Sabathia Roughed Up as Yanks Lose Opener

A very unfortunate opening day for the Yankees, especially since they have been playing so well. The Yankees lost to the Orioles 10-5 in the opener of the 2009 season from Camden Yards. CC Sabathia, in his first official start, was really roughed up. I watched the game, and here is my view on it.

CC, I could see, didn't have his good stuff. Right from the start, right in the first inning, I could tell he was going to have a tough time with it. He couldn't locate his fastball. He threw a lot of pitches, and had an awful strike to ball ratio. He was working really slowly right out of the gate. I knew he was going to struggle. He managed to get out of trouble in the first and pitch a 1-2-3 second, his only easy inning of the game. He gave up 3 in the third, got into and out of trouble in the fourth, and completely lost it in the fifth. He left the game with 4 and a third innings pitched, giving up 6 runs, walking 5, and striking out none! That, more than anything else, stuck out to me. CC is a strikeout pitcher. When he can't get that done once you know he's struggling. 

After the game I read some fan comments on mlb websites. Half were Sox fans trashing to Yanks because they never seem to comment on their own site, and then there were some Yankee fans who already seem to be writing CC off. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! We invested 161 million dollars in this guy for 7 seasons. You can't give up after one start! He was pretty bad, but last year he started out bad in April too. He's a second half pitcher. He has always struggled in April. I am positive Sabathia will find it, hopefully sooner than later, but I'm sure he will find it and have a great, ace type season we expect from him. Also, you select fans who are saying that he can't pitch in the clutch, or in big spots, I couldn't disagree more. He single-handedly carried the Brewers to the playoffs last year, and pitched great games in some huge starts in September on three days rest. Those are some pretty big starts he had to pitch in. There is my point there. Also, I have heard some say he can't pitch in the American League. I just have this to say to you. The 2007 AL Cy Young Award Winner is incapable of succeeding in the AL? Sox fans, get a life. Yankee fans, Sabathia will be fine, and we are going to have one heck of a season. We were never going 162-0. We lost one game. Let it go. We have a stacked rotation with a capable ace at every spot. Not like last year where every time Mike Mussina wasn't pitching you didn't have a good feeling going into the game. This year we aren't sending the likes of Sidney Ponson and Darrell Rasner out to the hill every fifth day. We have a great team, and we are going to win a championship!

Other parts of the game, Matsui and Posada seem fine. They each had 2 run homers. Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon are both off to good starts. Teixiera had a rough start. I think the booing Orioles fans may have had an effect on him. If thats true then he needs to get over it because he is going to hear that a lot. Bullpen was roughed up in the eighth, ruining any chance we had of coming back in the 9th. 

Remember Yankee fans, it's one game. We are going to win a championship this year. We have the players, the stadium (best clubhouse in major league baseball), and the motivation. We have all the tools. Now we need to get it done.