River Avenue Blues

Yanks lose a clunker as Joba struggles

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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?

Game 150: Joba looking for more improvement

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Did Joba really have a hitch in his delivery? I thought it was a psychological tactic, but there’s a chance the young rookie might have been out of sync. We’ll find out today as he faces the Seattle Mariners. It should be a five-inning affair for Joba, who has three starts remaining including today. The hope is to get him up to six innings in his next two.

Here’s the thing with addressing a mechanical flaw — whether real or invented — with the media: it’s your last excuse. If Joba falters today, there’s no explaining it away. They “discovered” the mechanical flaw, so it follows that the correction should be forthcoming. Considering how well he pitched against the Angels, it would be a disappointment to see Joba surrender any more than two runs over his five innings.

The Mariners will start Ian Snell, whom they acquired from the Pirates earlier this season. The Yankees pounded Snell in his third start after coming to the big boys’ league, prompting this gem: “That lineup is just stupid. They shouldn’t be allowed to have a lineup like that.” Awesome. Snell allowed eight runs over six innings that game.

He has pitched very well since, going 33 innings over six starts. His ERA in that span is a respectable 3.27, and he has allowed more than two earned runs only once. That was to the Angels, easily the best team he faced in those six starts. The breakdown: Detroit, Oakland twice, Kansas City, L.A., and Chicago. So he wasn’t exactly facing any stupid lineups, and his worst start came against by far the best team.

Lineup:

1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Johnny Damon, LF
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Hideki Matsu, DH
6. Jorge Posada, C
7. Robinson Cano, 2B
8. Melky Cabrera, RF
9. Brett Gardner, CF

And on the mound, number sixty-two, Joba Chamberlain.

Open Thread: Jets vs Pats

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The Yankees don’t start for another few hours because they’re on the left coast, so feel free to kill some time and chat about the Jets-Patriots game. for that matter, talk about anything you want to talk about, just be nice. We’ll be back with the regular game thread later.

Yanks face age discrimination suit

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This little tidbit of news didn’t garner much attention on Friday afternoon, but the Yankees have been sued for age discrimination. A group of 13 waiters, aged 66 to 80, have claimed that the Yanks fired them when they closed the old Yankee Stadium and hired younger — and cheaper — workers instead. Supposedly, a Yankee official said to one of the waiters when firing them, “What could someone 73 years old offer the Yankees?” The waiters are asking for $3 million, and the team is, of course, denying the allegations.

Yanks blow out Seattle 10-1

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Because it’s 2:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning and the Yanks won a September game against the Mariners, here is the season’s shortest recap:

  • Mark Teixeira is good at hitting.
  • Hideki Matsui is making it really hard for the Yanks not to resign him.
  • CC Sabathia is good at pitching.
  • I’d put money on the Yanks facing the Twins and not the Tigers in the ALDS.

The worst part of this game was CC’s taking a liner off his chest. I was at a bar with the game on tonight, and half of the crowd there went dead silent until it was clear that the Yanks’ ace was okay. Other than that, this was a breeze of a win, and the Yanks’ Magic Number is now Graig Nettles. I’m sure these guys are going to champion Roger Maris, but tough for them.

We’ll be back in the morning with a post or two before tomorrow’s 4 p.m. Joba-mania affair.