The Blue Workhorse

C.C. Sabathia throws a pitch in what should have been a no-hitter Sunday against the Pirates. He also should be given the Cy Young Award and be considered for the MVP Award (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar).

C.C. Sabathia has been absolutely remarkable since being traded to the Milwaukee Brewers on July 7.

Not only has he become only the second midseason acquisition to go 9-0 (Doyle Alexander went 9-0 in 11 starts for the Detroit Tigers in 1987 after being traded from the Atlanta Braves for some prospect named John Smoltz), Sabathia has been a complete workhorse (and you know we love those). Sabathia already leads the National League with 6 complete games despite only 11 starts.

On Sunday afternoon, Sabathia tossed his third complete game shutout since joining the Brewers, striking out 11 Pirates batters, and allowing only one controversial hit to Andy LaRoche on a slow roller Sabathia mishandled, which can be seen about 12 seconds into this clip.

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Skip told it like he saw it without the sugar coating or unnecessary fluff many of today’s announcers choose to use. He was unafraid to state his opinion, whatever it may have been, and had no remorse if you didn’t agree. He hated the Wave and when anyone called in on sports talk radio and asked about the Infield Fly Rule. He knew baseball and seemingly where every fan in the stands hailed from as he would announce the hometown of whomever was lucky enough to catch a foul ball.

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That’s right folks, we’re hitting the road. As of Thursday night/early Friday morning, half of the staff of this site along with three other companions will be on the road for half a day as we travel to New York City (well, technically we are staying in New Jersey).

Why drive 10-15 hours? Why travel to New York?

It’s actually quite simple: the hallowed grounds of the “House that Ruth Built” - Yankee Stadium.

We’re headed up for the final three games (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) of the Yankees four game series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (yea, I struggle to write that out every time…it was so much simpler when they were the California Angels).

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Most of this comes from a comment I made when Sports Dawg wrote on An Opinion On Sports about expanding the All-Star rosters after Clint Hurdle and Terry Francona nearly had to use David Wright and J.D. Drew as pitchers due to a limited number of innings available from the All-Star pitchers.

Sports Dawg isn’t the only one to make the suggestion as I’ve heard a lot of people talk about expanding the rosters because “now the game counts.”

However, I have to respectfully disagree.

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As I flipped the channel to FOX at about 8:00 pm, I had no idea that tonight would be one of the most intriguing All-Star Games in recent memory.

With the great opening ceremony linking the former greats with the present stars, I had a feeling this might be a special night and a special game.

The only thing that surprised me about the opening ceremony was the Steinbrenners brought the ceremonial game balls in a brown paper bag. C’mon guys, you’re the Steinbrenners, you can do better.

Before I get to the game:

5 quick reasons I hated the All-Star Game

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Major League Baseball’s All-Star Break is great for many reasons.

Getting to see the collection of baseball legends along with the current stars on the field at Yankee stadium was a truly special moment.

In addition to the festivities, I have always enjoyed the game itself. Watching stud pitchers give maximum effort for an inning, both leagues assembling a numbers-packed studly lineup, and the overall atmosphere of the game is a great treat midway through the baseball season.

Another great reason for the game: we all get a break from fantasy baseball. A mental break is nice from the leagues we have been keeping up with since late April.

Since we have one-more day of the All-Star Break, I want to give some props to players who brought the wood, and others who fell off the baseball map:

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“I got chills,” Josh Hamilton said of hearing his name being chanted by the Yankee Stadium crowd Monday night during the Home Run Derby.

No Josh. You gave us all chills.

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Every season there are a handful of players that come out of no where to surprise us and become instant stars. We touched on some players who jumped out to incredible starts after the first couple of weeks of the baseball season.

However, there are also a handful of players that play no where near what was expected of them. At the midway point of the season and in lieu of the recent trend of teams demoting established players (Phillies’ starter Brett Myers, Indians’ closer Joe Borowski, and young Braves’ slugger Jeff Francouer — even though Francouer has scored 40 runs, hit 8 HR, and driven in 41 RBI), we examine those players who have failed to meet expectations and would be well deserving of a demotion:

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