Shoppach's hit denies us debate for the ages

This is what kind of day it was Saturday at Tropicana Field. The most talked-about move of the day was one New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi never had to make. And for that, he has Kelly Shoppach to thank.

We'll explain.

Girardi said he really would have removed CC Sabathia three outs away from a no-hitter against the Rays. Yes, that's exactly what he said he would have done. But that was after Shoppach, catcher for your Tampa Bay Rays, got a solid single to left on the 111th pitch Sabathia threw.

That ended the no-hitter with two outs in the eighth and allowed Girardi the luxury of a massive exhale, since he didn't have to play the bad-guy spoilsport.

"Shoppach was his last hitter no matter what," Girardi said following the Yankees' 10-0 win, a stat that kind of got lost in all the chatter of Sabathia's overwhelming excellence.

"Big picture," Girardi said. "Month of October. You have to think ahead."

He says that now. He even told Sabathia - after the fact - of his intention to stand in the way of history if need be and the big pitcher "seemed fine with it."

Sabathia grinned and said, "It would have been a good discussion."

"It makes it easy now," Sabathia said. "We would have been fighting up there on the mound."

Imagine the second guesses. Imagine the back pages of the New York tabloids. Imagine telling 290-pound CC Sabathia he can't finish his no-hit bid. I mean, Girardi's not a large man.

"That's why I'm not a manager and never will be," Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said.

We should introduce Shoppach at this point, who caught many of Sabathia's starts when both played for Cleveland.

Shoppach isn't buying the notion that Sabathia was done if he hadn't hit a two-seam fastball for a no-doubt knock. But it's true, he was told. That's exactly what Girardi had said.

"That's not true," he said, laughing. "You know what? They would have had to drag (Sabathia) off the mound, and he's a big man. It might have taken a couple of them."

My goodness, Sabathia was good. He moved the ball up, in, down and on the corner. He changed speeds, hit spots. Hitters didn't know if they were about to corkscrew into the ground on a changeup, or futilely chase 95-mph gas. Only two walks kept him out of the running for a perfect game.

Given ample reason to gloat, Yankees fans turned Tropicana Field into Bronx South most of the afternoon. They accounted for seemingly half the gathering of 29,892 and, as the game wore on, they got louder.

"It felt like we were at home," Sabathia said.

When it was suggested to Girardi that he could have expected boos when he returned to Yankee Stadium, he laughed and said, "I think I would have gotten booed here, too."

The smart play unquestionably is the one Girardi said he would have made, although smarts can get lost in the emotion of the moment. Not this time.

"We have to protect him. We had a number (of pitches) in mind and we weren't going to let him go beyond that," Yankees pitching coach and former Rays pitcher Dave Eiland said. "CC would have fussed but he would have understood. Anyone with any baseball sense would have."

All these things are true.

Sabathia is too valuable to the Yankees and - no-hitter or not - it still counts as just one win. And Girardi never had to give Sabathia that ol' big-picture speech.

It was all thanks to Kelly Shoppach.

"That's as good as I've seen him," Shoppach said as he headed for the Rays' clubhouse door. "Hopefully he's not out here waiting for me."