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Onward and Upward for Sabathia

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There are a lot of CC Sabathia doubters out there, and I’ll admit at times I tend to be one of them. Complaints about his velocity, and that he’s not the same pitcher anymore. Yes those people are right, he’s not the same pitcher, but he’s still CC. He’s still the Yankees work horse and he proved it again last night in Boston.

Last night was his third solid outing in a row, he’s gone 2-1 in that stretch. But the key is he’s been battling through his outings. His pitch count was on the high side last night, but he ended the night with an impressive line. 6.0IP 3H 2R 2ER 3BB 8K and threw 101 pitches. He struck out six of the last ten batters he faced, and retired ten of his last twelve total. Now his season 4.78 ERA is on the high side, but its dropping after each outing. Right now he’s 3-2 on the year and he looks to be making the transition from power pitcher to a pitcher that’s relying on location and an array of secondary pitches. He’s been working on spotting his four-seam fastball fairly well this year, which is averaging 90.2 MPH. His bread and butter slider/sinker is his go to pitch, but when he misses location with it, that’s usually when gets hit hard. Sabathia has also been working on his changeup and it’s starting to become a new weapon, while avoiding using his cutter this year.

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Sabathia is also making his mark on the Yankee record books. So far this season he has passed Roger Clemens and Al Downing on the Yankees all time strikeout list with 1,031 strikeouts . CC also tied Tommy John last night on the team’s all time win list, with a total 91 wins as a member of the New York Yankees.

The long time Yankee ace has thrown a lot of pitches and logged a lot of innings over the years. Since 2001 he’s thrown over 43,500 pitches and logged a total 2801.1 innings over his career. He also has a career record of 207-117. While he might not reach the elusive 300 wins, he will be a Hall of Famer when its all said and done. He doesn’t shy away from the big games and is the guy that always wants the ball.

With the injury to Ivan Nova, Sabathia needs to be all he can be, and on point from here on out. Yankee fans need to finally realize he is not going to be throwing 94 MPH anymore, most already have. The good thing is Sabathia is heading in the right direction.