For the last two years, the Yankees have been very forthcoming about their plans for Joba Chamberlain. He started 2008 in the bullpen and knew that he would be transitioning mid-season into the starting rotation. He pitched every five days as a starter until an early-August shoulder injury shelved him for a month.
This year, Joba has been a starter from start to finish. Outside of one stretch in mid-August when the Yanks gave him a few extra days off, Joba Chamberlain has taken the ball every five days. Lately, he’s done so on an abbreviated pitch count, but since August, he hasn’t been sharp. While his velocity is where it should — mid-90s for his fastball is fine — his command and approach just haven’t been there.
Coming off of a drubbing of the Mariners on Saturday night, Joba delivered a clunker. He threw 69 pitches in three innings and wasn’t fooling anyone. His final line — 3 IP, 6 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 2 K — was ugly, and six of the nine outs he recorded were loud ones. If the Yanks stick with their plan, Joba will face the Red Sox at the stadium on Saturday.
Meanwhile, some Yankee fans were a-panic today as the Sox gained another game. Joba hasn’t been good in a while and would get the ball in Game 4 of the ALCS if the Yanks make it that far. With their win over the hapless Orioles earlier in the day, the Red Sox find themselves five games, four on the loss side, behind the Yankees. But as YankeeJosh said on Twitter earlier, “If NYY go 7-6 including today, and 1 of those wins is vs Boston, Sox would need to win every other game just to catch Yanks.” Now, the Bombers have to go 7-5 over their last 12 games, but considering that this team is 40 games over .500, it’s not a tall order.
In the end, this was a game of offensive futility. After Derek Jeter’s lead-off single, the Yanks recorded no hits until the 6th. After Ken Griffey’s three-run home run, the Mariners recorded one hit for the rest of the game. Joba’s pitches were over the plate, and the Mariners capitalized.
We have to tip our caps to Sergio Mitre. After being demoted from the starting rotation to the bullpen, Mitre went five one-hit innings. Granted, it was already 7-1, and the Mariners aren’t a good offensive team. Nonetheless, he saved the pen for an important three-game set against the Angels.
After the game, the Yankee veterans were going to haze the rookies by making them dress up as characters from Batman. We’ll post the pictures if and when we can a hold of them. Despite losing today, the team is having fun. They have a five-game lead with two weeks left before the playoffs. They’re on the way to Anaheim as Andy Pettitte looks to return from a fatigued shoulder, and the season rolls on.
Since we don’t want to dwell too much on yet another bad Joba start, feel free to use this as your open thread for the evening. I hear there’s some big football game going down in Dallas tonight. Any bets on when Jeff Feagles’ first punt hits the Cowboys’ giant scoreboard?