CC Sabathia has a contract incentive for 2018 which would pay him $500,000 if he completed 155 innings. Coming in to today’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays he had 148 innings under his belt. It’s been nearly three months since he’s gone seven innings in a game and he’s only done it three times all year, but he had a shot.
A really good shot as the game developed, actually, as the Yankees built up an 11-0 lead through the top of the sixth and Sabathia took the mound in the bottom of the sixth having thrown only 55 pitches while twirling a one-hit shutout. A half a million bucks was basically in the bag.
Then Rays catcher Jesus Sucre came up to the plate to start the bottom half of the sixth. And this happened:
Holy cow. CC smoked Sucre and cost himself a half million dollars, got ejected from the game, then appeared to grab his crotch while facing the Rays dugout.
— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) September 27, 2018
“That’s for you, bitch,” Sabathia said, as he pointed to the Rays dugout and walked off the mound. Damn, they make ‘em salty in Vallejo.
— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) September 27, 2018
That’s one of the most bad ass things I’ve ever seen on a ballfield. And one day, when CC Sabathia is done playing, it will be Exhibit A when people ask why he was a beloved teammate. https://t.co/YvdDHbsdR5
— Marc Carig (@MarcCarig) September 27, 2018
I didn’t have the game on, but from what I can gather, Sabathia was throwing at Sucre in retaliation for the Rays throwing at Austin Romine earlier in the game.
We will obviously have more on this once people talk about it after the game -- and if MLB has the guts to post video of it, we’ll have that too -- but I think it’s safe to say that CC Sabathia broke every Does Not Give a Flying Crap-o-Meter present in Tropicana Field today.
I’m in awe. I’m sitting here slack-jawed right now.