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Game #25: C.C. Sabathia pitches well, but Chien-Ming Wang pitches better

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
New York	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0		1	4	0
CLEVELAND	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	4	1
W: Chien-Ming Wang (5-0) L: C.C. Sabathia (1-4) HR: NYY-Melky Cabrera (5)

C.C. Sabathia is back.  Today, Sabathia was every bit as good as he was last season.  He went eight innings, giving up only four hits and one earned run, with one walk, and eight strike outs.  Unfortunately for Sabathia, Chien-Ming Wang was one better, as the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians 1-0.

The Indians ‘ offense couldn’t capitalize for their returning ace.  In the first inning, Cleveland had the lead-off runner aboard when David Dellucci singled.  Hafner had a one-out walk, putting runners on first and second, with one out.  C-M Wang got Victor Martinez to fly out, and struck out Ryan Garko to end the inning.  In the third, Jason Michaels led off with a hustle double, and he was stranded, as Cleveland couldn’t get the ball out of the infield after the double.  In the fourth, VMart led off with a single, then Wang struck out the side.  In the fifth, Franklin Gutierrez singled, then was caught stealing, and Wang struck out the next two, with a walk in between.  It was the last hit the Indians would see, as the Yankees put the Indians’ bats to sleep.

Sabathia was awesome, with a specific moment that let the baseball world know that he is back.  In the sixth inning, Derek Jeter doubled, and Bobby Abreu moved him over to third on a ground out.  The Sabathia went to work.  He struck out Alex Rodriguez on four pitches, then struck out Shelley Duncan in five.  It was electric.

Sure, C.C. Sabathia and the Indians lost today, but at least we know our ace is back, even if our offense isn’t.

Did this game remind anyone of the slump games from July and August of 2007?

Let’s see if we can follow the strange goings on in the game of re-calls, and send downs. Jeremy Sowers was called up on Saturday to start for injured Jake Westbrook, and outfielder Ben Francisco was sent down to Buffalo.  Sowers pitched well against the Yankees.  Grady Sizemore sprains his ankle.  Cleveland sends down Sowers, and Cleveland brings up OF Brad Snyder.  Tomorrow, Cleveland needs to bring up Aaron Laffey, and we’ll likely see Snyder go back to Buffalo.  So, why the changes?  Francisco was brought up for Westbrook, who is out a month.  Francisco was sent down, so that Sowers could take Westbrook’s spot start in the rotation.  Grady Sizemore gets hurt, spraining his ankle.  It’s not a major injury, so Sowers was sent down, and Snyder was called up to make sure they had an extra outfielder.  Tomorrow, Laffey gets recalled, and Snyder goes back to Buffalo, with Sizemore healed up enough to play.  It appears as though Laffey will then stay with the club, taking the rest of Westbrook’s starts.  It appeared as though Sowers was the lucky pitcher, pitching on the right day’s rest for Saturday’s start, while Laffey had to pitch short to make sure he was ready for Monday.  Little did we know that Westbrook would be out for a month, so Sowers, by virture of having the luck of being the last one here, gets his starts…for now.

You never know what luck may bring.

Grady Sizemore had his league leading streak of 382 games snapped. Good, we don’t need Grady worrying about streaks.

Tomorrow, Cleveland and New York play for the last time in Cleveland during the regular season, as Aaron Laffey goes up against Mike Mussina. It’s one of those strange Friday through Monday series.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 27th, 2008 at 3:42 pm and is filed under Jake Westbrook, Franklin Gutierrez, Travis Hafner, Jeremy Sowers, James Pete, Aaron Laffey, Shelley Duncan, Brad Snyder, Tribe Loss, Jason Michaels, Ben Francisco, Victor Martinez, Grady Sizemore, Bobby Abreu, Chien-Ming Wang, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mike Mussina, Ryan Garko, C.C. Sabathia, Cleveland Indians, David Dellucci, New York Yankees, Tribe Report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.