Sabathia takes ball, won't give it back until job is done

ESPN.com

Updated: August 18, 2008

AP Photo/Seth Wenig

CC Sabathia is 8-0 with the Brewers, but he's thrown a lot of pitches during his short stay in Milwaukee.

KEEP ON THROWING

By Mark Simon, ESPN Research

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The Brewers are getting their money's worth with this CC Sabathia trade. He just keeps on winning -- and throwing.

On Monday, Sabathia threw a career-high 130 pitches in picking up another victory, this one 9-3 against the Astros. Sabathia has made nine starts with the Brewers, and he's thrown at least 120 pitches in three of them. With the Indians, he'd average two to three starts a season at that amount. With the Brewers, though, he's 8-0 with a 1.60 ERA and seems to have proven he can handle the workload and the pressure.

Sabathia's with the Brewers
W-L 8-0
ERA 1.60
Starts 9
Pitches per start 112.8

Pitch counts since joining the Brewers
Opponent Pitches Innings
vs. Rockies 97 6
vs. Reds 122 9
at Giants 110 9
at Cardinals 106 9
vs. Cubs 124 6 2/3
at Braves 109 8 1/3
vs. Nationals 103 9
at Padres 114 7
at Astros 130 9

Past Baseball Tonight Clubhouses: Aug. 17 | Aug. 14 | Aug. 13 | Aug. 12 | Aug. 11 | Aug. 10

FORWARD THINKING: TUESDAY

Ervin Santana • Angels at Rays, 7:05 p.m. ET: Ervin Santana (13-5, 3.49 ERA) is 2-0 over his past three starts, but he was roughed up in his one appearance this season against the Rays. Santana gave up nine hits and five runs over 5 2/3 innings on May 11. James Shields (10-7, 3.75 ERA) is 3-1 with a 3.54 ERA since the All-Star break.

Daisuke Matsuzaka • Red Sox at Orioles, 7:05 p.m. ET: Daisuke Matsuzaka (14-2, 2.74 ERA) has won three consecutive starts and is 6-1 over his past nine outings. Opponents are hitting just .151 when Matsuzaka pitches away from Fenway Park. After a wild stretch in which he walked 15 batters in three starts, Daniel Cabrera (8-7, 4.78 ERA) has walked just 11 over his past five starts.

Ubaldo Jimenez • Rockies at Dodgers, 10:10 p.m. ET: Ubaldo Jimenez (8-11, 3.94 ERA) had appeared to turn a corner by winning four consecutive starts and six out of seven, but he was roughed up (19 hits, 10 runs in 11 innings) in losing each of his past two outings. Hiroki Kuroda (7-8, 3.88 ERA) has been the opposite. After being pounded in three consecutive starts (27 hits, 18 runs in 11 2/3 innings, he is 2-0 over his past three starts, allowing just one run in each of those outings.

• Complete list of pitching probables for Tuesday's games

TOUCH 'EM ALL

Touch 'Em AllWho went deep? Keep track of all the home runs hit each day on "Baseball Tonight" and on the Baseball Tonight Clubhouse page.

Click here to find out who hit the longest home run. For more, check out the Home Run Tracker page.

Home Run Tracker
NAME HR OPPPITCHER SITUATION
A. LaRoche, Pit16NYMStokesBot 6: 0-0, 0 Outs. 1 on.
A. Rowand, SF12AtlCampilloTop 6: 2-1, 1 Outs. None on.
J. Bay, Bos2BalGuthrieTop 2: 2-1, 0 Outs. None on.
J. Varitek, Bos9BalGuthrieTop 2: 2-0, 2 Outs. None on.
E. Hinske, TB19LAAGarlandBot 2: 2-2, 0 Outs. 1 on.
J. Rivera, LAA9TBSonnanstineTop 3: 2-0, 0 Outs. None on.
C. Floyd, TB9LAAGarlandBot 3: 0-1, 2 Outs. 1 on.
A. Huff, Bal27BosLesterBot 4: 2-0, 1 Outs. None on.
M. Ellis, Oak12MinBlackburnTop 1: 0-0, 0 Outs. None on.
N. Swisher, CWS18SeaWashburnBot 2: 3-2, 1 Outs. 1 on.
J. Bay, Bos3BalCherryTop 8: 2-1, 1 Outs. 1 on.
O. Cabrera, CWS7SeaWashburnBot 5: 1-1, 1 Outs. 1 on.
R. Abercrombie, Hou2MilSabathiaTop 5: 1-0, 1 Outs. None on.
T. Wigginton, Hou16MilSabathiaTop 6: 1-1, 0 Outs. None on.
Y. Betancourt, Sea4CWSBuehrleTop 6: 1-1, 1 Outs. None on.
G. Sheffield, Det13TexFeldmanTop 7: 2-2, 0 Outs. 1 on.
C. Hart, Mil19HouWrightBot 7: 1-0, 1 Outs. None on.
A. Ramirez, CWS13SeaWoodsBot 7: 0-0, 1 Outs. 2 on.
C. Quentin, CWS35SeaWoodsBot 8: 0-0, 0 Outs. None on.


