The Final Verdict

Last night, Joba Chamberlain convinced me that he needs to go to the bullpen. Specifically, he needs to go to the bullpen before every start and throw twenty more warm-up pitches than he threw last night.

Where's the Heat?

On the surface, last night probably seemed much like the night before, as one of the Yankees young starters dominated the Tigers while their hitters backed them up with a bunch of runs scored in one big inning. For most, it seems like the only things to worry about were the troubles of the Yankee bullpen, particularly in the case of Mariano Rivera, who gave up a big home run for the second straight time. I, however, find myself more worried by Joba Chamberlain.

To be sure, this was a great start for Joba. He dominated the Tigers all night, only running into serious trouble in the third inning. Looking past the results, however, I see the same velocity problem that I've seen all season. Last night, Chamberlain's fastball was sitting in the 92-94mph range, breaking 95mph only a couple of times all night. While that certainly was enough to put the Tigers away, it's still a significant change from last season, where he would average 94-96mph and occasionally reach back and unleash that 99mph heater we all love.

So what's behind this velocity drop? My best guess is that Chamberlain is still building up arm strength. The numbers I referenced before were what he did as a starter, but by the time he made his first start last season he had already spent two months throwing in the bullpen. It's entirely possible that when June comes around this season we'll see his velocity return.

If not, however, that doesn't mean we should be calling for his return to the bullpen. As he showed last night, Joba can be a dominant starter without a triple-digit fastball, and as long as that's the case his place is in the Yankees rotation.

As for Mariano, as I've said before, it'll take a few more rough outings to get me to start worrying about him.

Translating

If you were reading, watching, or listening to the news, you might think that you learned new information about Joba Chamberlain's injury yesterday. You are, however, most likely mistaken about that. Don't feel bad, though, as there are many people who mistook the Yankees' announcement that Chamberlain has "rotator cuff tendinitis," for actual information, since it sounds like a real diagnosis. However, that "diagnosis" is based on the MRI Chamberlain had a couple of days ago, and there's no way to see tendinitis on an MRI. Thus, this diagnosis can't be anything but a guess. Granted, it's an educated guess made by two highly regarded physicians, but it's not terribly different from what was guessed when Chamberlain left Monday's game.

That said, there is a little bit of information to be deduced from this announcement. Even though the Yankees have been notoriously misleading when talking about injuries, it's reasonable to assume that the Yankees wouldn't make this announcement if doctors had seen anything on the MRI. That means that Chamberlain almost certainly doesn't have a full thickness tear in his rotator cuff, which is good news. He could still have a partial thickness tear, the aforementioned tendinitis, or something else entirely. Until he actually tests the injury by throwing a ball, there's no way to know what it is or when he'll be back with the Yankees.

Hear no Evil

You know, as long as I'm asking for favors from people who probably don't read this blog, here's another. I don't normally bother writing about players' personal lives (as shown by my non-existent coverage of A-Rod's divorce), because I generally don't care. However, this story in the New York Post about Joba Chamberlain dancing on the tables at MLB.com's 33 Club party concerned me.

Now, I can't begrudge Joba for having his fun. He's certainly earned it, and I don't think it's anyone's place to tell him what to do in his free time. However, I can't stop imagining him falling off a table and injuring himself. As I said, I don't think anyone has the right to ask Joba to stop dancing, but I would like to ask the New York Post, or anyone else, not to tell me about it. I think it's best for everyone.

Comebacks

Yesterday afternoon I made my way down to the stadium for the first time this season and was rewarded with a win that was filled with great signs from players who have been struggling. The first came from Robinson Cano, who entered the game as arguably the worst hitting regular in the American League. In retrospect, it's pretty obvious that his performance wasn't going to remain so terrible. Beyond the fact that he's just too talented a player for that to happen, his .165 BABIP is just too low to be anything but horrible luck. It's one thing, however, to know that he'll turn it around and another thing altogether to see it happen. He had two hard hits with the double and the home run, and the flyout he made in the third inning was hammered as well. He's now hitting .273/.304/.591 in May, and I think we can declare this slump officially over.

Also making a comeback is Wilson Betemit who hit a solo home run right after Cano's. He's now got two hits in as many games since coming back from the DL, and has looked solid at third base. It's a far cry from how he performed while struggling with corneal ulcers in April, and proof that sight is a valuable tool for a baseball player. Just in case anyone was wondering.

Then there were the rebound performances of Joba Chamberlain and Ross Ohlendorf. On Tuesday, Chamberlain revealed that he's some kind of strike throwing cyborg sent from the future by blowing the lead and picking up the loss. Yesterday he showed that, while he is human, he's a resilient one, striking out the man who hit the big home run against him, David Delucci, as he retired the top of the Indians lineup in order. Ohlendorf, meanwhile, continued to show that the beatings he took in the last half of April really were the product of overwork. He threw two efficient, scoreless innings, and as long as he doesn't have to continually throw three or more innings at a time, I think he'll be very dependable.

April is the Cruelest Month

The first month of the baseball season is over and the Yankees find themselves in third place with a losing record. While this is certainly an improvement over last season, I don't think it's what any of us expected. Baseball, however, is all about the unexpected and a lot of what has gone wrong for the Yankees are things that no one could have seen coming, let alone do anything about:

• A schedule which started by playing twenty games straight without an off day.


