NEW YORK -- There seems to be little doubt that the Yankees will hand the ball to CC Sabathia for Games 1, 4 and 7 in the World Series against Philadelphia, with his latter two starts each coming on short (three days') rest.
After that is where the questions begin.
Namely, would the Yankees deem A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte each capable of starting on short rest (Burnett in Game 5, Pettitte in Game 6) and go with a three-man rotation?
Or will they decide that's a bad risk and take a different kind of chance, starting Chad Gaudin in Game 5 even though his last start came nearly a month ago, back on Sept. 28?
On a rainy and chilly Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, New York manager Joe Girardi only committed to the first three games of his first World Series as a skipper. Girardi says Burnett (Game 2) and Pettitte (Game 3) will follow Sabathia.
As for Game 4, Girardi said, "You look at the guys that you have. Chad is probably built up more than anyone. You look at where you're at and you make decisions as you go. You try to plan it out that it's going to work the way you want it to. But sometimes, as we saw in the last series, that doesn't always happen. So you have to be flexible, but you make plans."
Gaudin worked a simulated game following the Yankees workout on Tuesday. Dave Eiland, the Yankees' pitching coach, said the club intended to "stretch him out as best we can, weather permitting." The Yankees were hoping to extend Gaudin to the 70- to 80-pitch range.
Eiland said that if the Yankees do opt to start Gaudin, expecting him to throw somewhere between 85 and 90 pitches is reasonable.
"If we start him and say we want 120, 125 pitches, that's a stretch," Eiland said.
Gaudin, who went 6-10 with a 4.64 ERA in 2009 with the Padres and Yankees, has thrown as many as 100 pitches in a game just once since July 21, that coming on Sept. 16 against Toronto.
Neither Burnett nor Pettitte worked on fewer than four days' rest between starts this season. However, the Yankees did use September to give each of them, as well as Sabathia, extra days between some starts in an effort to keep them fresh during the postseason.
"We prepared for this," Eiland said. "We had the luxury of some off days in September because we clinched relatively early. Most of our starters got extra days off in September."
As for Sabathia, Girardi did not commit to giving him three starts in this series. Reading between the lines, it sounds as if the Yankees manager wants to see where his team stands in the series following the first couple of games before committing.
"CC is a guy that we asked to go on three days' once, and if you start asking guys too much, you worry about the quality of work," Girardi said. "It's something that we have to weigh over the next few days. We don't have to make a decision for awhile."
yYou are so right on point, That's my thikng too. Got to go with who on. Go YANKS in 6 games. 