CC Sabathia wasn’t even at his best July 8, 2008. He lasted six innings; only one of his remaining 16 starts in a Milwaukee Brewers uniform would be shorter. He allowed five walks and five hits, although the Colorado Rockies scored just two earned runs in a 7-3 Brewers win.
But the presence of the burly left-hander was electric all by itself. Milwaukee, having gone all-in to acquire the reigning American League Cy Young winner, had signified it was serious about ending the franchise’s 26-year playoff drought.
The sellout attendance of 42,533 was unusual for a Tuesday night, and the atmosphere was a preview of the playoff run ahead, one made possible by Sabathia’s Herculean run. Over the next five days, the club sold 70,000 tickets — three times the normal amount — and the homestand became the most successful gate in Brewers history.
Fifteen years later, it’s still one of the craziest regular-season games at American Family Field.
“Games like this are very tough,” Brewers manager Ned Yost said afterwards. “It’s like opening day, with all the hoopla, everybody watching. I figured today would be a hard day. Just getting him through it would be good.”
It was the first of 17 magical starts for Sabathia
By now, you know the story. With Sabathia’s free agency looming, Cleveland traded him to the Brewers for prospects Matt LaPorta, Zach Jackson and Rob Bryson, as well as a player to be named later, who became five-time all-star Michael Brantley.
He didn’t stay long, but the imprint Sabathia left is unforgettable. He made 17 starts for the 2008 Brewers, posting an 11-2 record and 1.65 ERA. Down the stretch, he began working regularly on three days rest, and his complete-game performance Sept. 28 helped the Brewers beat the Cubs, 3-1. Moments later, when the New York Mets lost to the Florida Marlins, Milwaukee had a National League wild-card berth.
Sabathia signed an offseason contract with the New York Yankees and immediately led New York to the 2009 World Series title. He fared much better in that postseason than in 2008, when, out of gas, he struggled against Philadelphia as part of Milwaukee’s 3-1 series loss in the National League Division Series. But for a franchise starving for a taste of the postseason, it was still plenty.
What’s the one thing Sabathia remembers from that first start? Not a massive double play.
Sabathia doesn’t remember all that much from his Milwaukee Brewers debut, although he sure remembers the next start, coming against the Reds on the last day before the all-star break — coincidentally, just as this year’s Brewers will face the Reds in the same spot.
“The only thing I honestly remember (from the first start) was getting mad at my cleats because they were black and red and I needed blue cleats,” Sabathia said in 2018. “That was the only thing I kept thinking about. I went 5⅔ or 6⅔ innings.”
If there was a moment to remember, it came unwittingly from Rockies outfielder Ryan Spilborghs, who got injured racing around the bases and had to stop at third on a bases-loaded double by Yorvit Torrealba that scored the other two runners. Had he scored, the Rockies would have tied the Brewers at 4. Instead, it was 4-3, and pinch runner (and former Brewer) Scott Podsednik was doubled off at third one batter later when Sabathia speared a comebacker.
Sabathia walked the next best but struck out Brad Hawpe with the crowd on its feet. As he left the field, he screamed into his glove.
“That was just letting out everything from the last couple of days,” said Sabathia afterwards. “It was just a release.”
The second start was just as memorable, since Sabathia homered
In 2018, Sabathia said the start he really remembered was his next one against Cincinnati. That’s probably because Sabathia homered and current Brewers manager Craig Counsell delivered a walk-off sacrifice fly as the Brewers beat the Reds, 3-2.
Acquired from Cleveland in a deal first announced July 7, he already had two starts for his new team within a week.
“They gave me the decision whether I wanted to pitch because the all-star break was coming up,” Sabathia said. “So if I could pitch on that Tuesday, I’d get two starts in, or I could pitch in the middle of the week and get one start and get comfortable. Once I got traded, I left right away and I wanted to be part of the team and help right away. I wanted to pitch as soon as possible … and I ended up pitching twice before the all-star break.”
The Bay Area native pitched the first game after the break, July 18 in San Francisco. And wouldn’t you know it, the Brewers won that start, too. And his next one, in St. Louis. All told, Milwaukee went 4-1 in Sabathia starts before the trade deadline. They won his next eight for good measure.
Sabathia found out he was coming to Milwaukee from a Brewer
The Spilborghs/Podsednik sequence in the Rockies game helped Milwaukee escape a major jam in the sixth; in the seventh, the Brewers added three runs to take some drama out of the equation. Ryan Braun, whose home run in the season finale pairs in Brewers fan lore along with Sabathia’s start, hit a three-run homer in the first to give Milwaukee an early lead.
The pitcher following Sabathia on the mound against Colorado was none other than his good friend David Riske, a former teammate in Cleveland who had helped sell the idea of Milwaukee on Sabathia. Riske and bullpen-mates Eric Gagne and Brian Shouse faced the minimum over the final three innings.
Riske was the guy who told Sabathia he was headed to Milwaukee.
“I was a younger player at the time so I wasn’t really that close with the front office, so I didn’t have any say about where I was going, anything like that,” Sabathia said in 2018. “I just kind of stayed out of it and let them do their thing. Not until Riske called me and told me that they saw my jerseys being made up in the back that I knew I was going to Milwaukee.”
About that near no-hitter (and that finale) …
His memorable run included a near no-hitter Aug. 31 in Pittsburgh, with the only blemish a controversial scoring decision to rule a ball fielded and dropped by Sabathia as a hit.
“It was called a hit so early in the game (leading off the fifth) that I thought I was pitching a one-hitter (in the late innings), so it’s not the same as pitching a no-hitter,” he said in 2018. “We got in after and (catcher Jason) Kendall was pissed, saying, ‘Man, we need to get that (scoring ruling) changed.’ And I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ He was like, ‘You only gave up one hit.’ I had no idea. It kind of took away from it the fact that it happened so early in the game. It was just a one-hitter.”
Sabathia threw seven complete games during his run, with three shutouts. The franchise as a whole has just 17 complete games and 10 shutouts in the 15 years since. The most memorable complete game, of course, came in the finale.
“I remember feeling like I was going to be pretty good that day, early,” Sabathia said. “I gave up a run early in the game, but it felt like that was it, though. I felt like I was going to put together a pretty good start.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: It’s been 15 years since CC Sabathia’s first start in Milwaukee