CC Sabathia is slated to start Monday for the first time since he became the 17th pitcher in MLB history to record 3,000 strikeouts and he expects to have a different mindset than he did for his other outings this season.
He admitted on Sunday the chase for 3,000 weighed on him, even when he was on the mound at times.
“I’m just gonna be thinking about getting outs now and worrying about the batter and helping us win games,’’ Sabathia said before the Yankees earned a 4-1 rain-shortened win over the Twins in the The Bronx on Sunday.
“There were a couple of times I’d get to two strikes and I didn’t wind up getting a strikeout and I’d be disappointed even if I got an out later in the at-bat,’’ Sabathia said. “At my age, I just need to get outs.”
That’s the mentality he’ll bring to starts now that he’s got 3,002 strikeouts in his career after he surpassed the milestone in his previous start in Arizona, when he whiffed former teammate John Ryan Murphy for No. 3,000.
Sabathia said he didn’t really want any keepsakes from the game, believing having footage of the game and his family there would be enough, but his wife, Amber, encouraged him to hold on to his cleats and glove from the game.
There doesn’t figure to be any history made when Sabathia goes up against Seattle and its aging former ace, Felix Hernandez.
Sabathia has consistently said he will retire after this season and insisted he’s not looking at any more numbers — including 250 wins, which he’s only three away from.
“I just care about getting the team wins, not myself,’’ Sabathia said. “As for the Hall of Fame, if 3,000 [strikeouts] doesn’t get me in, I ain’t getting in.”
Instead of numerical goals, Sabathia just wants to pitch well and get the Yankees back into the playoffs and he’s confident now that the strikeout record is behind him, he’ll be better for it.
“I’m glad it happened early in the season and I was in a position to get it out of the way,’’ Sabathia said. “If I’d been 65 [strikeouts] away, I think I would have struggled with it and thought about it the whole year.
It’s not the kind of thing I want to talk about all the time, so I’m glad I got it, it’s done and I can move on with just pitching. Now I feel I can just go out there and be myself.”
His performance so far this season has been pretty good.
Since returning from an offseason that was hindered by knee surgery and a heart scare, Sabathia hasn’t slowed down.
The 38-year-old opened the season by serving a five-game suspension stemming from his throwing at Jesus Sucre during a game against the Rays in September. In his four outings this season, Sabathia has an ERA of just 2.66 and a WHIP of 1.033 — both numbers better than in most of his recent seasons.
And he’s only allowed more than two runs in one of the four outings, covering 20 ¹/₃ innings.
“I’m not thinking about much else but getting this team wins,’’ Sabathia said.
