Crazy hot in New York.  Don’t be a Herb, keep hydrated.

In his first major league start last Tuesday, Joba Chamberlain was both inefficient and undermined by his pitch count. The Blue Jays entered the game with a game plan of taking pitches to get Chamberlain out of the game, and it worked like a charm. Chamberlain is a swing-and-miss pitcher who has thus far in his major league career succeeded by fooling hitters with nose-diving sliders and blowing them away with fastballs that are often above the strike zone. By letting those pitches go by, the Jays were able to draw four walks and drive Chamberlain from the game after just 2 1/3 innings despite picking up just one hit, a weak single through the infield.

Today, with a higher pitch limit and facing a less accomplished team, Chamberlain faced 18 batters before walking one, and pitched into the fifth inning despite throwing just 16 more pitches than in his previous start. In his first start, Chamberlain threw just one more than half of his pitches for strikes, but facing the Royals today, he threw 68 percent of his 78 pitches for strikes. In his first start he threw just two curveballs and otherwise stuck to his fastball and slider. Today, he threw eight curveballs and three changeups.

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After my visit to the Farmer’s Market yesterday I just had to stop on 207 to get the best chicken I’ve been able to find uptown. Doesn’t matter that they don’t speak English in there. It ain’t hard to say “Pollo.” I didn’t care that I had to wait 25 minutes at the lunch counter, with the homely but tough and unsmiling dark-skinned women just inches away, everyone sweating profusely. The chicken is worth the wait. Plus, I like the commotion, the smells, the language, the music, the heat and the sweat.

Speaking of mmm, mmm good, we’ve got a tasty pitching match-up today at the Stadium, as the talented Mr. Greinke goes against Joba Chamberlain. It’s going to be nothing short of oppressive as far as the heat is concerned. Should be interesting to see if these two young pitchers can keep the ball from flying out of the yard.

Over at the Post, Mike Vaccaro writes about Joba and ‘splains why, at last count, there are 43,792 compelling reasons why baseball is the greatest game. Which brings to mind a smug, but amusing piece that Tom Boswell wrote years ago, “99 Reasons Why Baseball is Better Than Football.”

Here are just a couple:

9. Baseball has a bullpen coach blowing bubble gum with his cap turned around backward while leaning on a fungo bat; football has a defensive coordinator in a satin jacket with a headset and a clipboard.

25. More good baseball books appear in a single year than have been written about football in the past fifty years.

37. Baseball statistics open a world to us. Football statistics are virtually useless or, worse, misleading.

54. At a football game, you almost never leave saying, “I never saw a play like that before.” At a baseball game, there’s almost always some new wrinkle.

64. Baseball means Spring’s Here. Football means Winter’s Coming.

78. In baseball, fans catch foul balls. In football, they raise a net so you can’t even catch an extra point.

82. Football coaches walk across the field after the game and pretend to congratulate the opposing coach. Baseball managers head right for the beer.

86. Baseball measures a gift for dailiness.

89. Football is played best full of adrenaline and anger. Moderation seldom finds a place. Almost every act of baseball is a blending of effort and control; too much of either is fatal.

92. Turning the car radio dial on a summer night.

Let’s everyone try and stay cool today while the Yankee bats stay hot.

At one point, Louie grabs his grandson’s bottle of Gatorade and takes a drink.  The boy says, "Aw, Grandpa, it’s too hot to be sharing drinks."

Louie chuckles and says, "That’s okay, cause in a little while it’s gunna be too hot to be paying for any drinks." 

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Fireworks in the Boogie Down.

The Yankees won a wild one on a scorching hot afternoon in the Bronx. Down 5-1 early, they rallied to tie the game, chasing Brian Bannister in the process. They took the lead in the fifth on a long solo home run, an upper deck job, by Jason Giambi. But Andy Pettitte couldn’t hold it. He was Bad Andy early and Bad Andy late today. The Royals tied the game at six in the seventh inning and then Jose Guillen ripped a high fastball off Pettitte for a grand slam.