• Miserably cold and/or rainy conditions in the first thirteen of those games.


• A Papal visit to Yankee Stadium which created a schedule where the team would play a Major League record 18 road games in April, with only two days at home between 8 and 10 day trips.


• Injuries which caused Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Alex Rodriguez, three of the most valuable and durable players in the game, to miss significant time.


• Injuries to the backups for Jeter and Posada, with Jose Molina only able to catch sporadically as he worked through a hamstring strain and Wilson Betemit unable to play at all thanks to corneal ulcers.


• The freakish coincidence of A-Rod going pulling his quad the night before his wife gave birth. This kept him from getting an MRI, something which might have kept him from aggravating the injury.


• Pneumonia which hospitalized Joba Chamberlain's father and caused the pitcher to leave the team in order to be with his family.


• A torn Lisfranc ligament in Brian Bruney's foot which may cause him to miss the rest of the season

Looking at that list, I have to say that it's something of a minor miracle that the team is only one game under .500. This isn't to say that the team shouldn't be doing better. While you can't really blame anyone for the above mishaps, you can question how Brian Cashman, Joe Girardi and the rest of the Yankees' staff have reacted to them, and I'll be doing that tomorrow.

Haranguin' Hank

I'm starting to find myself cringing every time Hank Steinbrenner opens his mouth. At this point, I'm sure you've all read about the comments he made to the New York Times on Sunday about moving Joba Chamberlain into the rotation immediately. Of course the media was all over him and Brian Cashman, and he's since backed off, saying that he's onboard with the plan to keep Chamberlain in the bullpen until later in the season. However it's his comment about Mike Mussina, which has been largely overlooked, that really made me shake my head:

"[Mussina] just needs to learn how to pitch like Jamie Moyer"

Now, I'm guessing that Steinbrenner picked Moyer to be Moose's new role model because he's an aging pitcher who has been somewhat succesful even though his fastball doesn't hit 90mph. The problem with this is that the reason that Moyer has been able to remain effective is that he's left-handed. Lefties have always been able to get by with less velocity than their righthanded colleagues. Now either Steinbrenner doesn't understand this fairly basic baseball fact, or he thinks Mussina should start throwing with his left hand. Either way, it's the kind of idiot suggestion you usually hear from the drunk sitting three rows in front of you, not the co-chairman of a Major League Baseball team.

Opening Day Live Blog 2.0

It seems to be a pretty nice spring evening in the Bronx, so we should finally have some baseball this evening. The lineups remain the same as they were yesterday:

Yankees
1. Johnny Damon - LF
2. Derek Jeter - SS
3. Bobby Abreu - RF
4. Alex Rodriguez - 3B
5. Jason Giambi - 1B
6. Robinson Cano - 2B
7. Jorge Posada - C
8. Hideki Matsui - DH
9. Melky Cabrera - CF
Pitcher: Chien-Ming Wang

Blue Jays
1. David Eckstein - SS
2. Shannon Stewart - LF
3. Alexis Rios - RF
4. Vernon Wells - CF
5. Frank Thomas - DH
6. Lyle Overbay - 1B
7. Aaron Hill - 2B
8. Marco Scutaro - 3B
9. Greg Zaun - C
Pitcher: Roy Halladay

Update 7:00PM: I wonder if the rainout meant that the pregame performances were changed, because it just doesn't seem right for "Oh Canada" to be played without a singer. Though I suppose it's better than that badly mangled version of "The Star Spangled Banner."

Update 7:15PM: By my count Chien-Ming Wang threw 14 pitches in the first inning and 13 of them were sinkers. Simple, but effective, as only Alexis Rios managed to get a solid hit.

Update 7:25PM: It looks like Halladay had the same idea as Wang, throwing 11 sinkers in his first 13 pitches. Unfortunately for him, A-Rod seemed ready for it, as he knocked that 13th pitch for a double and the season's first RBI.

Update 7:32PM: Of course the danger in using the sinker to induce grounders is that sometimes the ball finds the home. Alexis Rios remains the only Blue Jay to put solid wood on the ball, and yet Toronto has four hits and a run.

Update 7:43PM: One of the big improvements Robinson Cano made last season was becoming more selective at the plate, but he jumped on the first pitch he saw so quickly that YES barely managed to get the camera on it. Can't argue with the result, though.

Update 7:52PM: Now that he's making his way through the Jays' order for a second time, Wang's decided to bust out the slider. It works on David Eckstein, who swings right past it for the first strikeout of the night, but not so much on Alexis Rios. Rios seems to be able to see the slider coming, and lets them go by in order to work the first walk of the night.

Update 8:04PM: It's nice to see that Melky Cabrera hasn't fallen asleep waiting for a ball to be hit to the outfield, as he makes a nice play on Lyle Overbay's long fly ball, and a great one to rob Aaron Hill of an extra base hit. After being victimized by cheap hits in the first few innings, Wang's got to appreciate the fine work by his center fielder.

