Yankees Need CC To Be At His Best

Apr 1, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; New York Yankees starting pitcher

(52) walks off the mound after pitching during the fifth inning against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

After Tuesday’s horrendous outing by CC Sabathia, should Yankee fans be worried? Absolutely not! Since joining the Bronx Bombers in 2009, Sabathia has started every opening day for the Yankees. Each one of those starts were not very impressive. The numbers do not lie. In 32 2/3 opening day innings, Sabathia has allowed 44 hits, 29 runs, and has posted a total ERA of 7.71. His overall record is 0-3.

Yankees fans should not be worried about Sabathia because he is still learning a new style of pitching. Remember, Sabathia was used to blowing people away with an upper 90s mph fastball. Now though his fastball barely touches 90 on the radar gun, some people might argue the fact that he was dominant in the Grapefruit League this spring. However, the regular season, especially opening day, is very different from a spring training atmosphere.

The Astros Tuesday night used Sabathia for batting practice. CC never looked comfortable on the mound. His fastball was averaging around 88 mph and his change-up was around 83 mph and usually belt high if you saw the home runs hit off of him. Sabathia commented after the game, “It just snowballed. Everything happened really quick.” Houston was up 4-0 after the first inning. The surprising aspect of the home runs that were hit was that the hitters who hit them were not known as power hitters and the home runs they hit were absolutely launched.

The Yankees ended up losing the game 6-2. The New York offense could not overcome rough pitching and sloppy defense. They lost to a team who last year lost 111 games and 15 straight heading into this game (from last season). Manager Joe Girardi tried to stay positive by saying, “We knew we were going to lose one eventually. So we got it out of the way early.”

Yankee fans should realize there are still 161 games left to play, maybe more due to playoffs. This means CC Sabathia still has around 35 starts left. Once he settled down after the second inning, he threw 4 scoreless innings, and lowered his ERA from 36 to 9. Luckily for the Yankees, CC is a seasoned veteran and he has been here before. If this was a younger pitcher, he might lose his confidence. Not CC. He knows he is capable of putting goose eggs up on the scoreboard each night. Maybe if he loses his next 5 starts, then Yankee fans should panic.