CC stumbles in postseason again

It's a new year and a new team, but the same result for CC Sabathia.

He was knocked around in the postseason by the Red Sox in 2007 as the Indians ace, losing two games in the American League Championship Series. Traded to Milwaukee in June, he was fantastic down the stretch, yet pitiful again in the playoffs.

He yielded six extra-base hits in 3 2/3 innings on Thursday, including a grand slam to Shane Victorino, as the Brewers fell 5-2 to Philadelphia and behind 2-0 in their NL Division Series. It was Sabathia's first bad outing with the Brewers, in probably his last start for them, barring an historic comeback. (Sabathia is a free agent this offseason and likely will command a bigger salary than small-market Milwaukee can afford.)

"It didn't seem anything like it was last year," Sabathia told MLB.com. "What today was, I wasn't able to finish innings and at-bats. I think that's the reason why I pitched so bad."

Yet just like last year, when the baseball pundits said Sabathia threw too many innings and was worn out once the playoffs begin, the whispers about his regular-season workload will continue. As ESPN's Jayson Stark pointed out, Sabathia was the first pitcher since 2003 to make four consecutive starts on three days' rest, and the first in 16 years to do it in a stretch that included any playoffs. Of course, with Ben Sheets' injury, the Brewers needed every one of those starts to make the playoffs.

"I don't feel like starting on three days' rest had anything to do with it, or anything like that," he said, according to ESPN.com. "I just think [on Thursday] I didn't make pitches when I needed to."

And Milwaukee is in an 0-2 hole heading to Miller Park. In the playoffs for the first time since 1982, the Brewers' season is now on Jeff Suppan's shoulders in Game 3 on Saturday evening. And as Cubs fans also know, no NL team has ever come back from an 0-2 deficit in a division series since the format was adopted in 1995.