Interesting Call

Today it came out that despite CC Sabathia potentially pitching a no-hitter Kelly Shoppach would have been CC Sabathia's last batter. Girardi cited CC's pitch count of 111 as the justification of this move. Believing that a championship is ultimately more important than individual achievements, Girardi was willing to make the move. With the history of people who have blown out their arms (Mark Prior and Kerry Wood come to mind) Girardi wanted to preserve his workhorse for when he is actually needed down the road.

I can't say I disagree. While I was hoping for CC to throw a no-no it makes a lot more sense for the long term to preserve CC and save him for the postseason. Personal gain is absolutely not more important than championships. Sure it's easy for me to say that sitting at home yelling at my tv but it's the truth. Personally I don't think this story needed to come out. Girardi could have just let it be because as it turned out, this situation never arose. Nevertheless I think Girardi has the right mindset to repeat and am glad to see he has everything in perspective.

What is it about Tampa?

CC Sabathia literally just gave up his first hit in the game today. He went 7 2/3 with 5 strikeouts and 2 walks. This marks the second year in a row that a no-hitter was taken deep into an opening series with the Rays. It's obviously just coincidence but I tend to believe that nothing in baseball is coincidence. It's a great performance by Sabathia and a good sign of things to come.