Update 8:10PM: Good lord this game is going by fast. I barely finished typing that last update before the Yankees' half of the inning ended. Wang and Halladay are both pitching extremely efficiently.

Update 8:14PM: Marco Scutaro certainly seems to have Wang's number on the basepaths. He's now stolen two bases with great jumps.

Update 8:32PM: Wang finally cracks, such as it is, as a leadoff walk makes its way home on a weak groundball. Meanwhile, Halladay is cruising. At least Jorge Posada made him work a little bit before striking out.

Update 8:37PM: Can anyone explain the commercial YES just showed for Fox Business' Happy Hour show? Am I supposed to be taking financial advice from drunk people?

Update 8:42PM: God bless that short porch. Melky's home run may have barely cleared the fence, but it counts just the same.

Update 8:51PM: As nice as it is to see Giambi make a nice play at first, snatching a hard line drive out of the air, it does make me worry that he'll end up playing there regularly. With his injury history, that's just asking for a trip to the DL.

Update 9:03PM: Apparently it's Jason Giambi Fundamentals night, as the big G keeps himself out of a double play with some smooth baserunning, keeping out of reach as Aaron Hill tries to tag him out.

Update 9:08PM: Giambi's baserunning pays off, as Hideki Matsui's ground out results in the go-ahead run rather than the end of the inning.

Update 9:11PM: That's it for Wang, as Joba Chamberlain takes the field. No midges in sight so far.

Update 9:23PM: Chamberlain wasn't quite as sharp as he was last season, but that's a pretty high bar. Even with a slightly slower fastball and a little less control, he still gets the Joba done (sorry, couldn't resist).

Update 9:30PM: I'd absolutely love it if Johnny Damon tried to steal home right now. With a lefty on the mound and the shift pulling the third baseman off the bag, it's certainly the perfect time.

Update 9:32PM: So much for that hope. Jason Giambi grounds out and Scott Downs escapes the inning unscathed after giving up a leadoff triple.

Update 9:40PM: On comes Mo, and out go the Blue Jays in order. I don't think you could ask for a better game to start the season.

Spring Training - The Starters

40-Man Roster Players:

• Andrew Brackman (injured)
• Joba Chamberlain
• Phil Hughes
• Kei Igawa
• Jeff Karstens
• Ian Kennedy
• Jeffrey Marquez
• Mike Mussina
• Carl Pavano (injured)
• Andy Pettitte
• Humberto Sanchez (injured)
• Chien-Ming Wang

Non-Roster Invitees:

• Alan Horne
• Daniel McCutchen
• Darrell Rasner

As I said yesterday, there's a lot more going on with the pitchers than the catchers this spring. While the majority of the intrigue will be in the bullpen, there's still some questions to be answered in the rotation. The top three spots are, of course, set with Wang, Pettitte and Hughes. The fourth spot is ostensibly Mussina's, and he won't lose the job in Tampa, but considering how awful he was in the second half of the season, he'll be on a short leash come April.

The big question for now, however, is whether Joba Chamberlain is in the rotation or the bullpen. Hank Steinbrenner has said unequivically that Chamberlain is a starter, and I've got no doubt that that's where his future lies, but I don't think he's ready for a full season as a major league starter. Last year he threw 116 innings, most of them in the minor leagues, where he never had to struggle. If he starts all season for the Yankees, his workload will increase by at least half. That would be a terrible risk to take on the health of a very valuable player. Both Chamberlain and the Yankees would be much better served if he started the year in the bullpen and moved into the rotation a few months into the season. In the meantime, Ian Kennedy can take the final spot in the rotation.

While Chamberlain and Kennedy seem to be the only serious candidates for the fifth starter's job, that doesn't mean you should ignore the rest of the starters. If the Yankees learned anything in 2007, it's that there's no telling how many pitchers you're going to end up needing. Jeff Karstens figures to be the first one called upon in an emergency, but strong spring performances by Kei Igawa (who the Yankees have invested a lot of money in) or prospects Alan Horne and Jeffrey Marquez could put one of them at the front of the line.

Of course no matter who ends up taking the mound, I'm certain Carl Pavano will step up and pull his hamstring.

Live Blogging 10/07

I'm back for another night of liveblogging. Here are today's lineups:

Yankees
1. Johnny Damon LF
2. Derek Jeter SS
3. Bobby Abreu RF
4. Alex Rodriguez 3B
5. Jorge Posada C
6. Jason Giambi 1B
7. Hideki Matsui DH
8. Robinson Cano 2B
9. Melky Cabrera CF
Pitcher: Roger Clemens

Indians
1. Grady Sizemore CF
2. Asdrubal Cabrera 2B
3. Travis Hafner DH
4. Victor Martinez C
5. Ryan Garko 1B
6. Jhonny Peralta SS
7. Kenny Lofton LF
8. Trot Nixon RF
9. Casey Blake 3B
Pitcher: Jake Westbrook

The big changes from the last couple of games are Giambi, who takes Doug Mientkiewicz's spot at first, and Nixon, who is the Indian's third right fielder in as many games. They're both pretty obvious moves. Nixon is a left hander with good numbers against Roger Clemens, and Giambi will hopefully provide some spark to an offense that's been pretty well shut down thus far in the series. The Yankees may get more of a spark from Westbrook, who has not done well against them. He gave up four runs over seven innings in his last start against the Bombers, and was pounded for eight runs over one and two thirds innings the last time he pitched in Yankee Stadium back in April.

