Joba Chamberlain: Pitching Like the Joba of 2007
July 25, 2009 · Doug Rush · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
If there has been anyone on the Yankees who has benefited from the All Star break, it definitely has been Joba Chamberlain.
For weeks, a lot of us writers, media, well, everyone really took their shots at Chamberlain and wondered if he was a bust as a starter.
He’s definitely not pitching like a bust, but more like a man determined.
Tonight against the Oakland A’s, Joba used the same exact strategy he used in his first start back from the break against the Detroit Tigers. And the strategy was simple: attack, attack, and attack!
On Friday night against the A’s, Joba went seven solid innings, allowed only two hits and one run, walked three and struck out six, all in 99 pitches.
It looked as if he might be shaky in the first inning when Orlando Cabrera doubled off Chamberlain and then Scott Hairston hit a sacrifice fly to get the early 1-0 lead, but with Joba on the mound, the one run is all they would get.
Joba attacked the strike zone all night and when he got ahead in counts, he did not mess around as he went to his strikeout pitches and out pitches to get hitters out.
He kept his walks down tonight, only allowing three, which is a definite sign of improvement.
He also kept his pitch count down as well, which allowed him to even get into the 8th inning. Because he allowed the first two runners on in the eighth inning and hit 99 pitches, Joe Girardi had no choice but to go to the bullpen. Phil Coke did a great job in stranding the two runners Joba put on and didn’t allow his ERA to go up because of it.
Joba picked up the win and is now 6-2 on the season with a 3.86 ERA.
To me, Joba is pitching with a lot more confidence than he did in the first half and he looks like he believes he can win, the same confidence we now see in Phil Hughes in the eighth inning role.
In a postgame interview, Joba credited going home to Nebraska and getting away as part of his rejuvenation.
You can tell he is also not worrying about what people think of him as when he records a big strikeout, like he did Friday night against rookie Eric Patterson with runners on second and third and two outs, Joba broke out his patent “Joba Fist Pump” and showed enthusiasm and excitement from the strikeout.
If going home, seeing his family and his father and son was what Joba needed, then it has clearly shown because Joba looks like a new man.
No, he looks more like the Joba Chamberlain we all saw come up in 2007. The same Joba who put fear into hitters with a blistering fastball and a disappearing slider that hitters simply could not touch.
He brought the same formula into the early 2008 season, but because of injuries to Hughes, Ian Kennedy and Chien-Ming Wang, it forced Girardi to place Joba into the rotation earlier than expected.
Joba started out very well as a starter, but in August of 2008, he got injured in a game in Texas and was placed on the disabled list and was reverted back to the bullpen for the rest of 2008.
In 2009, he was made into a starter, but in his first 15 starts, he was only 4-2 and a four-plus ERA with a lot of no decisions and early exits because of high pitch counts, too many walks and too much inconsistency.
Now, the Yankees need Joba more than ever in the second half. With Wang likely done again for the season in 2009, Joba needs to keep pitching like he has against the Tigers and now the A’s, because it is helping the Yankees win games when they are counting most; when they are in first place trying to hold off the Boston Red Sox.
As long as Joba continues to pitch effectively like this, it will be almost impossible to take him out of the rotation, even with his innings limit.
If the Yankees do make a trade for another starter or two within the next six days, then putting Joba in the bullpen for the playoff stretch might not be a bad idea, because when the playoffs come, Joba is expected to go back into the bullpen.
But for now, lets not worry about that, lets worry about that come October.
Right now, Joba’s turning himself around and all of Yankee Nation is clearly enjoying it.
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