C.C. Sabathia wore number 42 Sunday, as did more than 150 other players to honor of the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Sabathia’s show of reverence for the man who broke the color barrier did not go unnoticed by the Sox, who decided to give the Cleveland pitcher a Jackie Robinson Day gift, letting Sabathia get a win despite having his team only muster one hit.
“There weren’t a lot of starting pitchers wearing 42 today,” said first base coach Razor Shines. “We were all pulling for C.C., and I know I speak for the team when I say I’m glad he got the ‘W’.”
The Indians only recorded one hit, when Grady Sizemore, another player wearing 42, hit a double to leadoff the bottom of the first inning. Despite Cleveland’s cold bats, the Sox were able to allow Sabathia two runs of support, thanks in large part to three defensive errors and five walks by Sox starter Jose Contreras.
Sunday’s game continued the Sox weekend of giving. The team refused to score on Saturday afternoon, despite recording 10 hits, allowing Paul Bryd to get his first win of the season.
“Byrd pitched a no hitter for nearly five innings last week, before snow cancelled the game,” said all-around good guy Jim Thome. “I called a team meeting before Saturday’s game to let everyone know it would be real nice if we could try to not cross the plate today. It was difficult, but we managed to leave 11 guys on base.”
The team had originally planned to let the no-luck Indians–the orphans on MLB who had to play home games in Milwaukee–sweep the series. Unfortunately, someone forgot to let Juan Uribe in on the plan before Friday’s game. The Sox shortstop homered in the series opener while the Indians lost 6-4.
“We wanted to [expletive deleted] Cleveland sweep their first [expletive deleted] series at home, but Juan [expletive deleted] Uribe goes out and get four [expletive deleted] RBI Friday,” said manager Ozzie Guillen. “I told him if he pulls some [expletive deleted] like that again, I’ll get him put on death row in the [expletive deleted] Dominican Republic.”