The Yanks were not done. Alex Rodriguez absolutely crushed a two-run dinger in the bottom of the inning–the ball short-hopped the retaining wall of the left field bleachers, and then Johnny Damon singled home two runs in the eighth to tie the game again, this time at ten. The Yanks still had a chance to go ahead. With two men on, Bobby Abreu hit a long line drive to left center field for the second out before Rodriguez grounded out to end the inning.

So what happens next? David DeJesus smacks the first pitch he sees from Mariano Rivera, a flat cutter that got too much of the plate, for a home run into the right center field bleachers and the air goes out of the Stadium. Silence. It reminded me of when I was at the Garden and Reggie Miller scored seven points in the last twenty seconds against the Knicks. It wasn’t that upsetting but it was that quiet. And it was hotter today too.

An unshaven Rivera turned to watch the ball and flexed his right hand open several times. It was the first homer Rivera has allowed since last August, a span of 45 innings. He shook and then bowed his head, came back and retired the next three batters in order.

Joakim Soria got Jason Giambi to line out to start the ninth and then Jorge Posada slammed the first pitch he saw into the right field seats and the game was even one more time. Posada’s shot was a liner, only question was if it was going to stay fair.

“Whoever loses this game, that’s about as hard a loss to take right there.” said David Cone on the YES broadcast.

Soira retired Robbie Cano, walked Wilson Betemit, and then gave up a full-swing, cheap-o, infield single to Melky Cabrera. Damon worked the count in his favor and then lined the 3-1 pitch on a hop to the right field wall, good for the game winner. Oh, it was Damon’s sixth hit of the game, giving him a nifty 6-6, 4 RBI line. It was also the first “walk off” hit in Damon’s career as a Yank.

That was exhausting, but the final score is sweet:

Yanks 12, Royals 11.

The Yanks need a bounce-back win this afternoon against one of Joe Posnanski’s favorites, Brian Bannister.  It is hotter n July hot in the Bronx today–hot, hazy, dumb hot.  Andy Pettitte goes for the Yanks.  The ball should be a-jumping, boy. 

Keep cool, y’all and…

Let’s go Yan-Kees!

“We think our team should get over that .500 mark,” said Damon, who went 0 for 5 to end his 14-game hitting streak. “We had a great game yesterday, and today our offense puttered. That shouldn’t happen to our offense. We’re supposed to be better than this.”
(Kepner, N.Y. Times)

Darrell Rasner pitched eight effective innings on Friday night, throwing 118 pitches in all, the most for a Yankee pitcher this season. He left trailing 2-1 and lost the game 2-1. What a drag. In the bottom of the eighth, with two out and runners on first and second, Jason Giambi was called out on a full-count, check-swing. It was a bogus call, but sold experptly by the Kansas City catcher, and it effectively ended the Yankees’ night.

“I took a good at-bat, can’t do anything more than that,” Giambi said after cooling off for almost an hour after the game ended. “I really love and respect (home plate umpire) Ed Montague and I’d never say anything bad against him. There’s not much else I can do about it now.”
(Peter Botte, N.Y. Daily News)

It says something about Montague’s reputation that Giambi didn’t rip him even thought he was unhappy with the call. But one call did not do them in; the Yankee bats were silenced by Kyle Davies. The men in pinstripes also got a look at Joakim Soria, Kansas City’s impressive young closer. He did not disappoint, overpowering the Yanks in the 9th.

While the big boys fizzled, Tyler Kepner brings word of a wild night in the minors. Chad Jennings adds that Jeff Kartsens is close to returning.

In other news, the Yanks are talking to Brian Cashman about extending the GM’s contract. According to Peter Botte in the Daily News:

The organization’s co-chairman said the sides are “a ways away” from announcing a contract extension, adding “there’s a good chance” such an agreement will not be done until after the 2008 season.

“I told him we want him back and he wants to come back, but he’ll take some time to talk it over with his family,” Steinbrenner said Friday. “I feel comfortable with leaving the baseball end of it in his hands. But I also told him he has to make up his mind on what he wants to do. Obviously, nobody’s irreplaceable.

“But we want him to stay. I want to make that clear.”

I have been assuming that Cashman would finally bolt after this year, but perhaps he’ll stay after all. I’m no expert on his track record but I’ve always admired the way Cashman conducts his business and would be pleased to see him stay with the Yanks.

