CC, Robertson Shut Down Tigers

You’ve gotta hand it to CC Sabathia – amid the turmoil that is currently the bottom of the Yankees’ rotation, he did exactly what he needed to in his start yesterday and gave the Yankees 8 strong innings. The Big Man isn’t the ace of the staff for nothing. CC threw a very economical 106 pitches over his 8 innings, 70 of which (66%) went for strikes. He allowed just 2 earned runs (including a solo home run to Prince Fielder), 4 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 8 along the way.

David Robertson pitched a hitless, scoreless 9th inning and struck out 2. Robertson threw a total of 14 pitches and located a whopping 13 of them for strikes. D-Rob now has 15 K through 10.0 IP and is boasting a K/BB rate of 5.00. I’ve gotta say, I’m completely buying the idea of D-Rob as the Yankees’ future closer. Prepare to see him in the 9th inning on a regular basis once Mariano Rivera decides to hang ’em up.

Offensively the Yankees brought their power out with Curtis Granderson mashing his 8th home run of the season and Andruw Jones hitting his 3rd. I wonder if Granderson still views himself as “not a home run hitter,” because the rest of us have caught on to the fact that that’s exactly what he is now.

Alex Rodriguez came through with 2 RBI, pushing him to 1,904 career RBI and sending him past Willie Mays for the 9th spot on MLB’s list of all-time RBI leaders. For what it’s worth, A-Rod is now 393 RBI short of Hank Aaron’s 2,297 RBI and he should easily pass Eddie Murray, Jimmie Foxx, Ty Cobb, and Stan Musial this year. A-Rod’s RBI chase doesn’t yet have the impact of Derek Jeter‘s 3,000th hit or Mo’s 602nd save, but it is a story line that Yankees fans should keep an eye on in the next few seasons.