We've said this about CC for the last several games, but this is why we signed CC Sabathia:
To pitch the rubber game
Against our rival's ace
In their house
After a loss
During the heat of a pennant race.
Sabathia dominated the Sox at the Stadium, then took the show on the road through Seattle and Oakland. Now the scene shifts from those two pitcher's parks back to a hitter's paradise. But this is one famous for consuming left-handed pitchers. CC will have to have his strikeouts working.
Those bats will have to do better against Cy Young contender Josh Beckett than they were against last night's rookie.
I take it back. Not better.
Better implies an improvement measured in increments; we need movement in exponents. We need patient and efficient at bats, and execution on mistakes. Baseball is, as Ted Williams once noted, the only game where you can fail 7 times out of 10 and be considered great. The Yankees don't have to be perfect tonight, they don't have to win the final 38 games of the season, or even blow out the Red Sox. But they need to win.
We need to step on their throats while we have the chance. AJ wilted in the Fox spotlight, dropping the Yanks to 2-6 in national games. CC must reverse that trend.
Sing along with me: Play today. Win today. That's it.