CC Gettin' His Groove On

CC Sabathia threw a 28 pitch simulated game yesterday, pitching to Kevin Cash and Hideki Matsui, neither of whom made the road trip to Kissimmee.

Anthony DiComo of mlb.com has a recap:

And aside from what would have been a ground-ball single up the middle for Matsui, Sabathia appeared in command, mixing in a curveball and cutter with his fastball and changeup.

"It was my first time throwing to guys without a cage or a screen up," Sabathia said. "It just felt good."

To that end, Sabathia will be on three days' rest for his Friday start -- a typical occurrence at this point in Spring Training, when pitch counts remain low.

"I didn't do a good job of that last year," Sabathia said of his spring scheduling, which may have been a factor in his 7.76 ERA in April. "I kind of took too much rest. I think I need to throw more to be ready for the season, and I'm going to get that accomplished this spring."

Of most interest to Sabathia during the session was his command of the cutter, a pitch that he generally doesn't gain a feel for until later in the spring.

"It usually takes a while for it to get right," Sabathia said, "and I'll just keep working at it and hopefully be ready for the season."