On the morning of May 19, the Royals were a game under .500 and just two games out of first place in the American League Central division. That night they were no-hit by Jon Lester at Fenway Park, a humiliating loss that kicked off a 12-game losing streak. That streak was snapped last Saturday when tonight’s starter, Kyle Davies, in his first major league start of the year, beat C.C. Sabathia in Kansas City. The Royals took two of three from the Indians in that series, but were then swept by the White Sox. Now 10.5 games back and in last place in the Central, the Royals arrive in the Bronx 14 games under .500 with the second worst record in the American League and the third-worst record in baseball.

On the season, the Royals have scored the fewest runs per game in the major leagues. Their pitching has been solid in their home park, but on the road, where the Royals still have an active 11-game losing streak dating back to Lester’s no-hitter, they’ve allowed 5.22 runs per game.

The Royals best hitter to this point in the season has been catcher Miguel Olivo (.286/.314/.541), who started the season as John Buck’s backup and has just five walks in 140 plate appearances. Zack Greinke, who will start on Sunday against Joba Chamberlain, is the only established Royals starter with an ERA at or above league average. The back end of the bullpen–closer Joakim Soria, lefty Ron Mahay, former Yankee farmhand Ramon Ramirez, and injured set-up man Leo Nuñez–has been strong, but they’ve been of little value with the Royals winning just two of their last 17 games.

Tonight, Kyle Davies makes his second start of the year coming off his five-inning win against Sabathia (who, incidentally, pitched an eight-inning complete game, but lost 4-2). Davies was dreadful last year after coming over from the Braves for Octavio Dotel, and is best remembered by Yankee fans for having surrendered Alex Rodriguez’s 500th home run (a clip I’m sure YES will show about that many times tonight). He’s only 24 and has a career 2.86 ERA in the minor leagues, but most of that success came below triple-A and prior to 2005. This year, Davies put up a 2.06 ERA in ten triple-A starts, but had a limp 1.85 K/BB ratio and only struck out two men against three walks in his last start.

He’ll face Darrell Rasner, who had his first poor outing of the year (in the majors or minors) last time out in Minnesota. Even still, Rasner struck out five men against two walks in 5 1/3 innings and kept his team in the game, falling two outs and one run shy of a fifth-straight quality start.

Rasner will throw to Jose Molina tonight, which is odd, not because the Yankees are hesitant to start Jorge Posada on back-to-back days just yet, but because Rasner’s been pitching to Chad Moeller nearly all season (again both in the majors and minors). The rest of the Yankee regulars surround Molina in the order, including yesterday’s hero, Jason Giambi, who’s back at first base, and Posada is expected to start the next two days.

In bullpen news, LaTroy Hawkins’ three-game suspension was upheld. He’ll serve it tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday. Also, Chris Britton pulled an oblique warming up yesterday and has been placed on the DL. Dan Giese, who was just sent down to make room for Posada, thus returns shy of the ten-day minimum and will likely shadow Joba’s start on Sunday after all. I leave it to you to decide exactly how fishy that makes Britton’s injury appear.

Finally, per reader Travis08 in the previous thread about Yankee killers, the Yanks should beware Kansas City first baseman Ross Gload, a career .288/.327/.419 hitter who has hit .446/.475/.696 in 61 career plate appearances against the Yankees. It will be interesting to see if that small-sample success will be enough for Trey Hillman to play Gload against the left-handed Pettitte tomorrow, as Hillman’s had Gload and John Buck in a complex platoon of late with Buck catching, Olivo DHing, DH Jose Guillen returning to right field, and right fielder Mark Teahen shifting to first against lefties (Gload is 0 for 3 career against Pettitte).

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Last week on ESPN, I overheard an announcer ribbing Yankee fans for labeling anyone who gets more than a few hits against the Bronx Bombers as "Yankee killers."  Alex Rios has a twenty-someodd game hitting streak vs. New York, but there has to be a difference between someone who fares well and someone who is a killer, no?  George Brett certainly stands out in my mind as someone who gave the Yanks a hard time (.307/.365/.504 in 203 games).  Who else are some of the legitimate Yankee Killers of all-time?   

