One of the common topics on Cleveland sports talk radio is the weight of Tribe left hander C.C. Sabathia. Whenever, the big southpaw struggles, as he did in June and July, the reason by both hosts and callers in that Sabathia is fat. Based on the results C.C. has put up recently, he must have lost 50 pounds since then.
The truth of course is that he hasn’t, but he has been on a roll. Sabathia has won his last seven starts, and his last two appearances were pitching gems. Last Friday, to start a big three game series against the Twins, C.C. carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning, and would up pitching 7-1/3 scoreless frames in a 6-1 win. In his next start, the whipping boy of the talk show circuit retired the last 21 men he faced in a complete game 4-1 victory over Detroit.
For all of those asking when Sabathia will start pitching like an ace, they have their answer. He has picked it up a notch during this pennant race. Does this mean he will never struggle again? Of course not, but when he does it is due to things like tipping pitches, and not having command of his stuff, not because he is out of shape.
After just turning 25 earlier this year, Sabathia now has 63 wins in his big league career. He has won more than 10 games in each of his five big league seasons, and is reliable pitching over 150 innings per season. Can pitching glamour boys like Kerry Wood and Mark Prior make this claim? I don’t think so.
The point is Sabathia is still a very young pitcher. He is still learning his craft. Meanwhile, the morons calling to trade him to the Reds for Adam Dunn have stopped calling. If C.C. continues to pitch like this, he may be making his secong post season start this October.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 