Of course the big pregame news is George Steinbrenner letting the world know that Joe Torre's job may depend on the outcome of this series. It'd be ironic to me if Torre lost his job after this season, since I've been impressed by his performance in bringing the team back to the playoffs. Of course, even if I didn't feel that way, I'd still think that he deserves better, but that's the Steinbrenner Way, and Torre should be commended for showing, once again, amazing professionalism and class.

Update 6:38PM: Anyone looking for the game on TBS, switch over to TNT. They're showing the game there until the Boston-Anaheim game is over.

Update 6:41PM: I'm sure some of you are thinking it, but I really doubt Doug Mientkiewicz could have made that play. Even if he had been able to catch Jeter's errant throw, it would've been extremely difficult to tag Cabrera.

Update 6:53PM: A tough first inning for Clemens, but he seemed to get better as the inning wore on. I'm hoping he's just shaking off the rust that comes with not having pitched for three weeks.

Update 7:06PM: Ouch. Looks like Eric Wedge made the right call by putting Nixon in. That ball was hit so hard that it almost didn't have time to elevate over the fence.

Update 7:14PM: The Yankees' are going to need to get to Jake Westbrook soon, because I don't think that Clemens is going to settle in. It might be time to get Mike Mussina warming up.

Update 7:18PM: Excellent at bat for A-Rod. He seems to have gotten comfortable with the fact that the Indian pitchers are afraid of him and aren't going to throw him much in the strike zone. So, he watched some balls go by, pounced on a mistake and didn't try to do too much with it.

Update 7:32PM: It's certainly got to be frustrating for the Rocket to be pulled in favor of a kid that hadn't even been born when he made his major league debut. However, I'm glad that Torre didn't let that factor into his decision making. Now we've got to hope that Hughes is in command of all his pitches, because it looks like he's going to need it.

Update 7:42PM: I think Hughes needs to mix in his other pitches a little more. He threw 13 pitches, 10 of those were fastballs. The rest were three beautiful curveballs, which I'd like to see more of, as well as the slider and change. Still, he appears to have good command on the fastball, and its up to 93mph, so I think we'll see some solid innings out of him.

Update 7:47PM: Kudos to Matsui for legging out that infield hit with that gimpy hamstring. You could definitely see he was in pain as he ran down the line.

Update 7:52PM: Who would've thought that Matsui would be making contributions with his legs. Great baserunning on that play, especially with his slide into third. That gutsy play not only puts him ninety feet from home, but keeps Melky from being out at first. That could well be a turning point in this game.

Update 8:05PM: Hughes has got to be feeling good about his curveball, because he shook off Posada twice in order to throw it. He's definitely got good reason for it, as its got some great break, and he's been spot on with his command. Plus, there's a huge speed differential there, as , at 70mph, it's more than 20mph slower than the fastball. And there's that slider coming in at 81mph. The kid's looking really good out there.

Update 8:40PM: It was only a matter of time before the Yankees broke through against Westbrook. Beyond the runs, Damon's home run is great since it eliminates the possibility of Jeter, who has been the rally killer in this game, grounding into another double play.

Update 8:48PM: Joba's warming up. With nary a bug in sight, He and Mo ought to be able to lock this down if Hughes can get through this inning unscathed.

Update 8:59PM: It's surprising to see Westbrook back out on the mound. Not that I'm complaining.

Update 9:06PM: I can't say I really see the point of that bunt. Considering who's coming to the plate, I think sacrificing a chance to bust this game open is a mistake.

Update 9:10PM: Well, it looks like they didn't need any more chances to bust the game open anyway. Big hit by Cano, and a bigger error by Nixon.

Update 9:14PM: Now the question is what do you do about the bullpen. One of the Joba rules is that once he starts warming up, he has to come into a game. However, with such a huge lead do you only use him for one inning so that he's available tomorrow? Do you use Mo, or do you trust the end of a must win game to a lesser pitcher? I say hand the ball off to Ohlendorf, Vizcaino or Veras. Five runs is a big enough lead to start thinking about tomorrow.

Update 9:21PM: That strikeout is exactly why Joba's stay in the bullpen is temporary. He just struck out Cabrera on three exceptional pitches. The fastball and slider we've seen plenty of, but that curve hasn't been used much as a reliever, and it's fantastic. Anyone with that deep an arsenal needs to be in the rotation.

Update 9:30PM: Tonight's public address announcer, Jim Hall, sounds so much like Bob Sheppard that it's creeping me out.

Update 9:40PM: I'm having a hard time figuring out who is annoying me more, Dane Cook in these "There's Only One October," commercials, or this Frank guy and the endless promos for his show.

Update 9:52PM: I think the bullpen phone is broken again. Joe Torre is signaling Robinson Cano to check if Jose Veras is ready. This happened a few weeks ago, and you'd think that after the first time someone would think to bring a cellphone out there.

