Cy Yuck: C C. Sabathia Struggles Again

C. C. Sabathia made it 3 for 3 in ugly starts in 2008. Dr. Jeff Poove' takes a look at his stat line and digs into some other statistics from C. C.'s performance that you wouldn't realize from the box score. Tribe fans have a barf bag ready.

by The Doctor Jeff Poove (Senior Writer)

2 comments

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April 12, 2008

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MLB, AL Central, Cleveland Indians, Oakland Athletics, Cy Young, CC Sabathia, Game Recap

Three times is a trend, and for the Cleveland Indians it is not a good one. Reigning AL Cy Young Award Winner C. C. Sabathia was thumped again as the Indians fell to the Oakland A's 9-7 in the series opener on Friday night.

It was the third time in as many outings that Sabathia has struggled in 2008 and this one was the worst of all. His stat line was as follows:

3 1/3 IP, 12 hits, 9 runs (all earned), 2 BB, 4 K, 91 pitches

That stat line is god-awful, but here are a few more beauties that don't show up in the box score. In the top of the second, eight of nine batters got a hit during one stretch of the inning. All the Oakland starters had at least one hit by the third inning.

So it wasn't as if a couple guys were eating C. C. up; it was the entire line-up. Eight of the nine A's starters scored a run (shame on you Daric Barton). Oakland was 8-for-12 with runners in scording. So when you needed your ace to hunker down, Sabathia could not.

It would have been worse if Grady Sizemore hadn't had made an amazing catch running into the center field wall at full speed in the third.

Whether C. C. stays or goes after 2008 is irrelevant. What's important is the Indians cannot contend this year without him.

He was the stopper last year. When the Tribe needed a win to stop a losing streak, Sabathia got it. He's looked so overmatched and lost for answers that it is very worrisome. He needs to check himself if the Indians are going to right the ship.

For now, it's up to Fausto Carmona to be the stopper tonight in C-Town.

It's Tribe Time Now. Believeland.

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comments (2) write a comment »

reply to comment by Andrew
3 months ago

I wouldn't worry. Things can change fast in baseball.

There was a player who hit three home runs in the Opening Day game, and was thought to be a legend. He then only hit five more during the rest of the season.

Things change, and they change fast. Hang tight, Tribe fans.
reply to comment by Jarek
3 months ago

I wouldn't worry about C.C. Three starts out of 34 equals about 9% of C.C.'s season, and if he had this stretch in July-August, no one would think anything of it. He's an ace, he's dominant, and he's working or a contract. He should be just fine and approach 2007 numbers.

I do like Carmona, the Indians are lucky to have that kind of 1-2 punch. I think the real worry is what is after that 1-2.

Cheers.