How many pitches are too many?

The subject of CC Sabathia's pitch count has become a hot topic in the wake of his 130 pitch effort Monday night against the Houston Astros. Sabathia went to the mound in the ninth inning with a 9-2 lead and 111 pitches on the night. Manager Ned Yost defended his decision to keep Sabathia in the game by saying he hadn't had any high-pitch count innings.

Critics claim that because Sabathia is expected to be pitching elsewhere next season, the Brewers are determined to get as much out of him as they can while they have him. That's a notion Yost strongly disputed Tuesday.

What's undeniable is that Sabathia is throwing more pitches as a Brewer than he ever did as a Cleveland Indian. In his nine starts with Milwaukee, Sabathia has averaged 113 pitches. Monday's 130 pitches are the most he's ever thrown in one game and he has topped 120 pitches three times. He threw more than 120 pitches twice with Cleveland earlier this year, averaging 108 pitches with the Indians. The five games with more than 120 pitches are the most of his eight-year career. He threw 120 or more pitches three times in 2003. His previous high pitch count for a game was 128 in 2004.

In his first seven big league seasons, the highest average pitch count for Sabathia was 105 in 2007, 2006 and 2003.

So far this season Sabathia has thrown a total of 2,935 pitches. The most he's thrown in one season was 3,582 last year. The concern is that after throwing that many pitches in the regular season, he faltered in the post-season when he lost two of three starts and had an 8.80 earned run average.