CC Sabathia has had a memorable 2011 season.
But the New York Yankees' pitching leader would just as soon forget about Game 2 of the American League Divisional Series Monday night in Detroit.
Sabathia entered the game after a regular season with a 19-8 record and 3.00 ERA and career postseason mark of 7-4 with a 4.65 ERA. His American League DS record was 4-1 in his career.
But Monday was not Sabathia's night in a 5-4 loss at Comerica Park which put the Tigers up 2-1 in the best of five series.
Sabathia didn't factor in the decision but still had a rough night. He allowed four runs on seven hits while striking out three during 5.1 innings. The six walks, including one intentional, were the most allowed by a Yankees pitcher in a postseason game since Oct. 5, 1999. It also ties for the most walks given up in a postseason start by Sabathia.
"I'm not here to make excuses or anything like that," said Sabathia. "(Detroit) put some good bats together and wound up scoring some runs."
I actually thought he made a lot of good pitches tonight and I thought the (strike) zone was a small zone tonight," said Yankee manager Joe Girardi. "No disrespect to anyone but that's what I thought. That's what I saw."
Girardi indicated that the balls and strikes called by home plate umpire Gerry Davis might have taken its toll on Sabathia.
"You make a of lot of good pitches, you throw some borderline pitches and you don't get them," Girardi said. "It makes the innings tougher. Some times you don't get outs that you should maybe get. That's all part of baseball. You have to fight your way through it."
"I stuck with the game plan and tried to make pitches," Sabathia said. "It's a part of baseball. I'm not going to sit here and say it was the umpire's fault. I just didn't make pitches when I needed to."
Girardi said he didn't think Sabathia lacked command or looked like he labored, despite Detroit's ability to foul off many pitches and increase the pitch count for the Yankee southpaw.
"I thought he threw the ball pretty well," Girardi said. "I really do."
"I felt great, I thought my fastball coming in was better than it has been," Sabathia said. "They kept fouling pitches off. You have to give them some credit. I tried to make adjustments and throw the ball over the plate."
Both Sabathia and his mound counterpart Justin Verlander had started Friday's game which was suspended by rain and both came back to see mound duty on Monday.
"I felt pretty good," Sabathia said. "I felt the same. Like I said, a few at bats like Brandon Inge's is what killed me. It's always a battle. I'm always trying to make pitches and keep guys off base."
Inge, Detroit's No. 9 batter, had two hits off Sabathia and sparked the Tiger offense at key times.
Sabathia said he's still available in Game 5 Thursday at Yankee Stadium, after the Yanks leveled the series at 2-2 with Tuesday's 10-1 win.
"It's tough," he said of having to watch Game 4 Tuesday with this team down 2-1 "especially it being my fault tonight. It's one of those things. There's nothing I can do about it. We battled. Hopefully, we can pull it out. I expect us to come out and battle. We came up with huge hits (Game 3), it didn't go our way.
"Next time I get the ball, I'll try to go out and help us win. I wasn't able to do that tonight. Anytime I'm out there, I'm expecting to help. I'm always ready I think everyone knows that. We'll have to wait and see what happens."
Burnett, Yanks Back to NY
Twitter: @ihavenet
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