CC OPENS UP

Crafty as he was as a pitcher, CC Sabathia’s composure was never confused with calm, purely cerebral detachment. There is no shortage of screams and snarls with Sabathia.

The Tampa Bay Rays know this of Sabathia all too well after their pitchers controlled the inside a little too close for his tastes. Like every passionate baseball man before him and since, Sabathia responded in the emotional register baseball men understand — unbridled anger — by drilling Jesus

Sucre, the catcher calling all those inside shots. Freshly ejected by the umpire, Sabathia strolled into the Yankees clubhouse — but not before grilling the Rays dugout, grabbing his nuts and shouting: “That’s for you, b---h!”

But, as exuberant as Sabathia’s demeanor was on the field (and as gregarious and welcoming he was in the locker room) his inner life was equally guarded. The 40-yearold admits he evaded the people in his life that could help address his pain by abusing alcohol, an addiction that put his marriage in crisis and career in peril.

“When we grow up in the hood, people were always telling us: ‘Don’t cry’ and ‘Don’t be a punk.’ and ‘You can’t show no emotions,’ things like that,” Sabathia told the Daily News. “So then, you end up suppressing everything. And then, you never deal with anything.”

“And then, you get to be an adult and you break down.”

But, Sabathia, in retirement, is dealing with everything by publicizing the breakdown. It’s the latest step on a path he started in the fall of 2015 when he pulled himself off the Yankees and into rehab for an addiction he could no longer manage on his own. Through his documentary film, “Under The Grapefruit Tree: The CC Sabathia Story,” Sabathia shows the competitive fire and accomplishments most of his fans know well. But the film, which premieres Dec. 22 on HBO and HBO Max makes clear that it wasn’t the full picture.