CC Sabathia made sure both happened last night, with his best start in years. He went 8 shutout innings, allowing just 5 hits, no walks, and 5 strikeouts. Aside from Josh Rutledge, who had both a double and a triple, no Sox player bothered CC at all.
But you gotta score runs, gotta back up your pitcher. This time, the Yankees did. Didi Gregorius hit his 5th home run of the season, a solo home run off Rick Porcello in the 3rd inning. Then came 4 runs in the 4th, including a 3-run homer by Chris Carter, his 6th dinger of the season, following his grand slam the night before. As much criticism as he's faced, he has 8 RBIs in his last 2 games.
The Yankees added a run in the 7th and 2 more in the 8th, to finish The Scum off. Yankees 8, Red Sox 0. WP: Sabathia (7-2). No save. LP: Porcello (3-8).
If only we could have both CC and Masahiro Tanaka pitching well at the same time. So far, it hasn't happened.
The news got better for CC, a native of the East Bay, who grew up rooting for the Oakland Athletics, the Oakland Raiders and the Golden State Warriors. There's a saying in the NBA that no Playoff series is over until the home team loses at least once. Well, the Warriors went into Cleveland last night, and used an 11-0 run at the end to knock off the Cavaliers 118-113, after blowing LeBron James and company out in Oakland, 113-91 and 132-113.
Fans have mocked the Dubs with "Warriors blew a 3-1 lead" for a year. These idiots forget that the Warriors beat the Cavs in 6 the year before. Still, they're saying that coming back from a 3-0 deficit will prove that LeBron is the greatest player of all time.
People over the age of 25 laugh and cite Michael Jordan. People over the age of 40, like myself, or those who know their history, know that the ghost of Wilt Chamberlain is laughing.
The idiots who rooted for the Cavs, then moved to the Miami Heat, then back to the Cavs, simply because the teams in question had LeBron, also mock the Warriors for "building a superteam." Well, A, that's what you're supposed to do: Figure out what it takes to win, and then do it. And, B, that's exactly what LeBron did in Miami. Like I said: Idiots.
The Warriors can wrap it up tomorrow night in Cleveland. Remember: Every win is part of LeBron's legacy, but so is every loss. It looks like he's about to fall to 3-5 in NBA Finals.
The Yanks-Sox series concludes tonight, with Michael Pineda facing David Price in the rubber game. Come on you Pinstripes, beat The Scum again!