CC flirts with no-no

Aided by some phenomenal defensive plays (including two absurd diving stops by A-Rod and a great catch by Tex), CC Sabathia took a no hitter into the eighth inning with two outs but was thwarted by Kelly Shoppach. Kelly Fucking Shoppach. He has a girl’s name. Anytime you see this clown play from now on it’s your civil duty to boo the living shit out of him.

CC was grateful about the guys playing behind him:

"The play that Alex made was unbelievable…those guys were trying. You need all that stuff to go deep in the game."

A former teammate of CC’s for a few seasons with the Injuns, Shoppach clubbed a line drive single to left to spoil everyone’s day and chase the hefty lefty from the game. D-Rob came in and finished off the game, but not before surrendering a two-out double to Ben Zobrist in the ninth. Joe Girardi had the balls to say he would have taken CC out after eight innings regardless of the no-hit situation. I respect Girardi and all he’s accomplished over his career, but if he were to take a pitcher out during a no-hitter I’d drive to his house and kick his braces down his throat. I don’t care if it’s early in the season; CC is 300-pound workhorse and can handle the 20-30 extra pitches. I’m calling bullshit on this one:

"I would have loved to see him walk out with no hits in eight innings, but it [the hit] made it easy to go get him…It’s not something you want to do, but you have to think big picture. I told Dave[Eiland, pitching coach] 110-115 pitches and that was it; if he were under it I would have let him go out."

Not everyone was upset about the no-no getting broken up. Jason Bartlett was (understandably) quoted after the game:

"We’ve had it done to us before and it’s not a good feeling. So I’m glad Shoppy got it done."

CC also fanned five batters and walked a pair, but was getting screwed by home plate ump Wally Bell all game. With the terrible calls it was remarkable he was able to do what he did, which was a vast improvement over his first start of the season.

The main thing Saturday is that the Yankees won, 10-0, and improved to 3-2 on the season. Plus, Tex busted out of his career-worst 0-for-17 slump and went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs. Four other Yankees had two hits, including Robbie Cano, who had a homer and drove in three runs. The team as a whole was clicking on all cylinders — every starter had at least one RBI or scored a run. The good guys clubbed 14 hits and made us all forget about David Price and last night’s clunker.

At least Tex had a good sense of humor about his early season misfortunes:

"It felt good. During your career you always aim for milestones, so I made sure I went 0-for-17 to make sure I had a personal best. Then I wanted to make sure I had a few hits. So it was a good day."

Gardner also had a helluva game (which hopefully means we won’t see Thames play anytime soon) and Grandy was also a major factor in the triumph. The one downfall of this terrific showing is that we might have a catcher controversy on our hands, as Frankie Cervelli called an awesome game. Add that to the fact that CC and Georgie have had their differences in the past and we could see a shit storm brewing. Let’s hope not though.

Next up: the Yanks will send AJ to the bump tomorrow at 1:40 to face James Shields in the rubber match before yet another off day on Monday.