Update 10:10PM: Man, I really hate to see Mo here. I'm not knocking Torre's decision to use him, mind you, because I think it's a good call. It's just annoying that there's no one else in the pen you can really trust.

Update 10:15PM: And Mo closes it out against the top of the Indians' lineup looking like he was barely trying. I won't be able to live blog tomorrow's game, but I'll try and keep on top of the pregame stories, especially who the Yankees' will be sending to the mound. My vote is for Chien-Ming Wang, whose sinker ought to be better on short rest than long rest.

Live Blogging 10/05

Here we go with my first attempt at blogging while watching the game. Today's lineups are, according to mlb.com, as follows:

Yankees
1. Johnny Damon, LF
2. Derek Jeter, SS
3. Bobby Abreu, RF
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Hideki Matsui, DH
6. Jorge Posada, C
7. Robinson Cano 2B
8. Melky Cabrera CF
9. Doug Mientkiewicz 1B
Pitcher - Andy Pettitte

Indians
1. Grady Sizemore CF
2. Asdrubal Cabrera 2B
3. Travis Hafner DH
4. Victor Martinez C
5. Ryan Garko 1B
6. Jhonny Peralta SS
7. Kenny Lofton LF
8. Jason Michaels RF
9. Casey Blake 3B
Pitcher - Fausto Carmona

These lineups are almost identical to last night's. The only changes are that Joe Torre has flip flopped Matsui and Posada, and Eric Wedge has benched Franklin Gutierrez in favor of Michaels in right field. I'm a little surprised Wedge didn't bench Lofton against the lefty, but I guess his big game last night was too much to ignore.

Update 4:50PM: Bob Sheppard will not make it to the stadium for Sunday's game due to bronchitis. This will be the first time he has missed a playoff game in his 57 year long career. Thankfully, its not serious, and I think all Yankee fans wish him the best. Peter Abraham has the full story.

Update 5:21PM: That was some efficient work from tonight's starters. I have to say that I'm a little afraid of Fausto Carmona, who is looking a lot like Chien-Ming Wang on a good night.

Update 5:28PM: Now that's more like it. Hideki Matsui took a page out of the Indian's playbook from last night and works a walk by making Carmona earn that low strike. The fact is that his sinker nearly unhittable when its at the knees, so you may as well lay off it and hope he misses the zone.

Update 5:40PM: You know, I was really hoping that TBS' coverage would be an improvement over Fox's. I understand that baseball's pace lends itself to some meandering conversations (I did, after all, enjoy Phil Rizzuto's broadcasts), but I'd like to hear tangents about baseball, not Queen Latifah's wardrobe.

Update 5:44PM: Wow. Maybe it's because I watch Melky so much, but I saw that coming a mile away. I'm not really sure what Indians' third base coach Joel Skinner could have been thinking when he sent Peralta (assuming that Peralta didn't just go on his own). It's not like Cabrera hasn't been doing this for the past year and a half.

Update 5:52PM: That, my friends, is how you break out of a slump. That's also an appropriate way for Melky to celebrate the two month anniversary of his last home run, which came against Kansas City on August 5th.

Update 6:07PM: The story of the day before the game was "Andy Pettitte: Big Game Pitcher," but it's been the defenders behind him that've been coming through in the clutch so far. First Melky, and now Mientkiewicz have saved Pettitte's bacon so far by stopping runs that the Indians should have scored.

Update 6:27PM: I guess Pettitte's been reading this, because he went ahead and saved his own bacon this time. Actually, he did it twice, first getting a double play ball after allowing a leadoff single, and then stranding a runner on second after the double play opportunity was missed. Granted, he was the one who missed the opportunity by deflecting that double play ball away from Robinson Cano, but it's still an impressive performance.

Update 6:40PM: Another note about TBS' coverage. The graphic showing the size of the baserunner's lead at first is a good idea, but those red and green zones are just silly. I mean a safe lead for Jeter or A-Rod is completely different from one for Posada or Matsui. Just give us a distance and let the announcers give the context. That's pretty much what they're there for, after all.

Update 7:07PM: This is starting to get ridiculous. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if Pettitte were to allow a leadoff home run in the seventh and still not give up a run. Its almost enough to make you feel sorry for the Indians. Almost.

Update 7:55PM: Good lord. What was a cute little side story a half hour ago has turned serious, as this swarm of gnats seems to actually be bothering Joba Chamberlain's control. You really can't blame him either, as the cameras cut to a shot of his neck with a dozen of the little buggers perched on him and plenty more buzzing around. This is after the Yankees' trainer has doused him in repellant twice.

Update 7:58PM: This is crazy. Chalk that run up to the bugs, and there's a decent argument to be made at this point for the umpires to stop the game so they can spray the field.

Update 8:12PM: According the TBS on field reporter, the bugs that are causing these problems are "Canadian soldiers," which is another name for mayflies. Should the Indians win, they might well be the MVPs.

Update 8:23PM: A huge missed opportunity for A-Rod right here, and a huge opportunity given to the A-Rod haters. Before they get started, let me just say that that was a great battle against a pitcher who is having a huge night and who has stymied the entire Yankee lineup, including Captain Clutch himself.

