Brewers Asking Too Much of CC

In today's Game 2, CC Sabathia once again will be pitching on short rest. (By Darren Hauck -- Getty Images)

But Sabathia only said those words after Dale Sveum, still only in his 17th day as manager, called him into his office and asked if he'd do it. We've all been there: How'd you like to volunteer? Oh, that's fair. No pressure. Why not just say: You're big as a house; are you tough, too?

In his past 31 starts, Sabathia has a 1.88 ERA and a 17-7 record. Since coming to the Brewers in July, he's 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA. He's carried them into October on his mammoth back, clinching the wild card on the last day of the regular season with a complete-game four-hitter.

Sabathia's agent, Greg Genske, even called the Brewers to . . . ummm . . . chat. Now, the convenient tale everybody agrees to tell is that CC is different, a throwback, just a glorious old-school ace. And that suits Sabathia fine.

When he was traded, Melvin asked how many days he'd need to report to his new team. Sabathia said, "I'll be there tomorrow. And I want to pitch."

So, the last day before the all-star break, Sabathia won. The first day after the All-Star Game? He started that, too: a four-hitter. Then, he hurled a four-hit shutout. Of his first six games as a Brewer, he won three, pitched three complete games and had a 1.00 ERA with 26 strikeouts.

Like most tales as compelling as this, there's a back story. Sabathia is not just competitive but proud. That pride was mocked last October when, after a Cy Young season, he got nervous and allowed 15 earned runs and 13 walks in 15 1/3 ugly postseason innings.

"I think you'll see a more calmer version of me," Sabathia said. "Last year I went into the playoffs thinking I had to throw no-hitters. That's why you saw me pressing a lot."

Sabathia claims he's not purging the past. He just loves the Brewers like family now. Milwaukee is nuts over the Crew in a way Cleveland wasn't over the Indians. So he wants to bring everybody in Wisconsin a beer and a world title. Even so, erasing last October must be on his mind.

"My wife and agent were talking to me the other day. And they're both fine with it," Sabathia said. "They know I would be honest. If I couldn't do it, I wouldn't do it.

"So I don't think of it as a sacrifice."

In his career, Sabathia has earned $34 million. Still, he may top the $137.5 million contract the Mets gave to Johan Santana last offseason. "Somebody said, 'If Santana had pitched as often for the Mets as CC did for you, they'd be the ones in the playoffs,' " said a member of the Brewers.

That's both probably truth and yet also utterly unfair. It is precisely because the Mets have such a huge investment in Santana that they'd never risk his future, and theirs, in such fashion. The Brewers have nothing to lose. They have almost no chance of re-signing Sabathia. And they know it.