Davidoff: Sabathia nails it down again for Yankees

TORONTO

They jogged onto the field and toward each other, calmly exchanging high fives - a sign of a group that has been here before. And the perfect compliment to their cool savior on the pitcher's mound.

The Yankees are back in the playoffs, their crisis officially over. They defeated the Blue Jays, 6-1, at Rogers Centre last night, to clinch their 15th postseason berth in 16 years.

They leaped the final hurdle, not surprisingly, with their biggest player living up to his size and his reputation. Taking on the responsibility, once more, of the trust the Yankees put in him prior to the 2009 season.

"Ace," Joe Girardi said of CC Sabathia in the wet clubhouse. "A guy who stops losing streaks. Wins games. Gives you innings. Gives the bullpen a night off. I mean, it's tremendous."

"All you've got to do is win one game," Sabathia said, smiling. "You get a little pressure on you, but it feels good to get it done."

Actress Gloria Stuart, who just died Monday, uttered a memorable line in "Titanic" about Leonardo DiCaprio's character: "He saved me . . . in every way that a person can be saved."

The Yankees could say the same of Sabathia. He agreed to join them for seven years and $161 million in December 2008. Two years in, the Yankees must consider him a bargain.

He saved their clubhouse, willing it away from a dualistic existence of being either pro-Derek Jeter or pro-Alex Rodriguez and pushing it toward a place of universal tolerance and acceptance.

He has saved the pitching staff. Sabathia has now thrown 504 innings in a Yankees uniform, counting regular season and postseason. No other major-league pitcher has thrown as many innings since the start of the 2009 campaign.

And last night, he saved New York from falling into a tizzy. Coming off a terrible start against Tampa Bay on Sept. 23, Sabathia allowed a run and three hits in 81/3 innings, walking two and striking out eight, to end the agita. The great Mariano Rivera wrapped it up, and within minutes, the Yankees were wearing hats with the interlocking NY and "Playoffs 2010."

"This is huge," Mark Teixeira said. "You never know. You never know what could happen. CC went out there and shut the door. He was dominant today. It was exactly what we needed."

Sabathia's next start will come Oct. 6, in Game 1 of the American League Division Series, Girardi confirmed. The Yankees, saying they'd still like to win the AL East, will clearly ease their foot off the gas pedal. Girardi spoke of resting veterans such as Jeter, Rodriguez and Teixeira, and likely Game 2 starter Andy Pettitte will not start Wednesday night, after all.

You might not favor the Yankees to defend their World Series title, but you'd be a fool to discount them. For all of their recent woes, they'll field the full lineup that produced the major-league leader in runs scored. They'll have a rested bullpen whose biggest question mark is their closer, but who has earned a greater benefit of the doubt than Rivera?

And while Pettitte, Phil Hughes and A.J. Burnett each bring some clouds above them into October, Sabathia carries as few questions as any starting pitcher in baseball. He can start Game 1 and Game 4, on three days' rest. He can start two games each in the subsequent two rounds.

More often than not, he can cure the Yankees of what ails them. He can keep earning his keep, and further cement his place in Yankees history.