Yet, should the Yankees and Red Sox meet in the ALCS this October, the Bombers will carry into Fenway Park some lingering feelings of doubt about their two best pitchers.
For Sabathia, those question marks were visible before this weekend series even started. He entered the series with a 16-2 record and 2.11 ERA against teams not named the Red Sox. Against them, he was 0-3 with a 6.16 ERA. If you believe in the power of averages, or of dominant lefties performing like dominant lefties, you had to believe he'd improve those numbers with his start on Saturday. Instead, he left with an 0-4 mark and a 7.20 ERA against Boston after allowing seven earned runs in six innings.
Dustin Pedroia is batting a remarkable .600 against Sabathia this year. Jacoby Ellsbury, at .500, isn't far behind — though Ellsbury's 1.545 OPS is more impressive than Pedroia's still-impressive 1.336. Carl Crawford is hitting .385 against Sabathia, which isn't bad, considering it's the third-best average he has against any pitcher who he's seen at least five times this year.
For New York, that's obviously not going to cut it come playoff time. You could argue that once the postseason rolls around, and if these two teams are to fatefully meet in the ALCS for the fourth time, that it's a whole new ballgame. Even then, though, the numbers don't favor CC.
Back in 2007, when CC was C.C., the lefty entered the playoffs with a 19-7 record and 3.21 ERA. He won the Cy Young Award over Josh Beckett by a landslide, yet in his two playoff starts against Boston, he went 0-2 with a ridiculous 10.45 ERA and 2.323 WHIP. With a chance to close out the series and earn the Indians a trip to the World Series, Sabathia allowed 10 hits and four runs over six innings. The Indians never got closer to the World Series than the moment Sabathia stepped on the mound in Game 5, but the ace could not get it done against Boston.
Should a similar situation arise this year with Sabathia in pinstripes, the Red Sox won't be afraid.
When it comes to struggles against Boston, Sabathia has a shoulder to lean on in teammate Mariano Rivera. The closer is 41 years old, and while he can still look to be on the top of his game (as he was Friday night at Fenway), his bugaboo continues to be the Boston Red Sox.
Fans of other teams may have called it a night and shut the TV off heading into the ninth inning on Sunday night if it was their team trailing the Yankees 2-1, but Red Sox fans know better. They had seen Rivera blow 13 saves against the Sox over the years, and No. 14 was only one swing away.
As it turned out, the Red Sox needed two swings, but the result was career blown save No. 14 against the Red Sox for Rivera. Those 14 account for 19.4 percent of the future Hall of Famer's 72 career blown saves. Sure, the Yankees and Red Sox play each other quite a but, but only 10.3 percent of Rivera's games have been against Boston.
As Dustin Pedroia lined a Rivera offering to left to bring in Marco Scutaro late Sunday night (or was it early Monday morning?), it was easy for both teams to see flashbacks to Bill Mueller's home run, the Kevin Millar walk/Dave Roberts steal/Mueller single combination, the Jason Varitek sacrifice fly, and so on. For the folks from Boston, that's a mighty fine feeling to have in your back pocket come playoff time. For the Yankees, it's at least a little disconcerting.
With a series win over the weekend, the Red Sox secured first place — for now. It's a position that is sure to fluctuate over the season's final 49 games of the season, and the Yankees can easily get back what they lost this weekend in the standings. Regaining supreme confidence in Sabathia and Rivera, though? That'll be a lot more difficult.