“Listen, I loved the way our guys reacted,” [Ray’s manager, Joe] Maddon said. “I thought it was tremendous. The unity that was displayed, it’s part of us growing as a group. Unfortunately, we did not win the game, but I do like the fact that our guys did defend one another. I think that’s great and speaks well for us. I’m very pleased with every one of them.”
(Tampa Bay Online)

I caught the end of the Sox-Rays game the other night just in time to see Coco Crisp’s hard slide into second base and the ensuing reaction from the Rays. Last night, I saw the full highlights from the Shields-Crisp/Rays vs. Crisp fight. It wasn’t really all that as far as fights go. Shields plunked Crisp, Crisp charged the mound, Shields threw a haymaker and missed, Crisp landed a soft jab, and then Crisp was tackled. The Rays played dogpile on the rabbit but it didn’t look as if anyone got any real shots in (Gomes looked as if he was, but that wasn’t really the case), just a lot of poking and scratching like you see in football. After the game, a defiant Crisp talked about how the Rays fight like “girls.”

Later, Manny and Youk got into it a little something in the Sox dugout. Oh, and the bottom line: the Red Sox pounded the Rays. Swept them out of first place. I think Crisp comes off looking like a punk. Then again, if I was waiting for a full day for someone to plunk me, perhaps I’d charge the mound as well. The Manny-Youk thing is really a non-story. I’m sure this kind of thing happens all the time, just not in the dugout. Hell, the great Yankee teams of the late 70s were built on that kind of creative tension. I sure don’t see it impacting Youk or Manny on the field.

The Rays are a work in progress. The Sox are World Champs. ‘Nuff said.

There hasn’t been as much fighting in recent years. Remember, the 98 Yanks had a few, including that famous one against the Orioles. The 86 Mets had more than a few. Oh, and one last thing on the punch Shields threw at Crisp. It reminded me of the roundhouse that Dave Winfield once threw, and landed, on Nolan Ryan. Remember that one?

Props to the guys at River Avenue Blues and No Maas’ specially created Draft Day Blog (by Lane Meyer) for their extensive coverage of yesterday’s draft. Just terrific work.

“We’re putting a great arm in the rotation that we believe is going to win games,” [Joe Girardi] argued in response to the veteran outfielder’s comments in yesterday’s Daily News. “I want to know the games that we’ve sacrificed by doing what we did. Everyone is assuming that we would have won that game in Baltimore if we had Joba in the bullpen that night. You’re pretty smart if you know that. Everyone is assuming we would have won the game in Minnesota if we had Joba in the bullpen that night. It doesn’t always work that way.

“I think people make the assumption that if he’s in the bullpen, you’re going to win every game. That’s not the case.”
(N.Y. Daily News)

More than a few panicky Yankee fans are not pleased about Joba Chamberlain becoming a starter. I’ve encountered several over the past few days. I am not one of them. I think it’s great that Chamberlain is returning to his original pitching position. Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus agrees:

I have to give the Yankees full credit here. I insisted that once they started the year with Chamberlain in the bullpen, they wouldn’t move him midseason. Given the dropoff from Chamberlain to the next-best reliever in that pen (Kyle Farnsworth or Edwar Ramirez or LaTroy Hawkins), I expected that the team wouldn’t deny Joe Girardi his eighth-inning security blanket in the middle of a pennant race. I remain surprised by the decision. It’s driven by the failures of Hughes and Kennedy (as well as Kei Igawa in a cameo role) to provide quality pitching at the back end of the rotation as much as it is by the desire to maximize the long-term value of Chamberlain. Nevertheless, the right decision for the wrong reasons has its appeal.

The move will work out for both parties. Chamberlain has the build and the repertoire to be a good starter, especially now that he’ll be more than a fastball/slider pitcher. The Yankees have been extremely conservative with his arm and his workload—I actually wonder if some day we’ll look back at the handling of Joba Chamberlain as some kind of peak in the handling of young pitchers, where the industry eventually backed away a bit from being quite so cautious with them. Chamberlain has thrown fewer than 800 pitches since being called to the majors last August, and he had a pitch count in last night’s game of around 60 tosses. There’s a wide, wide gulf between that and what Chamberlain can safely manage, and the Yankees have to start closing that gap to maximize both his potential and their chance of getting back into the AL East race.

