Future team uncertain, but CC gives Brewers big boost now

SAN DIEGO -- CC Sabathia spent part of his day Tuesday house hunting. This time up in Calabasas, a city in Los Angeles County, in the northwestern part of the San Fernando Valley.

It's nothing new. Sabathia and his wife, Amber, have been looking for the perfect house in Southern California for more than a year. They checked out Rancho Santa Fe, an exclusive community north of San Diego, on one of the Cleveland Indians' trips to Anaheim last summer. They've combed Orange County. Who knows, perhaps Malibu is next (psst, Cher's place is said to be up for sale).

Craig Counsell on Sabathia: 'He's been basically perfect. I don't think anybody expected this.' (Getty Images)

What's different now is that the free-agent clock is ticking ever closer, and inquiring minds are looking for signs, just like a friendly, 6-foot-7, Cy Young-winning lefty peering in to see how many fingers his catcher is flashing.

Does a Sabathia house-hunting trip to Calabasas mean he's heading to the Angels in 2009? Would an Orange County home address preclude him from accepting the millions of dollars the Yankees might offer? Might San Diego County real estate seal his fate in Milwaukee as a three-month-and-out rental player?

"We'll see what happens," said Sabathia, and if he's as adept at choosing a new home and reading the free-agent market as he has been on the field during his short time with the Milwaukee Brewers, look out.

In Milwaukee, the addition of Sabathia has been everything the Brewers could have dreamed, and more. He has made seven starts -- he next pitches Wednesday night here against the Padres -- and the Brewers have won all but one.

During this stretch, Sabathia is 6-0 with a stingy 1.57 ERA, and Milwaukee baseball fans are savoring each and every one of his pitches as their beloved Brewers move tantalizingly closer toward playing in their first postseason since 1982.

Since Sabathia's arrival, the Brewers have sold out a franchise-record 15 consecutive games in Miller Park. They've already equaled the club record of 31 sellouts for a season, and their 2.9 million tickets sold is another franchise record.

No. 52 Sabathia jerseys and T-shirts are selling more briskly in Wisconsin than, dare we say it, bratwurst. The Brewers' television ratings are at an all-time high.

"He's spoiled us so far," said infielder -- and Milwaukee native -- Craig Counsell. "He's been basically perfect. I don't think anybody expected this."

How could they? When Milwaukee general manager Doug Melvin struck early and decisively to acquire Sabathia from Cleveland on July 7 -- kicking off the mid-summer trading season with a cannon, not a starter's pistol -- his big goal was to get two starts, instead of one, from Sabathia before the All-Star break.

Almost immediately, it became the best trade of the summer (non-dreadlocks division).

"We felt pretty good before we got CC, but I think everybody in that locker room immediately felt the impact of getting ace depth," Brewers manager Ned Yost said, referring to Sabathia and Milwaukee's retro-ace (before Sabathia), Ben Sheets. "Now, instead of just one ace, we go 1-2 -- and some pretty good mini-aces in Manny Parra, Jeff Suppan and Dave Bush.