Brendan Ryan wasn’t trying anything fancy. Against a CC Sabathia performance that was as dominant as anything Ryan or any of the Mariners have seen from the big lefty, the Seattle shortstop kept it simple.
After all, he was batting against a pitcher he alternately described as “invincible” and “filthy” and “lights out.”
“The way he was throwing? I wasn’t trying to work the count,” Ryan said after the Yankees’ 4-1 victory over the Mariners last night at the Stadium. “It’s the first thing you can barrel.”
Sabathia, who retired the first 19 batters in a row, found his initial 2-0 count of the game to hitter No. 20, Ryan. He came in with a fastball and Ryan waited.
“I thought, ‘If I’m going to get one, this might be a good time to get something to hit,'” said Ryan who broke up Sabathia’s bid for perfection with a single to left-center. “I broke my bat on it so it wasn’t like I smashed one in the gap. He threw a fastball for a strike and I just wanted to be ready to hit.”
Ryan entered the game with three hits in five career at bats against Sabathia (15-5) but was among the Mariners in awe of the Yankees ace who struck out a career high 14 as Seattle extended its franchise record losing streak to 17.
“Pretty invincible stuff,” Ryan said. “I don’t know how many starts I’ve had against him, I guess around seven. He’s always got Sabathia stuff but today, that was by far the best I’d ever seen him pitch. I almost feel disrespectful saying that because of what he’s capable of but when he’s locating that fastball, the way he’s throwing that slider, stealing strikes here and there, he’s absolutely filthy.”
No arguments from the other Mariners who recorded seven straight strikeouts at one point. The hapless Mariners had skipped batting practice. And then all but Ryan skipped hitting against Sabathia.
“That’s about as good a stuff than I’ve seen him have,” said Seattle manager Eric Wedge, who was Sabathia’s manager for five-and-a-half seasons in Cleveland. “He had a better fastball. He’s always had a good fastball but he was really consistent with it tonight. His secondary stuff was as good as we’ve seen it, too. . . . Ryan stepped up for us.”
With that simple approach.
“You’ve got to move the bat,” Ryan said. “He had to throw a strike and fortunately it was over the middle of the plate. The only thing I didn’t do was foul it off, thank goodness. . . . It was down. That’s why I ended up breaking the bat. I wanted to make sure I was absolutely ready if it was hittable. He just comes after you. He challenges guys. . . . Like I said, first good thing I thought I could barrel, I was going to move on because he was lights out.”
