Yup, that’s what happens when you get the early crew covering a late night game. An 8 o’clock start was pushed back a couple of hours by rain–no, by hail if you can believe it–and by the time the Magic dashed the high hopes of Lebron James and the Cavs to take a 3-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference NBA finals, I was just about shot.
It was 2-0 Texas when I fell out. Yanks couldn’t get the bit hit early against Kevin Millwood, Joba Chamberlian didn’t look great, and Melky Cabrera had to leave the game after crashing into the center field wall. The bullpen couldn’t hold it down late.
Final Score: Rangers 7, Yanks 3.
Here’s the recap from the News, Post and the Times.
The Yanks remain a game out of first place. Both Toronto and Boston lost too.
Weirdly, I passed up Bonderman's rehab start with the Mudhens for Aikido class because it was supposed to rain and thunder all day and night yesterday. So of course the heavens didn't open up until 12:40 this am, and lasted all of 20 minutes. But it was quite a light and sound show. Ah well, missing losses isn't that bad.
Never mind what I said about Joba achieving some consistency, I guess! I actually didn't watch past the first inning, but that was pretty terrible and reading through the comments, there were multiple "throw strikes!" posts.
So ... I dunno.
Joba was terrible yesterday. In fact, he really hasn't been that good all season. He only has four quality starts and even two of those were of the dubious 6 innings/3 run variety. Aside from the Detroit game, he really hasn't been dominant and, as we all know, has had the propensity of putting the team in an early hole. At some point, Joba needs to achieve both quality and consistency. Otherwise, he is giving the Yankees every reason to return him to the bullpen.
I refuse to stress over this until tonight's game. A win tonight means the Yankees have won 5 of their last 6 series, which means I have to hold off on bitching for at least a couple of days.
You know, you watch the ups and downs of all of these promising, home-grown young pitchers and it really reminds you how special Andy Pettitte has been.
[5] Indeed.
[3] Aren't you being a bit hard on Joba? Young pitchers - even the ones who go on to becomes superstars - struggle at the beginning.
A couple of years ago, Aaron Gleeman wrote about how Scott Baker was getting a raw deal from the Twins (and Twins fans), who had no tolerance for a guy with an excellent minor league track record that struggled in his first year+ of starting in the big leagues. Gleeman wisely pointed out that most young pitchers struggle, and that patience with those who have outstanding mL track records frequently pays off. He had previously compared Baker's first 160 or IP with a bunch of other Twins' pitchers who went on to have OK-to-great careers, and as you'd expect, all of them struggled in the first exposure to the big leagues.
The only way Joba will learn to be a dominant starter is if he keeps on starting. Come to think of it, that's basically the argument with Hughes too, right? What's good for one is good for the other. Any talk of moving Joba back to the pen is foolish.
[6] I am not being hard on him...his performance is what it is, to quote a famous personal trainer. Whether the Yankees should be patient is different from whether they will be. If Joba continues to be so inconsistent, it only increases the liklihood that he'll wind up in the bullpen sooner than later.
Also, Scott Baker is now 27 with an ERA+ of 68 this season and 96 for his career. Now, I don't think Joba will struggle to that degree, but if Wang and Hughes wind up pitching well and Joba still can't give you a consistent quality, well, I can't blame the Yankees for moving him back to the pen.
[6] Also, just to be clear, I don't think the Yankees should permanently move Joba to the pen.