Update 8:49PM: He's being overlooked by the TV crew, but big props to Doug Mientkiewicz for being able to keep that ball from heading to the outfield, which might've allowed Sizemore to make it to second.

Update 9:10PM: Here's when we should really start to worry. The Indians' bullpen is much deeper than the Yankees'. At least the Viz gets the bottom of the order this time around, but the top of the order will get their chance no matter what the Yankees do.

Update 9:32PM: And that's all she wrote. Goodnight folks.

Popping the Corks

Thursday the Yankees passed a difficult test in their quest to win the championship: they celebrated clinching a playoff spot without suffering a single injury, no small feat when Shelley Duncan is in the clubhouse.

A few random thoughts:

• Joba Chamberlain's picture on his official MLB player page freaks me out. It's like some sort of very disturbing photoshop job.
  
  
• Robinson Cano has been showing a lot of extra power of late, not just hitting home runs, but hitting long home runs the opposite way. Thanks to the fantastic you can see that he's hit nearly half of his 19 home runs to left and center field. It's one of the reasons why I think Cano is going to be much more consistent next season.
  
  
• As Thursday's celebrations began, YES' cameras clearly caught Jason Giambi dousing Doug Mientkiewicz with champagne and Mientkiewicz exclaiming "God that's #@!$ing cold!" This, my friends, is what digital video recorders were made for.

Off to see the Wizard

You might think that since I've advocated resting players to get ready for the playoffs, I'd be ready to slam Joe Torre for breaking the Joba Rules on Sunday. If so, you'd be wrong. The Joba Rules were certainly a great idea, minimizing the risk to a very valuable arm as Chamberlain adjusted to a bullpen role, and pitched more than 100 innings for the first time since his sophomore season at Nebraska. However, anyone who thought that the Yankees' were going to keep to those rules in the playoffs was crazy. So, it makes sense to get Joba ready for what might be a slightly heavier workload in the postseason. Its especially important for him to be able to warm up and be available to come in mid-inning. With his ability to get strikeouts, he is definitely the man you want on the mound in a tight game with runners on base.

In more entertaining news, after yesterday's game the Yankees left for their final road trip of the season, which meant it was time for some rookie hazing. As in years past, the veterans stole the rooks' clothes from their lockers and replaced them with new outfits. Last year, it was George Steinbrenner turtlenecks and blazers. The year before it was cheerleading uniforms. This year, with a dozen rookies, the Yankees' were able to put on their own production of the Wizard of Oz. Here's Ian Kennedy, Joba Chamberlain, Shelley Duncan and Phil Hughes as Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man:



Additionally, the Daily News has shots of Edwar Ramirez as the Wicked Witch of the West, Kei Igawa a flying monkey, Chase Wright as the Good Witch of the East, and Ross Ohlendorf as a palace guard. Plus, a guy by the name of Rob managed to get pictures of Igawa's translator Yumi Watanabe as a talking tree, and strength coach Dana Cavalea as the Mayor of Emerald City. Sadly, I wasn't able to find pictures of Munchkins Matt DeSalvo and Alberto Gonzalez, or of flying monkey Tyler Clippard and palace guard Bronson Sardinha. Hopefully I'll be able to catch them once they start their run on Broadway.

Makin' Me Sweat

Never let it be said that I'm not man enough to admit when I'm wrong, even when no one would know. I didn't get around to writing it before the game, but I didn't think Roger Clemens should have started tonight's game. I simply did not believe that his elbow could stand up to the Red Sox offense. Granted, Clemens said he could pitch, but I'm pretty sure he'd say the same thing if he were run over by the bus. He's just that kind of Texas son of a gun. The Rocket, however, was pretty sharp, pitching an efficient six innings, allowing only one unearned run, while striking out four and allowing only six men to get on base. While he had only thrown 87 pitches at that point, Joe Torre wisely decided that he didn't want to push Clemens' elbow to hard and turned things over to the Joba Chamberlain.

Unfortunately, Curt Schilling was just as sharp, if not more so. He only needed 69 pitches to get through seven innings, giving up only one run off a solo homerun by Robinson Cano in the 5th. Considering that Chamberlain was available for two innings, and Mariano Rivera was pretty well rested too, it seemed like we might be in for a long night, waiting for someone to scratch out a run against these dominating pitchers. Derek Jeter, perhaps having plans for the rest of the night, had other ideas.

After Melky Cabrera struck out to start the eighth inning, Doug Mientkiewicz managed to get on with a single. It was then that Joe Torre made a gutsy, brilliant call. Rather than have Jose Molina try to sacrifice Mientkiewicz into scoring position, Torre sent in Jason Giambi to pitch hit. What made this decision so surprising was that the only catcher who could replace Molina, Jorge Posada. For those who don't know, when you have a DH take over for a player in the field, the pitcher has to take over for that player at the plate. Torre, however, saw his chance to get a run and took it, deciding to worry about the pitcher's at bat when it came.

The gamble worked out beautifully, as Giambi singled and Damon grounded into what would have been the third out had Torre used Molina to sacrifice. Since Torre didn't, though, the Captain had the opportunity to come through in the clutch, and he did so in style, knocking a home run over the Green Monster to put the Yankees ahead 4-1. That would be all the offense the Yankees' needed, though the bullpen would make it close.

