseball history with 511 wins.

Maybe this so-far winless April for CC Sabathia is not that big of a deal. It’s still early to be discussing the Cy Young anyway, but considering the latest trend of winners, I think CC still has a shot. He doesn’t need to have the most wins to be the winner.

And no matter what, he’s always C”Cy” to me.

by Virginia Califano

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2. With Surgery Done, Sabathia is Looking Forward
3. Yanks Sign Rafael Soriano
4. The Future of Nova
5. Phil Hughes’s Dead Arm

Tags: CC Sabathia, Joba Chamberlain, Joe Girardi, Rafael Soriano, Yankees