Didja hear?!
NEW YORK — Joba Chamberlain is starting! Did you hear?! Yeah, he was in the bullpen for the Yankees and now he’s starting. Cool, huh? Isn’t it awesome? No, I’m not making it up. I’m serious. It’s the greatest thing ever…
Well, that’s what it felt like picking up any of the newspapers here in NYC today. Holy Hype, Batman. Talk about going a bit Joberboard with a story. See what I did there? But, hey, it’s nothing new here in the Apple. What would be a minor deal elsewhere becomes a big deal around here, especially when the Yanks are involved.
“That’s just New York,” Jays skip John Gibbons said. “They hype everything. It’s always been that way here and over at Shea and everything. That’s why it’s such a unique and exciting place to go to. There’s always something going on.”
Someone asked if facing Joba amidst all the hype could be something that adds some extra motivation for Jays ace Roy Halladay (Remember him? He’s starting tonight, too, apparently, though I couldn’t find a Toronto pitcher listed anywhere in the papers out here).
“He may not even know who’s pitching tonight,” Gibbons said with a laugh. “He’s so locked in.”
The Jays are just hoping Joba doesn’t go all Shaun Marcum on them, throwing a no-hitter until his 65-70 pitch limit kicks in (see Jays vs. Rays on May 13, 2007). Hey, at least Toronto doesn’t have to face Chamberlain’s 99-mph heater in the eighth inning before possibly having to take on Mariano Rivera.
“We’re not going to miss him in that eighth inning, I’ll tell you that,” Gibbons said. “We know going in that he’s on a pitch limit, so hopefully we can kick that up on him pretty quick — get him out of there and get to their bullpen.”
Their bullpen sans Joba, of course.
Today’s lineups:
TORONTO (31-28) at NEW YORK (28-29)
at 7:05 p.m. ET at Yankee Stadium
BLUE JAYS
Shannon Stewart, LF
Marco Scutaro, 2B
Alex Rios, CF
Scott Rolen, 3B
Matt Stairs, DH
Lyle Overbay, 1B
Rod Barajas, C
Brad Wilkerson, RF
David Eckstein, SS
PITCHING: RHP Roy Halladay (6-5, 2.93)
YANKEES
Johnny Damon, LF
Derek Jeter, SS
Bobby Abreu, RF
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Hideki Matsui, DH
Jason Giambi, 1B
Robinson Cano, 2B
Jose Molina, C
Melky Cabrera, CF
PITCHING: RHP Joba Chamberlain (1-2, 2.28)
Major League Bastian 
Jordan,
What is your opinion on Chamberlain going into the rotation?
I miss watching Wells. Jamie made the point tonight that Rios just tied him for the team lead in RBI’s. I know RBI’S aren’t everything but it really shows me how much they’ve been struggling offensively when a guy can miss as much time as he has and still lead the team in that category. He’d take Rios out of the 3rd spot in the lineup where he doesn’t belong (at least not at the moment) and provide us with 2 gold glove calibre outfeilders instead of one. Here’s hoping for a quick recovery.
Meanwhile Joba is already out of the game which is great to see. His stuff looks fantastic but the guy needs to learn to keep his emotions in check. It looked like he expected the Jays hitters to swing at every pitch he threw out of the strike zone. He’s Only 21 though so he’s got plenty of time to work on that.
I guess if you showed up late to the game, you missed Chamberlain, lol.
He was quite nervous out there. The eyes of the baseball world were watching. I think the Yankees were better served if he made his first start on the road.
The Yankees defintely have there fair amount of rag tag arms in the pen. Other than Rivera, nobody I would want on my team. I think the Yankees consecutive seasons of making the playoffs will come to a close at the end of this season. Sox, Jays and Rays are better than New York. Yankees pen without Chamberlain is a total mess!!! That will kill them too many times during the season. These guys will be toast by the end of August for sure. They need some big time help in that pen!!!!
Its nice to see the Jays’ bats are still rolling, the bottom three guys in the order all have 2 hits a piece, including Barajas’ 2 doubles. Hopefully this can continue and the Jays will find them self winning, and perhaps sweeping more series.
I do agree with you brian, its tough to win games like the Yankees are expected to when you don’t have a reliable bullpen to back up your starters. Moreover the Yankees rotation isn’t in working order anyways, who knows how poorly they turn out this year.
I want to commend Shaun Marcum for the tremendous transition from reliever to starter last year . After reading all the hype about Joba then seeing his difficulties last night , Marcum is truly the Jays phenom , thrown into the rotation and pitching his “no hitter”.
Joba has always been a starter , pitching only 4 innings of relief in the minors , a few innings last year in the majors ( he was called up in sept) and the innings he has pitched this year. He should have transitioned easier but I think the indecision of the NY brass , reliever/ starter and the pressure/publicity of pitching in NY took its toll on him . I am glad it was the Jays who received the benefit of the circus.
Doc was Doc, threw a few more pitches then normal but Yanks batters are patient and take more pitches. It was nice he could sit back and watch the rest of the game though I am sure he was more than willing to go back out and finish what he started.
As for McGowan , Litsch and Burnett, they have been fantastic. Litsch in his first full year started out rough but has really picked it up . Burnett, when he is on is unhittable. He probably has the best stuff , if he could only learn better control and stay healthy . The Jays have the best pitching in the AL , too bad they don’t get the kudos they deserve .
Have a great day all and take care .
It took me a while to wrestle the remote from my wife last night so I missed Joba. Typical New York Media, you get the feeling like he is going to be the Next Rocket, well hopefully not with the young ladies. I was at that Marcum No-hit six innings, man was I pissed when Gibbons pulled him.