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Sabathia takes aim at 10th win in clash with Rockies

Jun 25, 2011 - 2:47 PM (Sports Network) - CC Sabathia will try to become the first 10-game winner in the majors when he takes the hill for the New York Yankees in the second contest of a three-game set against the Colorado Rockies at Yankee Stadium.

A few players have had a chance at 10 wins this season, but thus far they have all failed, and now it will be Sabathia's turn along with three other hurlers today. The lefty has won six of his last seven starts, but the veteran hurler has struggled over his past three outings.

Even though the strong hurler is 2-1 in those starts, he has allowed 14 runs on 24 hits in 20 2/3 innings. The last time Sabathia was on the hill he allowed four runs against the Cubs, but thanks to 10 runs scored by the offense, he landed in the win column.

Surprisingly the lefty has been a tad inconsistent in the Bronx, posting a 3-2 mark with a 4.20 earned run average in eight home starts.

Not many teams have gotten the better of Sabathia, but the Rockies are one of them. In five starts against Colorado, the southpaw is just 1-1 with a horrendous 7.84 earned run average.

The Rockies will counter with Aaron Cook, who will be making his fourth start on the season. The right-hander is 0-2 in his previous three starts this year and is coming off a loss to the Tigers in which he allowed four runs on eight hits in six innings of work.

Cook has never faced the Yankees in his career.

Yesterday, Ubaldo Jimenez fanned seven batters over seven strong innings and ex-Yankee Jason Giambi went 3-for-4 with a homer, leading Colorado to a 4-2 victory over New York.

Giambi was perhaps sparked by the atmosphere of playing in New York.

"There's an incredible energy playing in this stadium," Giambi said of Yankee Stadium.

Jimenez (3-7) yielded four hits, walked four and gave up a pair of runs to win back-to-back starts for the first time this season.

"I was able to throw my breaking ball for a strike," Jimenez said. "You could see every time they got up to the plate they were swinging right away, they were looking for the fastball. I was able to throw the slider, the curve, the splitter, changeup, everything for a strike. That helped me a lot. It was like I was pitching backwards."

Troy Tulowitzki also went deep off A.J. Burnett, helping the Rockies to their seventh triumph in nine games.

Burnett (7-6) surrendered seven hits and four runs over 6 1/3 innings. He also walked five and fanned just as many, but lost for the third time in his last four starts.

"I was pretty inconsistent all night," Burnett admitted.

Alex Rodriguez knocked in both runs for the Yankees, who lost for just the third time in their last 10 games.

The Rockies were swept in their last visit to the old Yankee Stadium back in 2004, but returned the favor in 2007 when they took all three games from the Yanks at Coors Field.