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BBTN ON THE AIR: TUESDAY

TIME WHO'S ON?
10 p.m. ET
ESPN		 Host: Karl Ravech
Analysts: Eric Young,
Eduardo Perez
12 a.m. ET
ESPN		 Host: Mike Hill
Analysts: Tim Kurkjian,
Fernando Vina

BBTN MINUTE: SABATHIA KEEPS THROWING

SPORTSNATION: ALL-TIME FRANCHISE PLAYERS

Puckett/Johnson"Baseball Tonight" wants to hear from you. Click here to vote for the all-time franchise players for all 30 big league teams.

"Baseball Tonight" and SportsNation were split when it came to the Twins/Senators: "Baseball Tonight" chose Walter Johnson, while SportsNation went with Kirby Puckett. The two did agree when it came to the Indians, though, with "Baseball Tonight" and SportsNation both selecting Bob Feller. Watch Wednesday when the best Mariners player is revealed at 10 p.m. ET on "Baseball Tonight."

ASTROS LIKELY DONE, BUT STILL FIGHTING

By Tim Kurkjian, ESPN

I don't think the Astros are going to make the playoffs, but the fact that they've had two remarkable runs in the past four or five years makes you think: Why can't they do this? The difference is they're chasing the Cubs, the best team in the National League, and they're chasing the Brewers, who are pretty darned good also -- and they have CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets, which would imply that Milwaukee isn't going to fold down the stretch, not with two good starting pitchers. Plus, the Astros also have the Cardinals, Phillies, Diamondbacks/Dodgers and Marlins in front of them, too. So the thought that Houston's in this is mathematically correct, but when the Astros made those runs before, they didn't have so many teams in front of them, and they didn't have the Chicago Cubs as one of those teams.

This is a really tricky time to be a team like the Astros. What do they do? They want to win as many games as possible. They added Randy Wolf at the trade deadline, adding when we thought Houston was going to be subtracting. At some point you have to say: We aren't going to win, so what's the best thing to do?

This is when general managers earn their money, right about this time of year. They ask themselves: Are we in, or are we out? Are we going for it, or not? And most of those big decisions are made before the July 31 trade deadline, but they can be made before August 31, too. You really have to be honest with yourself. For instance, this is where the Oakland A's were completely honest with where they were, and that's why they traded Joe Blanton and Rich Harden because they knew they weren't going to make the playoffs with this team. Even though the A's are 6-23 since the All-Star break, at least they were honest enough to say, all right, this wasn't going to work this year, let's move on and build for next year. And that's a difficult decision to make at this time of year.

A GM told me if the Astros fall out of it completely, maybe they'll trade Doug Brocail to somebody who really needs a middle reliever, but I don't see any major movement from here from any team. But give the Astros credit because they're really playing hard and really playing well, and they should do whatever it takes to keep playing well. The Astros shouldn't give up now. Even though I don't think they're going to make the playoffs, good for them for not packing it in. Some other teams have already done that.

MONDAY'S NOTEWORTHY PERFORMANCES

GOOD
Barry Zito• Barry Zito. Yes, Barry Zito. The Giants' left-hander got three early runs and made them stand up, tossing seven shutout innings. He scattered five hits for his seventh win of the season.
BAD
Randy Wolf• Randy Wolf suffered his first loss since joining the Astros. Wolf, matched up against CC Sabathia, gave up five hits and six runs in four innings of work in a 9-3 Brewers win.
UGLY
Jarrod Washburn• Jarrod Washburn, the subject of much trade discussion, is still with the Mariners. And he had a rough night Monday, giving up eight runs in 4 1/3 innings of work in a blowout loss against the White Sox.

STAT OF THE DAY

Inside EdgeAccording to Inside Edge's scouting data, among the teams contending for playoff spots, current Cardinals hitters have produced the highest batting averages so far this season against top-tier pitchers. Red Sox hitters, meanwhile, have hit the best against bottom-tier pitchers:

BA vs. pitcher strength
(rating based on OPS against)
Hitter team Top Middle Bottom
Cardinals .268 .278 .308
Twins .271 .320 .271
Dodgers .265 .288 .308
Cubs .259 .286 .319
Angels .257 .265 .265
Mets .256 .276 .313
Brewers .249 .279 .242
Brewers .249 .279 .242
Rays .246 .266 .277
Red Sox .245 .284 .343
White Sox .243 .277 .299
Diamondbacks .237 .287 .252
Phillies .233 .255 .305

FANTASY: PREVIEW OF TUESDAY'S GAMES

Adam Madison examines the pitching matchups in store for the 15 games on Tuesday's schedule.

Fantasy Madison also looks at injuries and details player reports that could help shape the way you put together your roster for Tuesday. Daily Notes