Tuesday, September 8th 2009, 4:00 AM
It's pretty hard to blame CC Sabathia for the fact that he and A.J. Burnett haven't posted wins in consecutive games for the Yankees since mid-July.
After all, the big lefty hasn't suffered a loss in any of his last eight starts.
Monday, the $243 million pitching duo teamed up to lead the Yankees to a doubleheader sweep of Tampa Bay, even though the back-to-back wins drought continued as Sabathia didn't get the decision in the opener.
Sabathia was plenty strong in allowing just a solo homer by Evan Longoria and a pair of singles in seven innings before the Yankees scored three in the eighth, while Burnett halted a six-week winless skid with six innings of one-run ball in an 11-1 win last night to complete the sweep.
"It feels like it's been over a month, and it has been," said Burnett, who had been 0-4 with a 6.54 ERA in his previous seven outings since July 28. "It's definitely going to be an easy night to go to bed, that's for sure.
"But anytime you get to pitch behind that big man ... you just get inspired. CC set the tone for us."
Sabathia led the majors in innings the last two seasons, and he's doing the same in his first year with the Yankees. The $161 million lefty surpassed the 200-frame barrier for the third straight season and tied a season high with 10 strikeouts Monday.
Sabathia, who is 8-1 in 11 starts since the All-Star break, remained tied with Detroit ace Justin Verlander (both are 16-7) for the AL lead in wins.
"I feel good. My arm feels good, so I'm excited," said Sabathia, who's gone at least seven innings in 21 of his 30 starts this season. "Around this time last year, I felt the same way. I probably had a lot more innings last year than at this point, but I've always been pretty good the last two months of the season."
Despite having thrown 206-1/3 innings already, Sabathia also figures to be more rested entering the playoffs with the Yankees than he was last October after pushing the Brewers into the postseason following a midseason trade from Cleveland.
Sabathia made his final three regular-season starts on three days' rest to help Milwaukee clinch the NL wild card, finishing with a career-high 253 innings. He also started on short rest in Game 2 of the NL division series against Philadelphia, but lasted only 3-2/3 innings, giving up all five runs in a 5-2 loss. His career ERA in five postseason starts is 7.92.
And Burnett, who was on the disabled list during Florida's run to the 2003 World Series title, never has pitched in a postseason game.
"I go one start at a time, but obviously you want to be on a good roll going into the playoffs," Burnett said. "But right now we just want to win as many games as we can."
For him, one is a nice place to start.
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