Sabathia, Price to stage rematch of pitching duel

David Price is 6-6 and 225 pounds and has thin legs and a thin waist. He’s a 25-year-old lefthanded pitcher, a Cy Young candidate and the ace of his team, the Tampa Bay Rays.

CC Sabathia is 6-7 and 290 pounds. He has a thick body but is an exceptional athlete. He’s a 30-year-old lefthanded pitcher, a Cy Young candidate and the ace of his team, the Yankees.

Price and Sabathia, who will start against each other tonight at Yankee Stadium, staged one of the best pitching duels of the season the last time they faced off. It was Sept. 13 at Tropicana Field, and each pitched eight shutout innings in a game the Rays won in 11, 1-0.

As exciting and tense and taut as that game was, that’s how relaxed and unflappable Price and Sabathia are. Neither would admit to any extra oomph going into tonight’s game. Perspective is something they apparently share as well.

“It’s a good pitching matchup,” Price said. “It’s fun. They have a tough lineup and I said last week I don’t have to face CC. I don’t really do too much worrying about him. I’ve got one through nine that can do a whole lot of damage. That’s what I’m focusing on.” Sabathia, as though reading from the same manual, said: “I’m not facing him, I’m facing their lineup. I look to try to go out and put up zeros and try to get us a win. Every game is important right now, especially against these guys. So hopefully I can pitch well and try to do what I did last time out.”

Sabathia (20-6, 3.05 ERA) won his 20th game his last time out in Baltimore. It was the time before that in St. Petersburg, Fla., when he held the Rays to two hits and struck out nine in eight innings.

Price (17-6, 2.79) gave up three hits and stuck out four on Sept. 13. He is ultra-respectful of the Yankees, saying, “What do they have? Seven Hall of Famers in there?” when asked about their lineup. But he’s also ultra-confident.

“That’s the way I expect to throw every time out,” Price said. “That’s the stuff I expect to have, that’s the command I expect to have, that’s the fastball velocity I expect to have and that’s the breaking stuff I expect to have.”

If he does, it could be a long night for the Yankees, no matter how many Hall of Famers they actually have in their lineup. (Quick tally: Jeter, certainly, and A-Rod, yes, if you’re concerning yourself only with statistics and not morality. Posada, Teixeira, Cano, possibly one day. So potentially five hitters who could be Hall of Famers, not seven.)

Price and Sabathia share one more thing: each other’s phone number. Sabathia said he first met Price in the outfield of one of their home ballparks a few years ago and the two exchanged digits.

“We text a couple of times a year,” Sabathia said. “Whenever we can talk, we talk. He’s a good kid and I’m just happy for him he’s doing so well.”