Sabathia Shakes Off Stinger as Yankees Blister Mariners
SEATTLE — In the fifth inning Saturday at Safeco Field, Mark Teixeira watched a line drive explode off Franklin Gutierrez’s bat and threaten the Yankees’ season. The ball met some 300 pounds of resistance in the form of C. C. Sabathia, who seemed to Teixeira, the Yankees’ first baseman, to be grabbing his neck.
“I thought it hit him in the throat,” Teixeira said. “You hold your breath. Probably a couple million Yankees fans were holding their breath, too. That’s the last thing you want at this point in the season. But C. C.’s tough. When you’re that big, it takes a lot more than a line drive to keep you off the mound.”
Manager Joe Girardi and a trainer bolted from the dugout to check on Sabathia, who told them right away he was fine. The ball had struck his chest, not his neck or his face or his valuable left shoulder. Without so much as a warm-up pitch, Sabathia stayed in the game and worked seven innings of a 10-1 victory against the Seattle Mariners.
Robinson Cano had four hits and Hideki Matsui homered, but Teixeira did the most damage. He homered twice, tripled, singled and drove in five runs. Needing a double for the cycle as the leadoff hitter in the ninth, Teixeira lost his chance when his second home run soared over the wall in deep left-center.
“When it was hit, you usually say, ‘Get up!’ ” Girardi said. “Guys were saying, ‘Get down, get down!’ He could have missed third base and got a cycle that way, but Tex is going to take the homer.”
Teixeira has hit for the cycle before, with the Texas Rangers in 2004. That time, he finished with a single. A hitter can alter his swing to try for a single or a home run, Teixeira explained. A double or triple is trickier.
“Doubles and triples kind of just happen,” he said.
The first-inning triple, off a ball Gutierrez leaped for but could not corral at the center-field wall, was Teixeira’s third in 16 at-bats. He had not tripled in 1,192 at-bats before then. Home runs are far more common, and with 37 this season, Teixeira is two behind the injured Carlos Pena of Tampa Bay for the American League lead.
Teixeira already leads the league in runs batted in, with 118, and total bases, with 321. He showed off his glove again Saturday, plunging into the stands to catch a foul pop in the fifth inning. Minnesota’s Joe Mauer — who leads in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage — seems to be a lock for the Most Valuable Player award, but Teixeira has done just what the Yankees wanted.
So has Sabathia, who tied St. Louis’s Adam Wainwright for the major league lead in victories, with 18. Facing the American League’s worst offense, Sabathia (18-7) allowed four hits and an unearned run, lowering his earned run average to 3.31.
“We’re extremely pleased with what those guys have done this year,” Girardi said, referring to Sabathia and Teixeira. “They’ve basically had the years we knew that they were capable of having. Their years are pretty normal. C. C.’s got a chance to win 20, Tex has got a chance to win the M.V.P., a chance to drive in maybe 125, 130 runs. These guys have done everything we could have expected.”
Sabathia has two starts remaining, the first with an extra day of rest. He will also have extra rest before his first playoff start. That is a big difference from last season, when Sabathia pitched for Milwaukee and made several starts down the stretch on short rest, finishing with a playoff dud in Philadelphia.
“Definitely, getting extra rest, I’ve been feeling fresh the last couple of times out there, feeling strong,” Sabathia said. “Hopefully, it’ll help me come October and November.”
The Yankees could clinch a berth in the playoffs on Sunday with a victory and a loss by the Texas Rangers. That would ensure that the Yankees would be no worse than the wild-card entry, though their goals are grander.
“That would be the first step of many that we want to accomplish,” Girardi said. “I know we have an opportunity. I know we are close.”
SEATTLE — In the fifth inning Saturday at Safeco Field, Mark Teixeira watched a line drive explode off Franklin Gutierrez’s bat and threaten the Yankees’ season. The ball met some 300 pounds of resistance in the form of C. C. Sabathia, who seemed to Teixeira, the Yankees’ first baseman, to be grabbing his neck.
“I thought it hit him in the throat,” Teixeira said. “You hold your breath. Probably a couple million Yankees fans were holding their breath, too. That’s the last thing you want at this point in the season. But C. C.’s tough. When you’re that big, it takes a lot more than a line drive to keep you off the mound.”
Manager Joe Girardi and a trainer bolted from the dugout to check on Sabathia, who told them right away he was fine. The ball had struck his chest, not his neck or his face or his valuable left shoulder. Without so much as a warm-up pitch, Sabathia stayed in the game and worked seven innings of a 10-1 victory against the Seattle Mariners.
Robinson Cano had four hits and Hideki Matsui homered, but Teixeira did the most damage. He homered twice, tripled, singled and drove in five runs. Needing a double for the cycle as the leadoff hitter in the ninth, Teixeira lost his chance when his second home run soared over the wall in deep left-center.
“When it was hit, you usually say, ‘Get up!’ ” Girardi said. “Guys were saying, ‘Get down, get down!’ He could have missed third base and got a cycle that way, but Tex is going to take the homer.”
Teixeira has hit for the cycle before, with the Texas Rangers in 2004. That time, he finished with a single. A hitter can alter his swing to try for a single or a home run, Teixeira explained. A double or triple is trickier.
“Doubles and triples kind of just happen,” he said.
The first-inning triple, off a ball Gutierrez leaped for but could not corral at the center-field wall, was Teixeira’s third in 16 at-bats. He had not tripled in 1,192 at-bats before then. Home runs are far more common, and with 37 this season, Teixeira is two behind the injured Carlos Pena of Tampa Bay for the American League lead.
Teixeira already leads the league in runs batted in, with 118, and total bases, with 321. He showed off his glove again Saturday, plunging into the stands to catch a foul pop in the fifth inning. Minnesota’s Joe Mauer — who leads in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage — seems to be a lock for the Most Valuable Player award, but Teixeira has done just what the Yankees wanted.
So has Sabathia, who tied St. Louis’s Adam Wainwright for the major league lead in victories, with 18. Facing the American League’s worst offense, Sabathia (18-7) allowed four hits and an unearned run, lowering his earned run average to 3.31.
“We’re extremely pleased with what those guys have done this year,” Girardi said, referring to Sabathia and Teixeira. “They’ve basically had the years we knew that they were capable of having. Their years are pretty normal. C. C.’s got a chance to win 20, Tex has got a chance to win the M.V.P., a chance to drive in maybe 125, 130 runs. These guys have done everything we could have expected.”
Sabathia has two starts remaining, the first with an extra day of rest. He will also have extra rest before his first playoff start. That is a big difference from last season, when Sabathia pitched for Milwaukee and made several starts down the stretch on short rest, finishing with a playoff dud in Philadelphia.
“Definitely, getting extra rest, I’ve been feeling fresh the last couple of times out there, feeling strong,” Sabathia said. “Hopefully, it’ll help me come October and November.”
The Yankees could clinch a berth in the playoffs on Sunday with a victory and a loss by the Texas Rangers. That would ensure that the Yankees would be no worse than the wild-card entry, though their goals are grander.
“That would be the first step of many that we want to accomplish,” Girardi said. “I know we have an opportunity. I know we are close.”
Source: New York Times
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