CC Sabathia makes first pitches in recovery

It's spring training all over again for CC Sabathia.

The injured lefthander, rehabbing from a stem-cell injection in his knee last month, started the process of making it back to the Yankees by throwing off a mound for the first time Monday.

After throwing 25 fastballs and changeups, Sabathia will work out again this afternoon, upping the ante by throwing his complete repertoire of pitches.

"When you're a starter and you haven't thrown a lot, we have to somewhat rebuild you up," manager Joe Girardi said.

He said Sabathia's rehab will be "fairly similar" to a typical pitcher's spring workload, which puts him potentially on track to return in six to seven weeks, barring any setbacks.

Sabathia is hoping that's not the case.

"Obviously, I have to be conscious of not wanting to hurt my arm but we'll see," Sabathia said. "I feel good and hopefully, we can skip some steps."

Wasting no time

When the Yankees face lefthander Mark Buehrle Wednesday night, they better not blink when they're in the batter's box, lest they miss the next pitch.

According to MLB's PITCHf/x tool, the Blue Jays pitcher takes only 17 seconds between pitches, quickest in the league.

That's no surprise. Entering this season, Buehrle has led the league in that category six out of the seven years they've been keeping that stat. (Last year, he was second behind teammate R.A. Dickey.)

"He works extremely fast and probably doesn't give the hitters a lot of time to think about what he's trying to do to them," Girardi said.

And it's especially working for him this season. Buerhle is 10-3 with a 2.28 ERA.

Cervelli returns

Francisco Cervelli, activated Tuesday said he played three of his minor-league rehab games at first base. He also is taking grounders daily at third base.

"A little bit of everything," Cervelli said. "If they need me to pitch, I'll pitch."

John Ryan Murphy was sent down to Triple-A Scranton to clear a roster spot.