Spilborghs' injury, Sabathia's fielding stop Rockies' rally
By Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Photo by Morry Gash © AP
Brewers starting pitcher CC Sabathia celebrates after striking out Colorado's Brad Hawpe during the sixth inning during the teams' game on Tuesday night in Milwaukee.
Moment: With the bases loaded and no out in the sixth, Rockies catcher Yorvit Torrealba drove the first pitch he was thrown by CC Sabathia down the right-field line for what had the makings of a tying double. But Ryan Spilborghs, running from first, suffered a left oblique strain and pulled up at third base, leaving the Rockies trailing 4-3. Pinch runner Scott Podsednik then was doubled off third on Jayson Nix's soft liner to Sabathia, who escaped without giving up the tying run.
Player: Left-hander Sabathia was the man of the hour in Milwaukee, making his Brewers debut. He allowed three runs (two earned), five hits, including two doubles, and five walks in six innings, but he earned the win.
Stat: 15 losses for the Rockies in 23 games at Miller Park (.348), lowest winning percentage of any National League team.
The Rockies wanted to crash the party.
They were not capable.
Left-hander CC Sabathia was ordinary in his hyped-up Milwaukee debut Tuesday night. That was good enough to help deliver the Brewers a 7-3 victory to the delight of a sellout crowd of 42,533 at Miller Park.
Sabathia's addition is being compared with the August 1982 acquisition of Don Sutton that eventually helped lift the Brewers into the World Series, which was the last time the Brewers played a postseason game.
The Brewers went so far as to buy a full-page ad in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday, inviting fans to enjoy the arrival of Sabathia and buy partial season-ticket plans to ensure postseason seat availability.
And they weren't about to let anybody spoil Sabathia's coming- out party.
Not the National League Central division-leading Cubs, who hours before the first pitch announced they had added right- handed pitchers Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin from Oakland, calling the Brewers' hand and raising the ante a bit.
Not the struggling Rockies, who had their chances to regain command of a game that began with Ryan Braun unloading a three-run home run for the Brewers before Rockies starter Mark Redman could get an out. Instead, they saw a sixth-inning rally cut short by the loss of another player to injury.
Outfielder Ryan Spilborghs strained his left oblique muscle, keeping him from scoring what would have been the tying run from first base on Yorvit Torrealba's bases-loaded double in the sixth.
Spilborghs was sent to the disabled list, the fourth player the Rockies have put on the disabled list in the past week, with a decision pending on whether Jeff Baker will make it a fifth.
"That took the wind out of us," manager Clint Hurdle said.
But then this was the Brewers' night, when they unveiled their first major in-season addition in more than a quarter century.
Owner Mark Attanasio coughed up the money to expand the payroll to $90 million, and the front office gave up four players, including last year's No. 1 draft pick, Matt LaPorta, to acquire the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner from suddenly rebuilding Cleveland.
"We're going for it," general manager Doug Melvin said.
It's a one-step-at-a-time type of thing, and a baby step was taken against the Rockies with Sabathia overcoming admitted nervousness to escape with a victory despite giving up five hits and five walks in six innings.
"This was a big game to get over with for CC and for us," Milwaukee manager Ned Yost said. "It's big to get comfortable and to get on a roll. He did a good job of that."
For the Rockies, there were frustrations, their inability to cash in on the midgame knockout of Sabathia, then the Brewers adding three runs off reliever Matt Herges in the seventh that allowed the fans to begin their full-speed celebration of Sabathia's arrival.
Redman gave up back-to-back singles to Rickie Weeks and J.J. Hardy before Braun did the big damage with the first-inning home run. But he but gave up only one more run in five innings.
It was too much of a deficit for the Rockies, who lost for the 21st time in their past 26 road games and slipped to 71/2 games behind NL West-leading Arizona.
The Rockies, who managed only one run out of a bases-loaded, no-out threat in the fourth because Sabathia induced Jayson Nix into a double-play grounder, painfully lost the chance to take control in the sixth.
Again they loaded the bases with no out, Sabathia following Matt Holliday's single with walks to Garrett Atkins and Spilborghs.
This time, Torrealba doubled, but just before Spilborghs touched second, he was grabbed by the pain from the oblique muscle he initially irritated running the bases in the fourth.
"I felt like I was shot in the side," Spilborghs said. "I was looking for someone to tag so they could keep running for me. It hurt me more that I couldn't score and tie the game than the actual injury."
As it was, though, the Rockies were down only 4-3 and still had runners on second and third with no out. But not for long.
Nix lined a two-strike pitch up the middle, Sabathia grabbing the line drive and doubling pinch runner Scott Podsednik off third.
Then, after walking Omar Quintanilla, Sabathia finished his Brewers debut with a full-count strikeout of Brad Hawpe.
"It was an accident," Sabathia said of catching the line drive. "I'm not a great fielding pitcher."
Could have fooled the Brewers fans. They saw greatness in everything Sabathia did.
"I feel like I came into the perfect situation," he said.
Post your comment
Registration is required. Click here to create your free user account, or login below.
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.
July 9, 2008
12:12 a.m.
Suggest removal
COLOGOLD writes:
Hey Helton...take the rest of the year off the team is doing better without you!
July 9, 2008
7:23 a.m.
Suggest removal
DeimosJB writes:
If Spilly injured his oblique in the 4th, why was he running the bases in the 6th?
July 9, 2008
8:39 a.m.
Suggest removal
Tracy Ringolsby writes:
DeimosJB, often a player feels a pain and plays through it. They don't bring up every ache and pain, but when the severity increases they can think back to a tweak that may well have been a warning of what laid ahead. It's not unlike when Taveras tweaked his quad in a game and several innings later came out or Helton feeling the back problem several innings before giving in to the pain.
July 9, 2008
9:34 a.m.
Suggest removal
SDcat writes:
I could take Helton, and Baker being hurt. But Spilly? That hurts. He's a spark plug...Why is Atkins at first??
July 9, 2008
11:11 a.m.
Suggest removal
RDenver writes:
Too many injuries. Time to look forward to next year without Holliday!
July 9, 2008
3:36 p.m.
Suggest removal
dgocoman writes:
I agree with SDCat. Anybody but Spilly. He is fun to watch and plays hard. I think he is a real star in the making. Sort of like Holliday was 2-3 years ago with a little less power. A starting lineup with Taveras, Quintanilla, Barmes, and Nix will be lucky to score any runs.