On a night when A-Rod hit two bombs (only one that counted, though) and the Yanks won a laugher 8-0, the talk of the town is Joba Chamberlain.
If you tuned out after the 7th inning, you missed two innings of work from Joba in which he threw 35 pitches, walked 2, struck out 3, gave up 1 hit and working in his full repertoire of pitches. After the game, Joe Girardi made it official. This was the beginning of the transition from Joba the reliever to Joba the starter.
It's a good thing
tonight's game was a laugher, because the Joba situation brings up a boatload of questions. Foremost among them, is who will take over the 8th inning role. Peter Abraham has some good guesses. Nominally, it will probably be Farnsworth, but we'll probably see Edwar, Ohlendorf and maybe even Veras make a couple of appearances in the spot. Abraham also points to J.B. Cox and Mark Melancon who were recently promoted to AAA and AA respectively. Either one, or both, could make their way to the bigs in the same manner Joba did last year. If they excel at the new levels and/or someone falters in the Yankee pen.
The next question is what is the time frame. I can see sending him out there to throw 35 pitches again, maybe you can even stretch him to 50 pitches in relief (although it wouldn't be easy to schedule a 4-inning relief appearance), but beyond that, he's going to have to start a couple of games on a very limited pitch count. Do you have him start those games for the Yanks? Maybe you have he and Kennedy or Rasner split games, with Joba starting until he reaches his pitch count, and the other guy in long relief of him? I don't know. The original plan was to send him to AAA where he could really stretch it out, pitch every five days, and slowly build the arm strength back up. At this point, I'm not sure that's the route they're going to take.
Left unanswered, and it will remain so until July, at least, is where Joba will fit into the rotation. More importantly, who will be the odd man (or men) out. If Rasner keeps pitching like he did tonight, I don't see how you can remove him from the rotation. If he stays that means Kennedy and Hughes are bumped. If Rasner moves to long relief, either Kennedy or Hughes will be on the first bus back to Scranton/WB. It's an interesting problem to have. Personally, I think Kennedy would probably benefit more from some time in AAA. Hughes needs to get healthy and get back out there facing major league hitters.
I'll be at the stadium tomorrow night to see IPK. Unfortunately, I probably won't get there until the 3rd inning due to grand jury duty, but I'll be there. Is two wins in a row too much to ask?
Player of The Game: A-Rod. 3/4, 2 doubles, 1 dong, 2 RBI, 2 runs.
Team Record: 21-25
Damon: First swing of the game, broken bat on a foul ball.
Did they put a timeframe on when they expect Joba in the starting lineup?
This could be a Rivera/Wetteland scenario. 7th and 8th of Joba, 9th of Rivera. At least a couple of times until they do something else. Either way, this is very intriguing and will be interesting to watch.
And if you're sitting anywhere near Tier 6 (upper deck behind home plate) let me know and I'll buy you a beer.
Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I think Edwar should be the 8th inning guy. Farnsworth has a hard, straight fastball that goes about 500 feet anytime anyone makes contact with it. Edwar, meanwhile, has an incredible "out pitch" in his change-up, and has seemed less eager to rely on his change-up this year. He seems to be throwing more fastballs, setting up the change-up more effectively.
Also, no comment about A-Rod getting robbed of a HR? After three blown HR calls in a single week, I think it's obvious baseball needs some sort of a replay system. However, the stuck-in-the-mud, anti-progressive "traditionalists" will probably fight it tooth and nail.
I love when I hear people say "it will disrupt the flow of the game!!!", like Tim Kurkjian said about it on the radio this morning. What's more disruptive: An umpire taking 15 seconds to look at a replay, or the umpires huddling up for 2 minutes debating the call, followed by the manager coming out of the dugout and arguing for another 5 minutes?
The other argument is "Well, then they will review everything, and the game will take forever!"
No. Make it a challenge system like in football. Manager gets two challenges per game, that he can use on debated foul balls, close plays at first, phantom tags, etc. Plus, you could make all close plays in the 9th inning or later automatic reviews, like the NFL's last-two-minutes-of-the-half rule.
Sorry for the tangent...