Without sounding too sacrilegious, I don’t really want to talk about Derek Jeter. His Lou Gehrig-tying hit — a groundball single down the right field line — stole the spotlight from a great game, and while Derek deserves his accolades, we’ll save those for tomorrow. Instead, let’s talk about Joba, the bullpen and Jorge.
Wednesday’s game against Tampa Bay carried with it a narrative of redemption for Joba. As we all know, Chamberlain, working through short starts brought about by his innings limit, has been awful of late. Prior to tonight, Joba had thrown 26 innings over six starts and had an ERA of 7.96. While he had 20 strike outs in that span, he also issued 17 walks and allowed 37 hits. Opponents were hitting an Albert Pujols-like .330/.423/.500 off of the youngster.
As Jason Barlett’s home run sailed over the left field wall to start the game, I groaned. Here we go again with Joba. He was throwing poorly-placed pitches with low 90s velocity and no approach. How, I wondered, would he be used in the bullpen in the playoffs if he was going to allow three hits, a walk and two runs on 32 pitches in one inning? Even John Flaherty, one of the few remaining vocal B-Jobbers, questioned the lack of velocity from Chamberlain.
Five batters through the game, the Yankees were in danger of facing a blowout. After Bartlett’s home run, Carl Crawford singled, and Evan Longoria swung through a terrible pitch for a gift out. Crawford stole third, Ben Zobrist walked, and a Pat Burrell single put the Rays up 2-0 with runners on first and second and one out.
Then, something happened. Derek Jeter calmly walked to the mound, and in a rare moment of emotion on the field, he got in Joba’s face. After the game, Joba danced around the issue, saying only that Derek told him to “slow it down” and throw strikes. More telling, though, was Joba’s comment that Derek rarely gets in anyone’s face. He leads by example and not by anger. Tonight, though, Derek had seen enough and whatever he said produced results.
Joba reared back and finished off very strong. He struck out Chris Richard and Gabe Gross to escape the first. He needed just 14 pitches to mow through the Rays in the 2nd and nine in the 3rd. Five ground-outs and one fly-out later, Joba’s night was over due to his pitch count. By the end of his start, he was sitting at 95 with his fastball and had a rhythm and urgency on the mound we’ve rarely seen this year. It was progress indeed.
With Joba out of the game, the Yankees needed to get six innings of work from the bullpen while facing a stingy and dominant Jeff Niemann. Using a sinking fastball and solid breaking pitches, Niemann carved up the Yankee offense. Through seven innings, he had allowed no runs on seven hits and eight strike outs. He pitched out of jams a few times, and the Yanks were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position against Niemann.
As Niemann went to work, so did the Yankee pen. Al Aceves threw three hitless innings, striking out three and issuing one walk. Jonathan Albaladejo threw two hitless innings, and in the 8th, the Yankees got their chance.
With a bad bullpen, Niemann came out for the 8th and gave up a hit to Alex Rodriguez. Joe Maddon then brought in a right-handed pitcher to face Hideki Matsui, and the Yanks’ DH singled. With runners on first and third and no on out, Nick Swisher hit a potential double play to Chris Richard at first, but Richard threw the ball into left field. 2-1 Tampa, runners on the corners, no one out. Robinson Cano struck out, and up came Jorge Posada.
Jorge worked the count full and then wailed on a 94-mph four-seamer. The ball soared into the right field stands, and the Comeback Kids had struck again. Down to their final five outs, the Yankees had taken a 4-2 lead. The bullpen – Brian Bruney and Phil Coke — would throw another hitless inning, and the sweep was in the bag.
This night will be long remembered as the evening Derek Jeter tied Lou Gehrig’s franchise hit record. It is one of the first historic moments in the new Yankee Stadium. Yet, we shouldn’t overlook the game. The Yankees held Tampa hitless for 8.2 innings, and they moved 41 games over .500. The Magic Number is 14; Joba showed some signs of life; and the Yankees continued to roll through the American League.
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