Joba Follows Phil Tonight

Joba Chamberlain will try to follow Phil Hughes’ good performance with one of his own as he starts tonight for the Yankees. Joba should try and incorporate the same type of game plan that Hughes and Molina used to tame the Tigers last night. Hughes had good velocity on his four-seamer and used it well along with his cutter to get ahead of the Tigers hitters early. This allowed him to use his knuckle curveball to keep the Tigers off balance all night long.

While Chamberlain doesn’t feature a cutter, he can use his slider in a similar manner. He can throw it just off the plate outside to righties and in off the plate in on lefties. Along with his four-seamer (which hopefully by now will be back where it should be), the slider will allow him to use the curveball as an out pitch against righties, and perhaps the changeup as an out pitch to lefties.

Chamberlain will be opposed by the promising 21 year old rookie Rick Porcello. Porcello, who is a native of Morristown, NJ is a hard throwing righty who also has an excellent breaking ball. The Yankee hitters will have their hands full with Porcello tonight.

Hey Big Papi...SHUT UP!

For years Yankees fans saw Pedro Martinez and the Red Sox continually plunk Derek Jeter and others on numerous occasions with little to no retaliation. And for years Yankees fans thirsted for someone to step up to Red Sox hitters (mainly Ortiz and Ramirez) and pitch them inside. Yankees fans wanted to see their pitchers come inside not to target Red Sox hitters, but to back them off of the plate and establish the inside corner.

We finally have the pitcher we so deeply yearned for. Joba Chamberlain has come inside on Red Sox hitters regularly the past couple of seasons. And he has enjoyed great success against them because of it. Most notably, he out-dueled Josh Beckett in a 1-0 Yankee win in Fenway Park just last season. Chamberlain is well within his rights to throw inside. Although, it may seem that he has a strange fetish when it comes to seeing Kevin Youkilis hit the deck, Chamberlain has done nothing wrong.

That brings us to “Big Papi”, David Oritz. Ortiz was quoted in the New York Post talking about how Chamberlain should not continue to throw inside and particularly not throw inside on Kevin Youkilis. Here are the direct quotes:

“None of that, man--just play the game the way it’s supposed to be, and that’s about it.”

“This is a guy, as good as he is, and the next step for him will be to earn respect from everybody in the league. He’s not a bad guy, but when things like that happen, people get the wrong idea.”

Here is my issue with what Ortiz had to say. First, he plays on the same club with a guy who just last week tried to decapitate Bobby Abreu. Ortiz should look around in his own locker room before commenting on Chamberlain. Chamberlain never fired a ball at a batter's head, after the batter stepped out of the batter's box.

Second, as far as I can tell, Chamberlain is playing the game the way it’s meant to be played. While he did throw inside or behind Youkilis on numerous occasions, he never hit him. He has played the game the same way that winner’s such as Bob Gibson, Don Drysdale, and Tom Seaver played the game. As a power pitcher he must own the inside part of the plate and if he has to back hitters off a bit, he is well within his rights.

Thirdly, Ortiz couldn't be more off on the "respect" thing. Chamberlain shouldn’t be concerned with earning the respect of everyone in the league. His main concern is to win games for the New York Yankees. If he has to come inside, that is his right. The last thing he should think about when pitching is, “What if Youkilis doesn’t like me?”

Lastly, Ortiz needs to worry about himself, and his .220 batting average. This guy clearly has not been himself since Manny left. Whether, that is attributable to Manny leaving, being older, being fatter, whatever the case, Ortiz should shut his yap, and worry about his own game.

It could be that Big Papi is trying to gain a psychological edge over Chamberlain. If that is the case, it just shows that Ortiz the Red Sox don’t feel comfortable stepping in against Joba. If I were Joba, I would buzz Ortiz the first time he comes to bat (just knock him down, not to hit him) and give him a little wink afterwards, as to say “You are not telling me what to do.” “You are not my Papi.”

-Favad Ali

Yanks Leave Sweep on the Table

This weekend's series could not have been going better. Friday's game saw Andy Pettitte looking as good as ever over 7 strong innings of work. The Yankees won the game 4-1 on the back of Pettite's strong effort. 

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It was more of the same on Saturday as CC toed the rubber looking to make up for his opening day hiccup. And makeup he did. He pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings in another easy Yankee victory, this time by the score of 6-1. This game also saw continued hot production at the plate from Nick Swisher. Swisher went 2 for 3 with a homer and 3 RBI. The only downside was that Mark Teixeira was scratched from the lineup due to a sore wrist. 

