For the first time since April 11, a span of 16 starts, the Yankees ace, CC Sabathia, will throw to the Yankees starting catcher, Russell Martin, in tonight's game against the Seattle Mariners.

"I knew I had to do it sooner or later,'' Joe Girardi said. "And I felt like tonight was the night to do it.''

The last time Sabathia threw to Martin, he allowed four runs in six innings in a no-decision against the Orioles at Camden yards. Since then, he has thrown exclusively to backup Chris Stewart, although Girardi has insisted that Stewart was not a personal catcher, a la A.J. Burnett and Jose Molina in 2009.

And with two months of regular season baseball left before the post-season begins, Girardi has wanted to reunite his battery well in advance of the playoffs.

In his two starts with Martin behind the plate, Sabathia was 0-0 with a 6.75 ERA, having allowed nine earned runs in 12 innings. In the subsequent 16 starts with Stewart, Sabathia is 10-3 with a 3.24 ERA (3.57 overall). Sabathia was quoted in today's editions of the New York Post as saying he was not concerned with who his catcher is. "I don't have an issue with who's catching me,'' he said. "It's all the same. Russell does a good job calling the game.''