Schadenfreude 69 (A Continuing Series)

Anthony McCarron, Daily News:

The Yankees insist CC Sabathia is healthy, but the heating pad, a dip in velocity and his awful results on Opening Day are causing some knowledgeable baseball observers to wonder what was happening when the lefty got rocked by the Orioles.

"When I'm watching him pitch and see the heat pad and then see him throwing 88-89 (miles per hour), it's almost like he's protecting something and pitching at 70%," said ex-catcher John Flaherty, who played in the majors for 14 seasons and is now a YES Network analyst. ...

Television cameras showed him in the dugout with a heating pad on his side while the Yankees were hitting, but he insisted he was using it only to keep warm. ...

Both Flaherty and Jim Kaat, who pitched in the majors for 25 seasons, said they thought it was unusual for a pitcher to use a heating pad on his side during a start. Flaherty said he'd seen pitchers use them on their arm or elbow, "but never on their midsection."

Larry McShane, Daily News:

He had the right to remain silent, and should have used it.

Yankees righthander Joba Chamberlain instead ripped New Yorkers as rude and city drivers as cutthroat after his drunken-driving arrest - before taking a boozy shot at pinstriped icon Yogi Berra. ...

The hard-throwing hurler tried to play the Pinstripe Card once stopped. "Obviously," he said, "I play for the Yankees."