In the bottom of the 8th, Chamberlain gave up the first earned run of his short career when Mike Lowell took him deep for a solo home run. The 21 year old remained poised, as he came right back against J.D. Drew. Joba the Hutt struck him out with a breaking ball that Drew watched go by like he was frozen in carbonite.

The real nailbiting came in the botton ninth, which Mariano Rivera started by walking Jason Varitek. A Julio Lugo double would score him, and a hit batter followed by another walk would load the bases with two outs for David Ortiz. It's funny how Yankees/Red Sox games always seem to come down to big moments like these, where the game is on the line and each team has exactly who they want on the mound and at the plate. This time the moment was Mo's, as he got Ortiz to Big Papi out to shortstop with the classic cutter inside. The perfect ending to a game that was everything this rivalry is supposed to be.

Even though the Yanks won the series, without the sweep they're too far back to have a realistic shot at the pennant. However, by winning five of their last six against Boston, they've proven that they're more than ready to meet them in October. As far as getting to October, they remain two and a half games ahead of Detroit for the Wild Card, and their magic number drops to 10.

Sunday Notes

In the past five games, Alex Rodriguez has:

• Hit seven home runs.
  
• Hit two home runs in an inning
  
• Broken his own record for most home runs by a righthanded Yankee with 49.
  
• Passed Mel Ott, Eddie Murray and Ernie Banks on the all-time home run list with 513.
  
• Broken Mike Schmidt's record for most home runs by a third baseman in a season with 49.
  
• Joined Babe Ruth, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, as the only Yankees to ever hit 50 home runs.
  
• Saved Western California from sinking into the ocean by turning back time and stopping the missiles unleashed by Lex Luthor.

Actually, that last one might be Superman. Its hard to tell them apart sometimes. Regardless, he curently stands at 52 home runs on the season, 15 more than the next guy in the league, and 516 for his career, good enough for 17th on the all-time list.

As much fun as it is to be playing the "how great is A-Rod?" game, he's actually not the best story of the week. That honor belongs to Harlan Chamberlain, Joba Chamberlain's father. By now, most of you probably know the Yankeeography-ready story of the Chamberlain family, and if you don't Peter Abraham wrote a nice feature last month for our sister paper, the Journal News.

With the Yankees traveling to Kansas City, the closest Major League team to his hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska, the elder Chamberlain had his first opportunity to see his son in pinstripes, along with a boatload of friends, family and fans from the University of Nebraska. It was a little corny and manipulative, but I couldn't help getting a little misty eyed watching Harlan, with tears in his eyes, pumped his fist in celebration as Joba struck Ross Gload out on a nasty slider.

In less heartwarming news, Derek Jeter didn't play today after leaving last night's game with a sore knee. The official diagnosis is patellar tendinitis, which is a weakening of the tendons in the knee. He's expected to be ready for Tuesday's game in Toronto, though he may be used as a DH to keep him off the astroturf. It doesn't sound major at the moment, but tendinitis is a chronic condition, so it's worth keeping an eye on.

Anyway, with today's win and Detroit's loss to Seattle, the Yankees hold a four game lead in the wild card and the magic number shrinks to 16.

Catching Up

Sorry this post is a couple of days late, but I've been a bit under the weather. As I mentioned in my last post, I was sitting in the left field bleachers as the Yankees completed their sweet, sweet sweep of the Red Sox. Chien-Ming Wang took a no hitter into the seventh, something that impressed me even more than it would normally because he didn't seem to have his best stuff. As I saw it from way out in left field, Wang had trouble hitting the bottom of the zone with his sinker, and the Sox were able to take it for a ball instead of grounding out the way most hitters do. Wang, however, was able to compensate with his four-seam fastball and his splitter. Its a testament to Wang's growth as a pitcher that he can still get guys out when he doesn't have his best stuff.

Here's a couple of pictures of the man in action:




I had a much better view of the Yankee bullpen, so here are pictures of Joba and Mo warming up:

Thank God That's Over

We may very well have seen Mike Mussina's last start of 2007, and possibly the last appearance of Sean Henn in a major league game. There's no word yet on exactly what kind of roster shuffling is going to happen, but here are my thoughts on the matter:

Obviously Henn will have to be sent down(or sent home, since his wife is about to have a baby). There's really no point in having a lefty in the pen that can't get lefties out. Just ask Mike Myers. The real question is, who is your new lefty? The system is dreadfully thin on lefthanded pitching, with the only candidate in Triple-A being Kei Igawa. Its enough to make me wonder how Ron Guidry's arm is feeling. In all seriousness, the team might be best off simply using righties like Jose Vizcaino and Joba Chamberlain, who've been just as effective against lefties as righties.

One guy who should never be sent up against a lefthanded hitter, though, is Edwar Ramirez. Its a pretty small sample size, but his splits are pretty astounding. Against righties, he's thrown a very solid seven innings allowing only five hits while walking two and striking out nine. Against lefties, he's struck out an impressive seven in just three and two thirds innings, but has walked six and given up four hits, two of which were homeruns. Granted, last night's homerun came from a righty, Placido Polanco, but that was the first time he's given one up to a righty, and has been generally effective enough against them to have some value in the pen.

