Joba Arrives, Briefly

Hours before the game, the army of Joba-clad supporters swarmed into Yankee Stadium to welcome the newly crowned king, Joba Chamberlain, to the starting rotation Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium against the Toronto Blue Jays.

But Chamberlain lasted just 2 1/3 innings in his first major league start. Uncharacteristically wild, he walked four hitters. By the final out of New York’s 9-3 loss to Toronto, most of the Joba jerseys had made their way to the exits.

“When it comes down to it, I walked too many guys,” a sober Chamberlain told reporters as he sat behind a podium in the auxiliary clubhouse after the game. “I tried to be too fine.”

Manager Joe Girardi, who insisted he expected only about four innings from Chamberlain, had given some low-key advice for the pitcher.

“Be aggressive, use your fielders,” Girardi said he told Chamberlain prior to the game. “Don’t take anything off your stuff, but you don’t have to strike every hitter out.”

It isn’t clear that those modest expectations were shared by the rabid crowd.

At 6:34, Chamberlain emerged from the dugout to head to the bullpen for pre-game warm-ups. The stands, only partially filled, rose and gave Chamberlain a sustained ovation. He crossed over the right field foul line and passed in front of the right field bleachers, whose occupants rose and gave him a second ovation. Even Lou Gehrig, after his “Luckiest Man” speech, only got one.

“Well, you don’t see that a lot, do you?” an amused Girardi said after the game. “I’ve never seen it.”

Twenty minutes after that, Derek Jeter ran onto the field in front of a much larger portion of the crowd—to complete indifference. The fans weren’t here to see some Hall of Fame shortstop. Jeter was old news. During the announcing of the lineups, each player got his requisite cheers, with Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter tied among position players. Just Joba Chamberlain’s name received a full 20 seconds of applause.

Shortly thereafter, the scoreboard displayed a woman holding a sign that read, “I flew from Australia to see Joba.”

At 7:09, Shannon Stewart stood in as sacrificial lamb, the crowd roared in anticipation of… a ball away. But Chamberlain quickly followed with a strike, both pitches at 96. Stewart fouled off a 98 MPH fastball, then his helmet came off as he foul tipped a 99 MPH offering. A pair of sliders failed to put Stewart away, and when he laid off 97 and 99 MPH fastballs high, the Joba Era began with a walk.

The crowd reacted with surprise, as if it hadn’t occurred to them the umpires could call Joba’s pitches balls. But Chamberlain had an important series of pitches after falling behind Marco Scutaro, 2-1. He got even with a called strike on his slider. He just missed with a fastball up to run the count full. But he followed with a perfect slider that had Scutaro flailing.

By the third batter, though many in crowd may not have realized it, Chamberlain showed why his talent is, in fact, too great for him to be a setup man. He began Alexis Rios with a 76 MPH curveball, meaning that he threw three pitches for strikes with a velocity range between them of 23 miles per hour. However, he didn’t return to his curveball, which he stayed away from during his relief appearances, for the rest of the inning—indeed, for the remainder of his appearance.

“It’s a pitch I actually feel more comfortable with, the feel of it,” Chamberlain said of his curveball. When asked if he planned to throw it more in subsequent starts, he responded, “It all depends on the game—the game will dictate it. If it would let me go deeper into games, second and third time through the order, I will. But until they get good swings on my fastball—they laid off my fastball and slider.”

Chamberlain answered the need for his curveball in this response—the Blue Jays laid off the fastball and slider when there wasn’t a curveball to change their rhythm or eye level.

The very next batter proved this point. Chamberlain tried to blow three fastballs past Scott Rolen. The first, Rolen missed. The second, Rolen fouled off. The third, Rolen grounded into right field for a base hit.

Then Chamberlain lost the plate. He fell behind Matt Stairs 3-0 and Lyle Overbay 2-1, ultimately walking both. He passed 30 pitches, and the pitcher brought up specifically to replace him, Dan Geise, started throwing in the bullpen.

However, against Rod Barajas, the dominant Chamberlain returned. He threw a pair of superb sliders, to get ahead, 0-2. After Barajas fouled off a third slider, none of the three above 86 MPH, Chamberlain threw him a 98 MPH fastball up. Barajas had no chance, swinging well behind it, and Joba was through the initial inning. The problem? Chamberlain threw 38 pitches, more than half of his allotted total. Girardi said after the game that had Barajas reached, Chamberlain’s night would have ended right there.

After the Yankees put two runs on the board, taking some of the pressure off, Chamberlain emerged for his second inning. And he came out throwing strikes. He got ahead of Brad Wilkerson 0-2 on a pair of fastballs, eventually inducing a fly out to left. Then he reached back and added velocity, striking out David Eckstein on five fastballs, four of them at least 97 MPH. And he threw all fastballs to Shannon Stewart, eventually getting him to fly out to right. This approach resulted in fewer pitches and good short-term success—a scoreless inning on just 16 pitches. But starters, or even relievers, cannot live on fastballs alone—that is no recipe for long-term success.

Fifty-four pitches wiser, Chamberlain went back out for the third inning. Just by taking the mound for his third inning of work, Chamberlain set a new standard for length in his major league career. And Chamberlain stuck to the fastball, throwing five straight to Marco Scutaro before Scutaro flew out to the fence in right field. He then threw four straight balls to Alexis Rios, three of them fastballs.

Joe Girardi came to remove Chamberlain after 62 pitches to scattered boos—the fans were upset that the show was over. But Chamberlain, despite throwing a fairly pedestrian 2 1/3 innings, left to sustained cheers. He acknowledged the standing ovation by tipping his cap, but appeared to be at odds with the verdict of the fans.

“Comfortable will be being able to help this ballclub,” Chamberlain said. “And two and a third was uncomfortable for me.”

The cap he had doffed was quickly thrown to the ground when he entered the dugout, followed by his glove. Chamberlain was greeted by some teammates, but soon sat alone in the dugout, hands folded in his lap. On this night, he was just another Yankee starter who failed to make it out of the third inning.

He was asked after the game whether people were simply expecting too much.

Chamberlain replied, “No, because I expected more of myself.”