Sabathia, A-Rod Get Well vs. Mets

NEW YORK – CC Sabathia is just fine. Perfectly healthy.

So healthy he could hit fifth for the Mets.

After a week of consternation in the Yankees universe over Sabathia's pricey left arm – he came out of his last start, Sunday at Florida, with a sore biceps – he proved there was nothing to worry about. Sabathia was perfect in six of his seven innings as the Yankees throttled the Mets 9-1.

Before the game, Yankees manager Joe Girardi wasn't sure if Sabathia was OK, keeping his fingers crossed his $161 million ace would make it through the pregame session.

"I'm hoping that the phone doesn't ring down from the bullpen to the dugout," Girardi said. "That would be somewhat alarming if that happens. I feel if he gets through his warm-up, he'll probably be OK. But I'll still watch very carefully the first couple of innings."

Instead, Sabathia was throwing his fastball 95-96 mph in the first couple of innings, and that was that.

Girardi could exhale.

"My thought is," Girardi said later, "if he's having a problem, he's not going to get to 95 so quickly and be down in the [strike] zone and commanding the baseball."

The depleted Mets lineup had no shot, and Sabathia (7-4) struck out eight and added an RBI single of his own to rub it in.

"I actually almost felt too good at the beginning," he said, "cutting some balls and letting the ball fly a little too much."

Gary Sheffield broke up the perfect game with a homer leading off the fourth, and Sabathia said he didn't realize he had a no-hitter going because he was so focused on maintaining his delivery after having thrown just 28 pitches the previous nine days.

Sabathia dodged more trouble in that inning before returning to dominance. Down 4-0, the Mets had two on with one out before Sabathia whiffed Omir Santos and pinch hitter Argenis Reyes. Mets manager Jerry Manuel used the switch-hitting Reyes, just called up Wednesday, instead of the veteran lefties on his bench because "as dominant as he [Sabathia] was at that time, that was my best shot."

While Sabathia acted unconcerned all week, there was no way the Yankees or their fans could relax until Sabathia showed he was fine.

"I felt pain before in the biceps, just never in a game," Sabathia said. "I knew it was just something that would pass. I felt good it was in the biceps and not the shoulder or the elbow."

In fact, Sabathia – who has thrown 40 more innings than any pitcher in baseball since the start of the 2007 season – called it a "blessing in disguise" that he saved some bullets by coming out of the Florida game early.

Also healthy, it seems: Alex Rodriguez, who homered the other way into the Mets' bullpen beyond right-center.

The Yankees' renewed commitment to giving Rodriguez rest as he recovers from hip surgery meant keeping A-Rod – who has a tendency to overwork himself – out of batting practice the last two days, limiting his pregame work to 15 minutes in an indoor batting cage.

"The more you do that," hitting coach Kevin Long said, "the more life we hope there is in his body."

It's there. Rodriguez has homered in two straight games (catching and passing Reggie Jackson for 11th all-time with 564 for his career). Just as important, A-Rod was nimble in the field and was able to motor from first to third on Robinson Cano's seventh-inning hit.

Seeing that, Girardi said, "You know that he's fresh and that his legs feel good and his hips not bothering him."

Now the guy who has to get healthy for the Yankees is Derek Jeter. He turned 35 Friday but had to be scratched from the lineup with a "substantial cough," as Girardi put it.

Jeter is questionable for Saturday night's game, but no matter. Rookie Ramiro Peña played shortstop Friday and went 3-for-5 with two doubles.

Of all the fabled Yankees names Jeter has been associated with, this was the first time he could be compared to Wally Pipp.