Bay Area Baseball

In perhaps the finest single player performance in a team sport since Vince Young carried Texas to the National Championship, Milwaukee’s CC Sabathia put the Brewers on his back and carried them to the playoffs, one pitch at a time. Photo: Getty Images

In a weekend where so much was decided, from the National League East champion to the Wild Card, a trio of aces took center stage with a series of remarkable performances. On Saturday, with his Mets facing possible elimination, free agent signing Johan Santana showed why he was for years considered one of the best in the game by throwing a complete game shutout on three days rest. Although the Mets would fall Sunday spoiling Santana’s efforts, Johan moved into first in the NL in ERA and entered the Cy Young race as a possible dark horse whose September heroics pulled him within site of two of the favorites who would respond in kind on Sunday.

CC Sabathia in perhaps one of the most memorable two week spans in baseball history took the ball consecutive starts on three days rest and put together performances that become things of legend. His complete game on the last day of the season sealed the Wild Card for the Brewers with the New York’s loss. His is a story of the hired gun who switched leagues and ran over the competition. Similar to Randy Johnson who went 10-1 in 1998 with Houston, Sabathia pitched his new team into the playoffs with gutsy power from the left side.

The last ace to take the hill Sunday was not pitching in a playoff race, but his personal quest for the Cy Young has been a building ride over the past couple of months. After perhaps vaulting into the lead behind back to back complete games, Tim Lincecum came into Sunday after his worst loss of the season where he allowed 6 earned runs. Lincecum knew following the performances of Sabathia and Santana that he would have to make a statement against the hated Dodgers. He was more than up to the task, striking out the first nine outs of the game in the most dominant (strikeout-wise) three inning stretch since Sid Fernandez in 1986, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

While the Cy Young Award race will take a back seat to the playoffs for now, the efforts of these three men this final weekend will without a doubt have a profound impact on the outcome.