One guy who has been able to get lefties out in his career is Mussina, who will either have to go to the bullpen or the DL. Considering that no one's got any idea what's wrong with him, there's really no reason to believe he'd be any better in relief, so the DL would be preferable. Neither he nor the Yankees have said that there's anything physically wrong with him, but at 38 years old there's got to be something that needs resting. The candidates for replacing him in the rotation consist of guys who have either been bad in the majors (Igawa, Jeff Karstens and Matt DeSalvo), or who have never been there (Ian Kennedy and Steven White).

Fortunately, the schedule is on our side. With three off days, the Yankees should only need a fifth starter three times in September. Even better, two of those games (Septembers 1st and 26th) are against Tampa Bay, a weak team if ever there was one. The other comes on the 16th, the final game against Boston, which may end up being a painful affair, but its still much better than it could have been.

The schedule's also on our side in the hunt for the wild card. Despite losing the last two series, the Yankees remain only two games behind Seattle for the wild card, and have a much easier schedule from here on out. Other than the six games against Boston and the three against Seattle, the Yankees only play two kinds of teams from here on out; mediocre and bad. Seattle, meanwhile, has seventeen games against contenders, and finish out the season playing a brutal 24 games in 24 days, with only one day off. Right now, I can't help but think that despite the standings, the Yankees have to be the favorites in this race.

Tough loss

Last night was exactly the kind of gut wrenching affair we've come to expect from the Angels. Coming back against their bullpen is no small feat. To do so and still lose is pretty heartbreaking.

Joe Torre's taking the brunt of the blame after sending the lefty Sean Henn to face a talented righthanded hitter in Howie Kendrick, who would eventually score the winning run. This is probably a bit unfair, considering his options. The only righthanders left in the bullpen, were Joba Chamberlain and Edwar Ramirez. Chamberlain is only a year removed from the arm troubles that plagued him his final season at the University of Nebraska, and the Yankee brass has rightfully decreed that he not be used on consecutive days. While Ramirez is under no such restrictions, he had pitched two innings the night before, and the decision that Henn would be more effective is a valid one.

Overlooked amidst all this is the fact that Torre elected to bring in Kyle Farnsworth in the 8th inning of a tie game. Considering that everyone, myself included, wanted to see this guy traded, if not released outright, he acquitted himself pretty well. In fact, his past few outings have been pretty good, and I'm starting to think that its more than dumb luck. When he was struggling, Farnsworth's fastball had dipped down into the low 90s, but over the last few weeks its been 98mph at the knees; the kind of stuff he's paid to bring. I suppose it was inevitable that he catch the fire that's lit up the rest of the team.

Lets temper our excitement a little bit folks. While tonight's win puts the Yankees into a tie with the Mariners for the wild card, its not a true tie. The Yanks have both one more win and one more loss than Seattle, meaning that they don't control their own destinies. One more loss by Seattle, and we can start talking about magic numbers.

Regardless, tonight was a big win. They faced Cleveland's best in Fausto Carmona, and Phil Hughes' first start back had been less than inspiring. However, there's nothing better for a struggling pitcher than a team that can't hit, and Hughes was able to shut down the Indians for six innings before giving way to the even more dominating Joba Chamberlain. These two performances weren't just big for this game, but for the rest of the year, because if they can continue like this it'll be like having traded for a great starter and setup man without giving up a thing.

Off the field, it appears I was wrong about Clemens holding off his suspension until they could skip his turn in the rotation. Instead, he elected to start serving it today, meaning that the team will need to find another starter for Tuesday. I'll be taking a look at who that starter might be tomorrow.

Lets just skip the introductions, shall we?

Its a big night for debuts, as I write my first post following Joba Chamberlain's first game as a New York Yankee. It seems somewhat appropriate, considering that we both have unusual four letter names.

Anyway, Joba the Hutt had a fine couple of innings, striking out two while giving up a hit and two walks. His fastball was as advertised, sitting comfortably at 96mph, and touching 98, but the real eye opener was an absolutely filthy slider. The one problem seemed to be in hitting the left side of the strike zone, which is where those two walks came from. Given his sterling minor league track record (just 27 walks in 88.1 innings this year), I think we can chalk it up to nerves.

Of course, the big story of the game was Josh Towers' plunking A-Rod in the third, which led to the benches being cleared twice, Roger Clemens retaliating by hitting Alexis Rios in the seventh, and the subsequent ejections of Clemens and Joe Torre. Looking at the replay, I really don't think that Towers meant to hit him, but after being hit yesterday, I can understand why A-Rod might've thought so. What I can't understand is why after the initial bench clearing, after everyone was set to get back to the game, Towers couldn't keep his big mouth shut. Not that it really mattered, as Clemens was going to retaliate no matter what. This is, after all, a guy who once threw at his own son at an exhibition game.

Tomorrow brings us a showdown of aces between Doc Holliday and the Taiwan Kid. Should be a good one, folks.