ARLINGTON, Texas — CC Sabathia is ready. Just not too ready, he hopes.
    When Sabathia starts the AL championship series opener tonight against Texas, it will be his first outing in nine days. The New York Yankees ace went eight days between starts last time around and faced the oddity of being "a little too strong."
    That was in Game 1 of the division series, and Sabathia gave up five hits and walked three in six innings against Minnesota. He also gave up four runs, three earned, but the Yankees won anyway to get rolling toward a sweep — and, thus, the good news/bad news of a long wait between series.
    Sabathia took a different approach this time, throwing two bullpen sessions instead of one. He also threw on flat ground twice, plus a third stint Thursday at Rangers Ballpark.
    "The toughest thing is making sure that my mechanics stay good and I'm standing tall and throwing downhill," he said.
    Standing tall is what Sabathia does best, and it goes beyond his size.
    The left-hander was the MVP of last year's ALCS, giving up just two runs in 16 innings against the Los Angeles Angels. He is 4-1 in his postseason career with the Yankees.
    Then there's his success against the Texas Rangers.
    Sabathia is 8-3 with a 4.29 ERA in 14 career starts against them. He faced them only once this season and won, albeit back on April 16.
    The most intimidating stat is the .218 career average Texas' likely starters have against him. It would sink to .187 if Jorge Cantu (1 for 20) starts at first base.
    "CC has learned instead of being a thrower, how to pitch," said Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton, who is 1 for 10 against Sabathia. "You know what he's going to try to do. ... It's going to come down to me being patient and not trying to do too much."
    Texas is in the ALCS for the first time. The Rangers also are seeking their first home playoff victory; they're 0-6, including two losses this year. The other four losses came to Yankees teams featuring Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte in 1996, '98 and '99.
    A loud crowd is sure to turn out Friday night and fans will be going bonkers from the moment team owner/icon Nolan Ryan walks to the mound to throw out the first pitch.
    The atmosphere will make it even more important for Sabathia's mechanics to be in synch from the start.
    The Yankees won more games than the Rangers this season, but New York got in as a wild card while Texas won the AL West.
    "I think it is important, in any series, to get off to a good start and try to jump on a team early," Sabathia said. "I don't think they are just happy to be here. I think they believe in themselves and that they are a good team and can play with anybody. We need to come out and play well and play good defense and be good pitching and just play the way we have been playing all year."
    New York also needs to be wary of the aggressive baserunning the Rangers showed in closing out the Tampa Bay Rays in the division series.
    "Hopefully," Sabathia said, "I can just keep those guys off the bases and be able to concentrate on the middle of that lineup."
    Texas had to use its ace, Cliff Lee, in the finale against the Rays, so he won't be available until Game 3. Considering Lee's dominance against the Yankees and in the postseason, that adds to the burden for New York to make the most of pitching Sabathia in the opener.

"We have to win games when CC is on the mound. Period," Posada said.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Sabathia's only other start in this series will be Game 5. He ruled out the option of using his ace in Games 4 and 7 on short rest.

"We just think it's too difficult," Girardi said. "This is a guy that we have, for a long time, and I'm not so sure that if we did that, we would be able to do it with the other guys. And I think asking him to do that, you may not get the distance out of him that you would get in the two games, and you don't know if he'll be as sharp."

At least the Rangers have some inside information on Sabathia.

He and Lee were teammates for several seasons in Cleveland and remain close friends. Their wives are pals, too.

So, Cliff, whaddya know?

"He's an animal," Lee said. "He's a monster out there."

On second thought, maybe the Rangers don't want to hear Lee's opinion.