Chamberlain will make his second start on Sunday against the Royals. It is supposed to be in the mid-90s in New York this weekend.

In addition to this afternoon’s thrilling comeback victory, the Yankees have been doing more good work in the draft, particularly with their first pick. There’s a ton of coverage and analysis being posted all over the net, so I’ll make some attempt to gather things in this post as I find them. Check back for updates. Also, follow this link for three-minute MLB scouting videos on the players below.

First Round (28th pick):

RHP Gerrit Cole, Orange Lutheran High School, California

Kevin Goldstein, Baseball Prospectus: This is a great pick on a talent/slot level. Most talented high school pitcher in the draft, and the Yankees can pay him. As bad as the Brackman pick was last year . . . that’s how good this one is. I’m not a big fan of low arm slot guys, but at 28, this is a fantastic pick for the Bombers.

Keith Law, ESPN: This is a great pick; he fell to the Yankees for financial reasons. Cole has the best arm among the prep pitchers in the draft. He has a loose, quick arm. He has the best fastball of the high school pitchers; it tops out 97 mph. He needs more consistency on the breaking ball. And he needs to just throw his changeup instead of guiding it. He’s a high-ceiling arm that could be a No. 1 starter. If that doesn’t work, he could be a dominant reliever.

Baseball America: Cole is the best righthander out of Southern California since Phil Hughes starred at Santa Ana’s Foothills High in 2004.

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Hell of a game in the Bronx today. The Yanks jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Dustin McGowan in the first, but Chien-Ming Wang gave those runs back in the fourth on a two-run pop-fly home run off the top of the right field wall by Matt Stairs.

Once again, Wang wasn’t sharp. Of his 90 pitches, just 12 were sliders and only one was a changeup. Wang got strike three of his four Ks with those secondary pitches, but every other pitch he threw was a sinker, and too many of them were either up or out of the zone. Wang started the fifth inning by walking Joe Inglett, the fourth free pass he issued on the afternoon. After a groundout, pesky David Eckstein reached on an infield single. Alex Rios then hit a soft fly ball to center field, but Inglett, apparently thinking there were two outs, took off like a rocket from second base. It was a terribly play by Inglett, but it appeared to distract Melky Cabrera as the ball ticked off the pinky of his glove and fell for a run-scoring error. With that, Wang folded. He hit Scott Rolen with a pitch, gave up a booming double in the left-center-field gap to Stairs, and another down the right field line to Lyle Overbay. Joe Girardi pulled his starter at that point, but the damage was done. The Yankees were down 7-2.

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After posting a 2.90 ERA through his first nine starts, Chien-Ming Wang has a 7.91 ERA over his last three. What’s gone wrong and can he pull out of it? Here are some of Wang’s rates from his first nine starts vs. his last three:

Wang’s been bad across the board over his last three starts with one surprising exception, his ground ball rate has actually been higher of late. Now compare those two sets of rates to Wang’s career rates entering the year:

Save for the walk and caught stealing rates, his peripherals from his last three games wouldn’t have seemed out of place coming from the Chien-Ming Wang of the last three years. That was the sinkerballer with the alarmingly low strikeout rates who seemed to be defying the odds. Over his first nine starts of this year, Wang was a different pitcher, mixing his pitches more and thus spiking his strikeout rate at the cost of a few groundballs, some of which would have gone for hits. The result was real dominance, but it seems Wang has gotten away from that and reverted not only back to the one-trick pitcher he was, but beyond it to a pitcher suffering from his inability to miss bats.

There’s more to it than that, certainly, but just when Wang looked to be making the leap from the Yankee ace to one of the best pitchers in baseball, he’s taken a mighty stumble. Remarkably, the Yankees have won two of his last three starts (by scored of 6-5 and 7-6) and are still 9-3 in Wang’s starts on the year.

Today, Wang and the Yanks take on Dustin McGowan, who has the fastest average fastball among all major league starters according to FanGraphs, looking to take the series from Toronto and get the Yanks back to .500.

Wilson Betemit remains at first base as Jason Giambi is still nursing his bruised foot, but Jorge Posada is behind the plate for the first time since April 26.

