Specter of Sabathia hangs over Game 6 participants

NEW YORK -- CC Sabathia doesn't have a win in this World Series. He may not throw another pitch in this World Series.

And yet, as the Yankees and Phillies get ready for Game 6 on Wednesday night, nobody looms over this World Series any more than the 6-7, 290-pound Sabathia. Not the ever-entertaining Pedro Martinez, or the ever-present Andy Pettitte, or even Cliff Lee, whose two wins are the whole reason we're even getting ready for Game 6.

The Phillies expect Lee could be available to pitch in relief in a Game 7. The Yankees know that Sabathia will be ready to start Game 7.

The Phillies need to win two games this week, and they basically have one starting pitcher left that they feel reasonably comfortable with (Martinez). The Yankees need to win one game, and while the 37-year-old Pettitte seems like no guarantee on three days' rest, Sabathia seems like the surest thing around for Game 7.

"I'll be ready to go, if they need me," Sabathia said Tuesday. "But hopefully we can get it done [in Game 6]."

Even with Chase Utley's five home runs, even with Mark Teixeira's 2 for 19 and Ryan Howard's 12 strikeouts in 19 at-bats, the story of this World Series has revolved around the starting pitchers. They can pitch on three days' rest or they can't, they can't wait for the season to end or they can, their team can't wait to pitch them or can't believe there's no one else to take their place.

Whatever happened to a normal four-man rotation?

Neither of these two teams has one. And that's why Sabathia's presence means so much.

The Yankees have three starting pitchers. That's it. Don't even bring up Chad Gaudin, because it's obvious by now that he was never going to start a game in this postseason.

Of the three, A.J. Burnett is undependable by nature, and already failed miserably on three days' rest. Pettitte has more postseason wins than any pitcher in history, but he's old and has had arm trouble, and the Yankees were even more concerned with him on three days' rest than they were with Burnett.

The Phillies have four starting pitchers -- sort of. I say sort of, because with a normal four-man rotation they would have an obvious Game 7 starter. Instead, manager Charlie Manuel was stuck defending Cole Hamels on Tuesday, without ever saying that he would definitely start Hamels in a seventh game.

"[Hamels] wants us to win the World Series, and he wants to play a big part in it," Manuel said. "Matter of fact, he might be wanting to play too big a part in it."

Manuel has been going game-by-game in announcing his starting pitchers, and you can hardly blame him. Yankees manager Joe Girardi has done the same, and you can hardly blame him, either.

You'd think a team with a $200-plus million payroll like the Yankees would have a more credible fourth starter than Gaudin. You'd think a defending World Series champion like the Phillies would have a Game 7 starter who would inspire more confidence than Hamels.

You'd think that Sabathia wouldn't be so unusual, and so hugely important. But he is.

Lee is obviously excellent, and he does have two more World Series wins than Sabathia. But the Phillies rightly didn't attempt to start him on three days' rest, and thus he won't be starting either of the two games they still need to win.

Martinez is one of the best pitchers, and one of the best entertainers, of our era. His news conference Tuesday was another gem, with references to his own eulogy ("I don't want to die and then hear everybody say, 'Oh, there goes one of the best players ever.' If you're going to give me props, just give them to me right now."), and to his status as a baseball citizen of the world ("I've been a Montrealer, a Bostonian, and now a New Yorker, and somehow I might become a Philadelphian.").

'I'll be ready to go, if they need me,' Sabathia says. (Getty Images)

Martinez once could have been the three days' rest guy, the three-starts-in-a-series guy. Now, he's the guy the Phillies are much happier starting with extra rest.

And, let's not forget, the Phillies didn't even start Pedro in their first-round series against the Rockies.

Sabathia was the Yankees' Game 1 starter in the first-round. He was the Games 1 and 4 starter against the Angels, and was the Game 7, if needed, starter in that series, too.

He pitched well but lost to Lee in Game 1 of the World Series, and pitched just as well but saw the bullpen fail to hold the lead in Game 4. And, most importantly, every Yankee player and every Yankee fan would be more than happy to see him take the mound, if needed, in Game 7.

"It's definitely a comfort," Johnny Damon said.

There's a precedent for a guy not winning a game and still dominating a series, and Phillies fans should know it well. Curt Schilling started twice in the 1993 NLCS against the Braves, took a no-decision both times, and still was named the series' Most Valuable Player.

It's entirely possible that not even a Game 7 shutout would earn Sabathia an MVP award in this World Series, but that's fine. In fact, it would be more than fine with Sabathia if he doesn't throw another pitch until next spring.

"I want to get it done," he said Tuesday. "I don't want to give a team like [the Phillies] any momentum, any hope."

But if it comes down to Game 7?

"I'll be ready," he said.

Of course he will. And that's why as we approach Game 6, CC Sabathia is as big a figure as anyone who will actually play in the game Wednesday night.