Sabathia Tosses Four-Hit Shutout; Raul Ibanez Drives in Six as Phillies Hammer Braves

Players of the Day for Sunday, July 10, 2011

American League

C.C. Sabathia

Despite his sparkling 13-4 record and 2.72 ERA, C.C. Sabathia won't be going to the All-Star Game. He was not voted in by the fans and not picked as a substitute, though he was offered a position - ironically, to replace the man he beat on Sunday, 1-0, James Shields.

Sabathia will instead be taking his family to the Bahamas for a few days, which was his plan all along.

The two hurlers - Sabathia and Shields - locked into a scoreless duel from the start until throwing errors - one by outfielder B.J. Upton and the other by Shields himself - allowed Robinson Cano to score the game's only run in the bottom of the 7th inning.

Sabathia took advantage of the lonely run and shut the Rays down in order in the 8th and 9th innings, completing the four-hit shutout, the 16th of his career. Walking only one batter, Sabathia struck out nine and was in complete control throughout.

The win kept the Yankees within a game of the red hot Red Sox, who have won six straight, and dropped Tampa Bay six games off the pace in the AL East.

Have a nice time in the Bahamas, C.C. See you after the break.

National League

Raul Ibanez

After splitting the first two games of their NL East showdown series, the rubber game between the Braves and Philadelphia was all Phillies, all the time, as Raul Ibanez led a 20-hit attack in Philly's 14-1 slaughter of second place Atlanta.

Ibanez went 2-for-5, smashing his 8th home run to cap a six-RBI game. The three-run blast came after he was credited with an RBI in the 3rd inning on Dan Uggla's throwing error and had sinlged home two runs and scored in the Phillies' 6-run 7th.

For Ibanez, his big day was just part of a rebirth of sorts, having been moved to 5th in the batting order - behind Ryan Howard - after the Phillies let go of Jayson Werth in the off-season. With 47 RBI thus far, Ibanez is on track for one of his best seasons in years and the Phillies are happy to have his bat in the lineup on a regular basis.

As all major league teams break for the All Star Game, Philadelphia holds a 3 1/2 game lead over Atlanta in the division.