Bombers Beaten as CC Struggles

Alex Cobb stifled the Yankees lineup today, allowing only two runs on five hits (four of which were legitimate). The Rays right hander has been money in the bank against the Yankees this year in two starts. Both of his starts against the Bombers have come at Tropicana Field where the Yankees still have not swept a three game series since 2005. There isn't much to say about Cobb. His changeup was unbelievable today and his curve was just as powerful. The Yankees were off balance all afternoon against Cobb and once again come away with almost nothing against the Rays pitcher. Why the Yankees can't hit Cobb this year amazes me, because the rest of the league isn't getting shut out by the pitcher at all. Despite his low ERA, teams still manage to beat him. The Yankees are still trying to figure him out. It is frustrating that a team that clearly has offensive ability gets shut down by an average pitcher twice in a season, and it's still only May. Hopefully the next time around at Yankee Stadium Cobb will be tamed by the Yanks order.

While the offense was struggling, Sabathia was having an awful game himself. The "ace" lefty pitcher allowed seven earned runs in seven innings pitched. He allowed two more home runs to the Rays offense and struggled in putting batters away. He also failed to cover first base on a play that would have given the Yankees two outs and would have avoided CC giving out a third run (at the time of the play). As the result of the game panned out, Sabathia was just plain awful. The only positive that you can take out of this game is that CC gave the bullpen a rest and took one for the team. He pitched seven innings, allowing seven hits and seven runs. Lucky number seven did not go in the way of CC Sabathia this afternoon. Sabathia has now not won a game in a month. His record against the Rays as a Yankee is a poor 3-10 in nineteen starts. The Yankees did not pay Sabathia all that money for him to lose nine games to a poor offensive club. Sabathia can't give any excuses as to why he pitches so poorly against Tampa Bay. He needs to get his act together and pitch like the ace the Yankees signed to an extension two years ago.

Despite all of today's ugly numbers for the Yankees they still manage to take the series from the Rays before heading into Queens for the Subway Series against the New York Mets. The first two games will be played at Citi Field, followed by two at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday and Thursday. The Yankees should have no problem winning three out of four games against the Mets, who have been plain pathetic all season long.