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That brings us to today's finale with the Royals. Joba Chamberlain took the hill for his first start against Royals ace, Gil Meche. Joba pitched was shaky at times but got through six innings of work while allowing only one earned run. He was in line for the win as the Yankees took the lead from the Royals in the 7th, scoring 3 runs in the inning to put the score at 4-3. Damaso Marte started the eighth inning on the mound and breezed through two batters, throwing only 11 pitches. However, he was removed from the game in favor of Jose Veras right hander Billy Butler, and that is when the wheels started to fall off.  Veras walked the only batter he would face. Girardi then brought in Phil Coke to face switch hitter Brayan Pena, who was 0-3 batting left handed during the game. By bringing Coke in, Pena switched to the right side. Coke went on to allow a double, single, and another double consecutively and the Royals plated 3 runs.

In my view this was a case of over managing by our beloved skipper Joe Girardi. Why remove Marte after retiring the first two batters with relative ease? The two batters Marte retired were left handed, but Marte is very capable of getting right handers out. Is he only going to be used as a lefty specialist? Not only did he over manage with Marte, he did so with Veras. OK, it's not Joe's fault Veras walked Butler. However, it is his fault that he brought in Coke to allow Pena to turn around and hit right handed when he was struggling to hit left handed all day long. Why give a struggling switch hitter a fresh start on the other side of the plate when he had shown he was struggling batting left handed? Phil Coke has got terrific stuff, but is he any better than the proven vet, Marte? What makes Marte strictly a lefty specialist and Coke not? I'm going to give Joe the benefit of the doubt. It's still early. But, these are the types of losses that teams look back on in the end of the year saying, "We should have won that game."

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NY Ink

I came across this article by Kat O'Brien in Buster Olney's blog on ESPN.com. It talks about the numerous tattoos gracing the bodies of some of the Yankee pitchers.

I thought this was interesting. Obviously tattoos are becoming more mainstream with the growing popularity of TV shows such as Miami Ink and LA Ink. I also challenge you to turn on a NBA game and find a player without a tattoo. Sports team logos are becoming more and more common as well. ( I too have joined this category) Below are just a few pieces i've come across on the web that go beyond the simple logo and push the boundaries of baseball inspired tattoo art. Enjoy!

Joba Would be Bullish in the Pen

The topic of where Joba Chamberlain best helps the Yankees, as a starter or reliever, has been one that has been discussed seemingly since the day the burly righty joined the big ballclub in late 2007. The argument of sabermetricians, that the more innings you can get from the dominant righty the better, favor Joba staying in the rotation. While his numbers from last year were very similar as a starter and as a reliever; I believe Chamberlain would best help the Yankees as a relief ace setting up for the great Mariano. His football-like mentality, his effectiveness, and his dominant stuff are best suited to be utilized out of the pen.



Joba also ran into some arm issues at the end of last year due to his conversion from reliever to starter. Some would argue that the torque put on his arm while throwing the curveball as a starter could be the root of his late season rotator cuff issues from a year ago. As a reliever, Joba will not have to rely on using the curve. His explosive fastball and devastating slider will be more than enough to get the job done late in games. Joba will also have the ability to go more than one inning out of the pen at times. This is a luxury that cannot be matched by other relievers at Joe Girardi’s disposal.

Joba coming out of the pen will also open up a chance for Phil Hughes, who still projects as an above average Major League starter to go into spring training and battle it out for the final spot with the promising Alfredo Aceves, and Ian Kennedy, who had a strong showing in the Puerto Rican Winter League this year. If Joba remains in the rotation Hughes will become nothing more than an insurance policy in case a starter goes down during the course of the season. Not a bad insurance policy to have, but Hughes has shown the potential to be so much more than just an insurance policy. Along with a strong showing in the Arizona Fall League this offseason, Hughes has committed himself to a stringent workout program to keep himself in shape and hopefully, injury free for the upcoming season.

With Joba in the rotation, the Yankees will rely on the like of Brian Bruney, Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez, and Damaso Marte to serve as the bridge to Mariano. While these relievers got the job done for the most part last season, none provide the versatility or pure stuff that Joba does. More so, Joba can take over the closers role once the great Mariano has called it a career. Although Rivera has shown no signs of slowing down, it’s only a matter of time before the greatest closer of all time bows out. The Red Sox had a similar quandary with Jonathan Papelbon. They decided he could best help the club coming out of the pen. All Papelbon has done since then is become one of the top closers in the game today.

-Favad Ali