Sabathia goes for League Leading 12th Win Tuesday

July 5, 2011

The New York Yankees will send C.C. Sabathia to the mound on Tuesday. Sabathia is quietly having another phenomenal season, and will be making an attempt at getting his Major League leading 12th win of the year as he takes on a feisty Cleveland Indians squad that hasn’t gone away in the American League Central.

After a red-hot 12-4 start to the 2011 season that surprised MLB experts and baseball handicappers, the Indians have played less than .500 ball over the next 67 games. That may not be something to be too excited about, but they have managed to sustain the lead in a tough Central division. The odds-on favorites at the beginning of the season was the Detroit Tigers. While the Tigers are coming on strong over the last month or so, they seem to lack the depth at the starting pitching position to run away with the division. Justin Verlander has solidified himself as one of the best pitchers in all of baseball this season, and is virtually a lock to have a quality start every time he takes the mound. However, a severe drop-off in the rotation after him makes it hard for this team to get into a groove In terms of winning streaks.

Cleveland’s pitching staff has performed remarkably well this season considering they were picked to finish towards the bottom of the Central this season. MLB predictions for this team have changed dramatically over the first half of the season, and much of that is due to the starting rotation. Justin Masterson, Carlos Carrasco and Josh Tomlin have formed a solid trio in the rotation, and they will only get better when Fausto Carmona begins to pitch up to his capabilities. Carrasco is off to a solid 8-4 start with a 3.54 earned run average, but like the rest of the rotation, he relies on solid defense and setting up hitters to get outs. This is a tough way to do business against the talented line-up of the New York Yankees, and Carrasco will need to be at his best Tuesday.

The Yankees have been on-fire since the loss of Captain Derek Jeter to the DL, but have lost 2 consecutive games including the first game of this series which was Jeter’s return to the line-up. Many baseball experts are saying that this team is better with Jeter out of the line-up, but that’s simply not true. Jeter has struggled for much of the season, but still has the pop in his bat to make a difference in this line-up. Tune in Tuesday as the Yankees offense tries to score early and often against Carrasco to give their “Ace” a little breathing room as he goes for his 12 win of the year.

Written by Glenn Andrew · Filed Under MLB

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