After yesterday's magnificent no-run, two-hit, nine strikeout, eight-inning virtuoso performance by Cole Hamels in a late-scare 3-1 Phillies victory over the Milwaukee Brewers, this will be as close as you can get to match point so early in a series. Even in the Russian roulette of the best-of-five format. And if always cocky, often insecure Brett Myers can somehow hang with the Brewers' midseason savior long enough for a shaky offense to give him a lead, the Phillies could hand Jamie Moyer the coveted Elimination Ball on Saturday.
This will be Sabathia's fourth straight pressure start on 3 days' rest. As one of the few guys around here who remembers Steve Carlton hitting the 200-inning mark in mid-July most seasons, it's possible to say Sabathia has been conservatively pitched by the standards of the pre-Tommy John surgery days. CC has pitched 253 innings between Cleveland and Milwaukee. Carlton topped that 10 times, including two seasons of more than 300.
But this is 2008, not 1972, when Lefty rang up 346 1/3 IP on his way to 27-10 for the dreadful Phillies. Sabathia is the Clydesdale of this era, and baseball men are justifiably impressed that the guy actually wants to pull this heavily laden sled despite the financial implications. Here's a man expected to ask for a $150 million contract this winter risking burnout and lowered value.
Sabathia is expected to win this game. Myers has had the walkabouts since a masterful complete-game start on 3 days' rest against these Brewers, a two-hitter. What would Charlie Manuel pay to have that one back against Sabathia?
But Brett's final two outings were disasters - 8 1/3 IP, 19 hits, 16 runs (14 earned), four walks.
