Joba Chamberlain MLB starting pitching debut story for the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star
Chamberlain's first Yankee start a tough one
NEW YORK — For 299 days, the anticipation built.
What was it going to be like? Could he be the next great Yankee starter? Is he better suited to come out of the bullpen or to start?
Since being called up last August, these questions have swirled around Joba Chamberlain. Tuesday night, the questions were to be answered in front of 53,629 eyewitnesses.
Instead, there are more questions than answers following the Yankees’ 9-3 loss to Toronto at Yankee Stadium.
This was not the debut envisioned by the Yankee brain trust of Hank Steinbrenner, Brian Cashman and Joe Girardi, or by a press box overflowing with local and national media, a Yankee-crazed city and, most importantly, by Chamberlain. Anything short of dominance was going to be a letdown.
“It didn’t do very good,” Chamberlain said. “I wanted to get my team deeper in the game and I wasn’t very good.”
Chamberlain, a Lincoln native and former Husker, threw 62 pitches in 21/3 innings before being replaced by Dan Giese, whom the Yankees called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre earlier in the day.
If you’re looking for positives, Chamberlain’s 62 pitches and 21/3 innings pitched are career highs. He gave up two runs — only one earned — on a hit and did not factor in the decision.
“Two-and-a-third was not my goal,” Chamberlain said, who said he didn’t know why he struggled.
Before the game, Johnny Damon predicted that the Yankees would need to score early against Halladay because Chamberlain was not going to pitch five innings.
Limited to 65 pitches by the Yankees, the 6-foot-3, 230-pound right-hander never acclimated himself with the strike zone of home-plate umpire Ed Hickox, routinely falling behind Toronto hitters.
“You only have so many pitches, and I did not do a good job of conserving those pitches,” Chamberlain said. “I tried to be too fine and they’re a veteran club; they did their homework.”
The first inning was laborious for Chamberlain. He threw 38 pitches in the inning, walking four batters, committing a balk and giving up a two-out base hit to Toronto third baseman Scott Rolen to allow a run to score.
“Obviously, he had a tough first inning,” said Girardi. “I thought he threw the ball pretty decent but it hurt him in pitch count.”
Before to the game, Chamberlain’s father, Harlan, marveled at the way New York City has taken to his son.
A half-full Yankee Stadium came to its feet as Chamberlain walked to the bullpen with pitching coach Dave Eiland 35 minutes before making his major-league debut as a starting pitcher.
At 7:09 p.m., as he took the Yankee Stadium mound as a starting pitcher for the first time, Chamberlain received a standing ovation from a sold out crowd. He received his last standing ovation of the evening when he was replaced by Giese after walking Blue Jays center fielder Alex Rios with one out in the third.
“It’s hard, especially when you get two-and-a-third. That’s not your goal,” Chamberlain said. “It’s frustrating to know that I didn’t get the result that I wanted.”
Publicly, the Yankee organization has said that Chamberlain is a four-pitch pitcher, believing that he has a dominant curveball and changeup to go with his fastball and slider Yet he only threw two curves Tuesday night and did not use his changeup.
“(The curve) was all right. I threw it for a strike. It’s a pitch that I almost feel more comfortable with sometimes,” Chamberlain said. “Situations didn’t call for it.”
While Chamberlain’s promotion strengthens the rotation, it weakens the Yankee bullpen. It was sixth in the American League with a 6-8 record and 3.65 ERA.
With Chamberlain in the rotation, the question is who will replace him in the set-up role. Until last night Edwar Ramirez had pitched well, with a 1-0 record in 14 appearances. Against, Toronto, Ramirez walked three, gave up a hit and allowed a run to score without recording an out in the seventh, leaving to a chorus of boos.
The other candidates, LaTroy Hawkins and Kyle Farnsworth, are Yankee Stadium whipping boys.
http://journalstar.com/articles/2008/06/04/huskerextra/baseball/doc4845fda3b75b9476278624.txt
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 8:54 AM
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