Overworking CC gives Brew Crew best shot at playoffs

MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers came home Tuesday evening, and the big news was that the local citizenry actually allowed it.

Either they view the peg-legged, patch-eyed, chronically inept Pittsburgh Pirates as the last, best chance to save their beloved Brewers' season, or they're taking it on faith that interim manager Dave Sveum will devise a way to pitch CC Sabathia in every single inning from here on out until the Brewers qualify for October or are mathematically eliminated.

The Brewers were wise adding CC Sabathia in early July, and they're hoping he doesn't burn out before the playoffs. (AP)

Sabathia will start Wednesday night's game here on short rest for a second consecutive time, and it again will be meaningful because Prince Fielder blasted a two-out, two-run, bottom-of-the-ninth homer to give Milwaukee a 7-5 series-opening win to keep the Brewers one game behind the New York Mets in the NL wild-card race.

After that, if the Brewers are hanging in there, Sveum says he's likely to hand the ball to Sabathia again on Sunday, which would be a third consecutive start on three days' rest for the big left-hander.

And imagine if the Brew Crew are still alive and kicking, will Sveum start him again on three days' rest for the opening of the playoffs? Maybe start him in every playoff game? Ask him to pilot the team charter flights? Cook the team meals?

"The thing about the playoffs is that they're pretty minute at this point," Sveum says. "We're fighting and scratching. If we can just get there, we'll be happier than hell."

Far as team mottos go, it's not much for a team that owned the third-best record in the majors for a time in August. But it might beat the hell out of "CC Sabathia will be on sale tomorrow in the ground chuck section of your local Piggly Wiggly."

Acquiring Sabathia in early July was the best thing this franchise has done in years. Maybe ever. The Brewers were geniuses.

But important as it is for a franchise that hasn't played in the playoffs in 26 years to get there, and essential as Sabathia is to the Brewers, one man alone is not going to get them there. And if Sabathia comes up lame, the Brewers are going to look like dunces.

Or worse.

"There's nothing we're doing where if he was signed for seven years, the team that had him for the next six years certainly wouldn't do," Sveum protests. "There's no question in my mind. And he's all for it. He's very much a stand-up guy. He's very much a team guy."

Which, you hope, doesn't become a problem.

Sabathia is just 28 and he's one of the brightest, most engaging young stars in the game. You hope his affability doesn't work against him in attempting to perform miracles for a team on the edge.