Maybe the Yankees can sneak up on some teams this season. CC Sabathia knew it sounded illogical to say that, but he said it anyway. Then he repeated it.
The Yankees, who are usually viewed as the big, bad bullies on the block, aren’t being given much of a chance in the skirmish for neighborhood supremacy in 2011. That is how Sabathia sees it. The Red Sox improved by adding Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, so the Yankees have been ignored. That seemed absurd, but it was Sabathia’s hasty summation of how the teams have been analyzed.
“As crazy as it sounds with the talent we have in here,” Sabathia said, “nobody seems to believe in us.”
If teams need additional motivation, it is always convenient to mention the doubters. Even if those doubters aren’t as plentiful as some players suggest, there are always people that doubt teams. Sabathia, who will start against the Detroit Tigers on Opening Day on Thursday, had not even thrown a pitch before he expressed disdain for what he perceived as too many doubters.
Really, it is comical to think of the Yankees, the mighty Yankees, as a forgotten team. General Manager Brian Cashman has called the Yankees “underdogs,” Manager Joe Girardi has said the Yankees might “go under the radar” and Sabathia stressed that they are “not the favorite.” But, with All-Stars at nearly every position, a Stadium that averages over 46,000 fans per game and an ownership mandate to win it all, the Yankees are extremely powerful. The team that Forbes Magazine said is valued at $1.6 billion can’t be an underdog, too.
While Sabathia didn’t specify which prognostications annoyed him, there are 45 reporters and announcers that made their selections on ESPN.com and all 45 picked the Red Sox to win the American League East. Full disclosure: I put my picks on Twitter and I picked the Red Sox over the Yankees, too.
Anyway, after Sabathia lamented how “nobody is picking us” and how that was “kind of funny,” he was adamant about his own selection.
“I’m definitely picking us,” Sabathia said.
Did Sabathia mean to win the division or to win a championship?
“That’s to win the whole thing,” Sabathia said. “I wouldn’t show up if I didn’t believe that.”
Sabathia will show up on Thursday as a pitcher who expects to stop the Tigers. Even if Sabathia doesn’t have the greatest command on his fastball, the best bite on his slider or the perfect feel for his changeup, he is savvy enough and competitive enough to figure out how to get outs. A decent Sabathia is better than some pitchers at their most precise.
When Sabathia is pumping fastballs and flipping changeups for strikes, he is one of the best pitchers in baseball. But I have actually been more impressed with some of Sabathia’s starts when he hasn’t had his best stuff. There are times where Sabathia knows he needs to make adjustments and he makes them. He doesn’t quit, doesn’t vanish. Sometimes, Sabathia muscles his way into the seventh or the eighth inning on those erratic days. In similar situations, other talented pitchers would be gone by the fourth.
“He’s always in control of things,” said catcher Russell Martin. “He never lets the game speed up. He has four quality pitches. He’s not afraid of anything. He just grabs the pill and lets it loose.”
Two weeks ago in Tampa, I asked Sabathia which athlete he would be if he could be someone else for one day. Sabathia, who is as fanatical a sports fan as any player I’ve ever covered, didn’t pick a baseball player. He picked Michael Jordan, perhaps the best basketball player ever.
Sabathia selected Jordan because the amazing Jordan won six titles and is renowned as one of the all-time great winners. But Jordan was more than just a player who won memorable games. It was how Jordan helped fuel those wins. He was an intense player who pushed himself and his teammates.
Maybe Sabathia was doing the same thing with the Yankees. By saying that the Yankees had been dismissed, maybe Sabathia’s words were designed as a motivational tool to help push himself and his teammates. That wouldn’t be crazy, like calling the Yankees underdogs. That would be clever.
