CC Sabathia has not been an ace for the New York Yankees this season. He has three losses, one win and one no-decision in his past five starts. Sabathia’s ERA has climbed to 4.37, and his start against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday night was one of his worst of the season.
Sabathia went five innings at Fenway Park, allowing nine hits and seven earned runs after the Yankees spotted him an early 3-0 lead. After the game, the left-hander made no excuses.
“I suck,” Sabathia said, via the NY Daily News. “I wish I had an excuse or something. It sucks. It’s embarrassing. But you have to try to work through it, figure something out and start trying to help this team instead of hurting it.”
At a time when New York’s hitting lineup has been demolished by the injury bug, the team needs solid pitching now more than ever. Their $24 million-per-year pitcher should be the least of the Yankees’ worries, but Sabathia has seemingly gotten worse as the season progresses.
Sabathia has allowed a career-worst 23 home runs this season, and the year is far from over. There have been starts where he has kept New York in the game and gotten no run support because of the Yankees’ depleted lineup, but Sunday night wasn’t one of those instances.
“We didn’t struggle today,” Sabathia said. “We scored seven runs and not being able to win that game is unacceptable.”
Alex Rodriguez has also suffered another setback in rehab and is expected to miss 7-10 more days with a strained quad. With players like Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira on the shelf, the Yankees need someone to step up and be their rock. Sabathia is a good candidate for that role, but he has been anything but this season.
