Joba Rules

Now we're talking. Joba Chamberlain (5-2) struck out eight Tigers and yielded just one run over 6 2/3 innings, en route to a 2-1 Yankee victory and series sweep today at the stadium for Old Timers Day. Joba had his best performance since his June 1st win against the Indians, in which he went a career high eight innings, allowed two runs, and struck out five. His win today was his first since June 24th.

What Yankee fans saw today was consistency throughout the game, and perhaps even more importantly velocity. Joba's fastball was repeatedly clocked in at 94 and 95 mph. Joba also finished his start just as strong as he began - he retired the last seven batters he faced and four of the final five outs were strikeouts. The righty was also attacking hitters every at bat. One of the knocks on Joba has been that once he gets ahead of a hitter, he tries to be too fine with his location and eventually loses the count. Today he was getting ahead of hitters and throwing purpose pitches throughout.

The Yankees only scored two runs today, but of course they were homeruns, and of course they came from Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira. A-Rod's 19th came off of Tiger's starter Edwin Jackson (7-5) and tied the game at one in the fourth inning, and Tex's 23rd shot in the sixth proved to be the game winner. Mariano Rivera saved each game in this series, and is now 25/26 on the season.

The story today though is off course Joba. Chamberlain took the All-Star Break to go home to Nebraska, and regroup. Yankees color commentator Suzyn Waldman made a great point during today's radio broadcast. She said that sometimes when a pitcher is struggling, as was the case with Joba, you just need to step back, relax, and not think about pitching for awhile. In the post-game, Joba pretty much verified the point Waldman made during the game, with this statement:

"Being away for four days I kind of realized I was having fun but I wasn't being the Joba Chamberlain I should've been," he said. "That's not good enough. That's not good enough for my teammates, that's not good enough for my coaches and it's not good enough for myself."

For the year, Joba is now 5-2 with a 4.05 era and 1.52 whip. More importantly than the numbers though is consistency. Joba has turned in these types of performances before, like his June 1st start in Cleveland. But more often than not, he has followed those good starts up with a bad one. It is up to Joba now to have these types of performances on a consistent basis. If he does, he can prove to be the Yankees number three pitcher in the rotation behind C.C Sabathia and A.J Burnett. And finally, maybe he can put to rest any more talk of him going back to the bullpen.

Tidbits:

• After sweeping the series, the bombers are now 54-37. They are now just one game back in the AL East after Toronto beat Boston today 3-1.
• Watching all three games this series, it almost felt as if each game was a repeat of the previous one. The Yankees would get a good performance from their starting pitcher, Alex Rodriguez or Mark Teixeira would hit a homerun, and Mariano Rivera would shut the door in the ninth.
• The Yankees are in the middle of a ten game homestand. They begin a series with the Baltimore Orioles tomorrow, with gametime at 7:05 p.m. Southpaw Andy Pettitte (8-5) will oppose Orioles starter David Hernandez (2-2).
• Today was the 63rd Old-Timer's Day. It was great seeing Mike Mussina and Don Zimmer back as newcomers. Honestly, is there anything greater than Yankee's Old-Timer's Day?
  

(AP Photos/Seth Wenig)