Last night CC Sabathia threw 130 pitches and a complete game and a lot of the Brewer faithful are wondering if Ned Yost is pounding CC into the ground.
It's been said that Sabathia should signs of being tired in last year's postseason. He won the AL Cy Young while pitching only one complete game.
He's been with the Brewers about 5 weeks and he's already got 5 complete games for the Brewers.
So why would we put CC back in the game after the 7th inning, much less the 8th, last night? On the surface, it looks like a really risky move. Our bullpen is plenty rested. (Shouse has pitched 1 inning and in 2 games in the last 5 days. Riske has pitched 1.1 and 2 games in the last 5 days and didn't pitch yesterday. McClung has pitched 1 IP in the last 6 days. Gagne has pitched 1.1 IP in the last 5 days.) By Ned's refusal to use them last night is he showing exactly how not secure he is with it? And if that's the case, can we honestly be talking about the postseason if our own manager doesn't trust his bullpen in mid-August?
That being said, Torres is injured and it's likely that Ned asked CC if he was good to go and CC said yes. It's neither guy's fault that the 9th inning played out in a crazy way, with errors and odd hits.
Suddenly it's a bit of a kid-glove situation and our choice is Mota/Gagne or staying with CC. Is there anyone who doesn't trust CC most in this situation?
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CC's gone over 120 in 2 games here - and both games were extended in the 9th due to error - thereby making CC pitch more than he should have needed to.
He's a tried and true veteran and while I would hope he wouldn't continue to consistently pitch 120kknd, I don't think the 2 instances are the end of the world.
JJ has had some rough time in the field lately, but I would actually make the argument that he's doing it to make up for the lack of defense/good play at 2nd. Both errors were when he was rushing to turn a double play and I think it's because he's trying to get his job done and over compensate for Weeks/Durham at 2nd.
