Anyone else long for the day when Joba Chamberlain is just another starting pitcher in the major leagues? Whether he turns out to be the second coming of Nolan Ryan, Ryan Vogelsong or something in between, it will be nice to stop all of the discussion about how many innings, pitches and days a week he can pitch before turning into a pumpkin. Alas, that day still hasn't arrived. The Yankees announced the latest change to the Joba rules on Friday. He'll now take a turn every fifth day, according to Peter Abraham of the Lohud Yankees Blog. No problem there, but there will be starts where he pitches less than five innings to ensure that he remains below his prescribed innings limit for the year.
The change in thinking is surely a result of Chamberlain's poor start against the Rangers on Tuesday night. Pitching with eight days rest, Chamberlain gave up nine hits and seven runs in four innings. It was his fourth straight poor start, all of which came since the Yankees began monkeying around with the days of his starts in order to stretch his limits until the end of the season.
The uncertainty appeared to be playing games with Chamberlain, who began the second half with three dominant starts before getting derailed by the Yankees' best intentions. It will undoubtedly lead to criticism if Joe Girardi pulls Chamberlain after four strong innings, but it's better for the Yankees to do something now to get Chamberlain back on track for October than to continue watching him flounder.
An added benefit is that the Yankees won't have their other starting pitchers affected by the irregular schedule, although it's probably safe to say that it won't be enough to turn Sergio Mitre or Chad Gaudin into a noticeably better pitcher.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-28-2009 @ 6:21PM
ATorres00 said...
Question, at what point do you stop babying a guy and let him go there and be a man? Joba's gonna be 24 in a few months, enough is enough.
http://www.aarontorres-sports.com/
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8-29-2009 @ 12:07AM
tonytiger18 said...
Why don't you bend over home plate with your cheeks spread and facing the pitcher's mound, evidently you appear to be a good catcher of large things.Idiot!!
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8-29-2009 @ 12:26AM
imokru80 said...
tonytiger18 LOL you're funny actually in 5th grade I was a catcher. You know the Yankees will choke like they do every year. So I hope you enjoy watching the Yankees and George Steinburger lose during October.
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8-29-2009 @ 12:59AM
BIG Lou said...
Yankees choke? They havent had post season pitching in a long time. Let me guess your a bosux fan?
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8-29-2009 @ 8:36AM
sinminrah said...
No. He doesn't have to be a Red Sox fan to hate the Spankees Big Lou. Everyone hates the Spankees. They are universally detested and rightly so. That team would be a mediocre .500 team if they had to win using their own home grown talent. Just look at last year. And for the record Burnett has never pitched in the post-season and could very easily choke. Just look at his meltdown when he faced the Sox a week ago and fat boy Sabathia was absolutely awful when he pitched in the 2007 post-season.
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8-29-2009 @ 12:30PM
Ali said...
Word!!!
8-29-2009 @ 12:45PM
tonytiger18 said...
It is truly amazing that there are so many posts by Bosox fans when there is any article about the Yankees.Most of them are laced with comments that are full of envy.
Cano, Jeter, Melky, Pettite, Rivera,Hughes,Gardner,Posada,Pena,Cervelli, Bruney&Joba all came through their farm system.
The Steinbrenners invest in their team, sure they spend more than other team, but, they don't give away pitching talent like Kazmir for no return except money.
I am certain the envy comes from the realization that your team doesn't have the resources of NYC and the Yankees.The Yankees will draw 4 million fans for the fourth year in a row and the YES network is a major cash cow.
The Yankees have the money to spend and they use it. A lot of teams -- Rays, Royals, Brewers and a slew of other small market teams are actually subsidized by the Yankees's luxury tax payment.
Why don't they take that money to make their teams more competitive instead of pocketing the profits.
If you detest any team, it should be your team with its cheap and manipulative owners.
8-29-2009 @ 8:16PM
axt7118 said...
Tony tony Tony when will you ever learn , You can drag a house to water but can't make it drink.. Same with the hater's they are poor slobs
thinking they have a Team worthy of chalging the New York Yankee's... NUFF SAID>
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8-30-2009 @ 1:06AM
wats good negrit said...
NO, NOT EVERYBODY HATES THE YANKEES, ONLY THE SUX HATE THEM AND ANYBODY ELSE WHO ENVY THEM
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8-30-2009 @ 11:27AM
Ali said...
I beg to differ. I'm pretty sure everyone who isn't a Yankee fan, hates them and their overinflated egos and feelings of self importance that are only dwarfed by their paychecks.
8-30-2009 @ 7:33AM
tyrekyoung said...
Tony I am starting to become a big fan of your post. I am a Yankee fan and the problem that I am starting to see with JC has nothing to do with the amount of innings he pitches, his command, his pitch selection, or velocity. The two problems that I see with JC's is one his concentration on the mound or lack thereof which gets him into trouble and leads to the second problem that he has which is that he has such incredible stuff that he thinks that he can get out of trouble at any given time even with the bases loaded, no outs and the number 3,4,5 players up to bat
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8-30-2009 @ 10:12AM
missmymind2353 said...
WHAT'S NEXT IN THE GAME OF BASEBALL, ARE WE GOING TO BRING UP EVERYDAY PLAYERS FROM THE FARM SYSTEM AND HAVE THEM PLAY ONLY 6 INNINGS, OR NO MORE THAN 3 AT BATS. THIS IS THE BIGS, EITHER PLAY BALL OR DON'T.
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8-30-2009 @ 1:39PM
scorpio02645 said...
The Red Sox would be liked much more!!!!!!!!! - if it wasn't for some of their fans.
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8-30-2009 @ 1:52PM
redw637936 said...
Joba sucks he is the worst pitcher on the Yankees and he is killing the Yankees pitching rotation, he gives up a lot of runs he throws the ball away he has a hard time finding the zone,u can rest a sure when Joba pitch the other team will score with in 2innings, they should trade him he really sucks, i dont know what they are waiting for.
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8-30-2009 @ 6:07PM
spicsapian said...
another disatified boston fan.lololololololol
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8-30-2009 @ 6:20PM
spicsapian said...
the only haters in mlb is the boston redsox fans... you guys got to cocky after winning in 04 and 07... you got what the yankees have been getting for 86 years.. and you went beserk
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9-04-2009 @ 10:07PM
ohthenowtx said...
Joba just lost AGAIN!!!! I wonder what the heck he is thinking. Certainly not about playing on the best team in baseball. Maybe he should have done some time for his DUI and then he would be thankful for his life instead of feeling sorry for himself!
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