Well, he is. After the first inning, at least. There's a chance -- anything can happen in baseball -- that he falls off the pace. But he got through the first inning in impressively quick fashion, getting Nate McLouth out on a first-pitch fly ball, J.J. Hardy on a three-pitch fly ball, and Adam Jones on a six-pitch strikeout. Sabathia didn't even have to break a sweat. I mean, he did, but he didn't have to.
Meanwhile, Jason Hammel is on pace for a 144-pitch complete game, which is simply absurd! But he also had a strong first inning, getting Derek Jeter to look at strike three, and inducing right-side grounders from both Ichiro Suzuki and Robinson Cano.
It's too bad no one is there to see it:
Traffic time of day et cetera. But still: Wow.
- Grant