From just inside the dugout railing, CC Sabathia has a front-row seat to baseball’s premier act, one that has people throughout the game buzzing.
“It’s fun to watch and see how confident they are,’’ Sabathia said of Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller dominating big-league hitters.
Fun for Sabathia and the Yankees. Hell for the folks standing 60 feet, 6 inches from the two best relievers in the game.
“The hitters are lucky to get the bat on the ball against those two guys,’’ a talent evaluator said. “It’s impressive, and when they get [Aroldis] Chapman back, it will be something.’’
How good have Betances and Miller been? One pitching guru suggested Chapman’s reinstatement could do something hitters haven’t been able to do: Disrupt the dominance of the Yankees’ late-inning duo.
That, however, doesn’t come until May 9, when Chapman is eligible to return from a 30-game suspension for violating MLB’s domestic violence policy.
Until then, the Yankees likely will get by quite nicely with Betances and Miller.
“I don’t remember a bullpen with the potential to have this many strikeouts,’’ former Yankees reliever Mike Stanton said. “When Chapman gets back, you could have 300 strikeouts between the three guys.’’
Aroldis ChapmanCharles WenzelbergWhen talking about having three power arms, the Reds’ “Nasty Boys’’ of the early 90s always surfaces. So, too, does the Royals’ pen in 2014 and 2015, until closer Greg Holland’s elbow blew out last year.
“That’s the easiest comparison,’’ Stanton said of the Royals, who used Kelvin Herrera in the seventh and Wade Davis in the eighth in front of Holland.
Considering Betances averaged 14.04 strikeouts per nine innings a year ago and Miller was at 14.59 per nine a year ago, that they whiff batters shouldn’t be a shock. But at this rate? Of the last 18 batters Betances has faced, 14 have fanned. Fourteen of the last 15 outs he recorded have been K’s. Miller has struck out nine of the last 12 batters he has faced and fanned the last seven.
To put what they are doing in Yankees context, the great Mariano Rivera never worked with somebody like Betances in front of him. The group consisting of Jeff Nelson, Graeme Lloyd and Stanton was very effective and a big part of the Yankees’ winning four titles in five years, but none, including Rivera, struck out batters at this alarming rate.
“We got some outs, but not like this,’’ Stanton said.
Can it continue? The odds say no. Hitters are going to shorten swings to avoid getting overpowered. More are likely to swing earlier in the count to avoid, especially with Betances, having to decide against a high-octane fastball or knee-buckling breaking ball. Last Tuesday, Betances used a 3-2 curveball to freeze Jose Bautista. Sunday, he locked up Robinson Cano with the same pitch at 1-2. This from a guy who flirts with the century mark on the speed guns.
The biggest problem facing the Yankees these days is very little distance from the starters. When Chapman rejoins the team, Joe Girardi will have Betances for the seventh, Miller for the eighth and Chapman for the final three outs.
In theory, that makes up for the lack of length from the starters. However, how many times can Girardi use Betances, Miller and Chapman in the same game without risking overuse and a drop in stuff — or worse, injury?
That’s up to the manager. As for now, you don’t want to be an A’s hitter across the next three nights at Yankee Stadium knowing Betances and Miller are lurking with a pretty good chance of making you look ill at the plate.
Betances is 6-foot-8 and Miller is 6-7. They were the biggest kids in Little League and are pitching that way in the big leagues, where it looks like hitters are using antique bayonets in a modern-day war.