In addition to Posada’s return, the amateur draft kicks off at 2pm today. Two years ago the Yankees’ first two picks were Ian Kennedy and Joba Chamberlain with the 21st and 41st overall picks, both of which were received as compensation when Tom Gordon signed with the Phillies. The Yankee farm system is packed with exciting prospects (most of them pitchers) from the last three drafts. Today, the Yankees and scouting director Damon Oppenheimer (the man who has been making the picks since 2005) will add to that crop starting with the 28th overall pick and the 44th overall pick, the latter of which they received as compensation when Luis Vizcaino signed with the Rockies.

Were the expectations of Joba Chamberlain’s debut as a starter a media creation, as Big Stein the Younger said? Did the spoiled sector of the Yankee fan base add to the unrealistic bar that was set? Did the Yankees bring this on themselves by messing with a good thing in the short term for a potential benefit in the long term? It depends on what you read and what you choose to believe.

True: Chamberlain started most of last year in Triple-A until he was tabbed as the Next Big Thing in the bullpen (not a media creation; an organizational decision).

True: Chamberlain teased us with a phenomenal Shane Spencerish, lightning-in-a-bottle performance in late-summer, solidifying a bullpen that was nowhere outside of Mariano Rivera. In fact, his performance was on par with 1995-96 level Rivera, and 2002 Francisco Rodriguez, the Playoff Edition.

True: Injuries to fellow young guns Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, who started the year in the rotation but have gone winless, likely forced the Yankees’ hand.

True: The Yankees had Chamberlain on a tight pitch count. But what was it? 65? 70? Different reports had different numbers? Unless they went to different sources in the organization, there should have been a consistent number. And the editors should have picked up on it. I can hear the voices of two of my formative journalism professors now: "Be careful with numbers. First, make sure you get them right, and don’t overuse them. They should only enhance the story, not be the story." Bottom line, get the number right, guys.

True: The Yankees’ middle relief … well, you and I have a better chance of getting outs than Edwar (leave off the last D for disappointing outing) Ramirez, Jose Veras and "What is" Kyle Farnsworth, thanks to this move. In short, the bullpen could be bull$&!#@ real fast.

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Mike Mussina cruised into the sixth inning last night, holding the Blue Jays scoreless while striking out a season-high six men. With two out and Alex Rios on first via Mussina’s only walk of the game in the sixth, he appeared to strike out Alex Rios Scott Rolen, but home plate umpire C.B. Bucknor didn’t deliver the punch out. Rios walked and scored on a Scott Rolen doubled Rios home, but that was all the Blue Jays would get all night as Ross Ohlendorf, Kyle Farnsworth, and Mariano Rivera each turned in a scoreless inning to nail down a 5-1 Yankee win and deliver Mussina’s ninth win of the year.

The Yankee scoring started in the third inning when Jose Molina and Johnny Damon singled off Toronto starter Jesse Litsch and Derek Jeter plated Molina with a single that pushed the captain past Mickey Mantle on the all-time hit list. The Yanks got two more in the fourth on a Wilson Betemit homer, a Robinson Cano double, and a Melky Cabrera homer single, all of which came with two outs. After Litch left the game, the Yanks added a run in the sixth (which was charged to Litsch) and one more in the seventh to set the final score.

It was a nice easy win that saw the four Yankee pitchers combine to strike out nine Jays and allow just one run on six hits and a walk. It was particularly encouraging to see Ohlendorf pitch well in short relief and pick up a hold, as that’s the role he was intended to fill back in spring training and a role in which he’s now very much needed.

As for the offense, consider the fact that Roy Halladay and Jesse Litsch had allowed a total of two runs in their last two starts combined totaling 33 innings, but the Yankees scored six runs off them in 11 1/3 combined innings over the last two nights and get Jorge Posada back today. The Yankees also pulled a half game ahead of the Orioles and can get back to .500 and win this series with a victory this afternoon.

In his final year in pinstripes, Jeff Nelson compiled a 6-0 record out of the bullpen by May 9, putting him on pace for 31 relief wins. He won two more games all year, finishing with an 8-4 record. In his seventh start of this season, Chien-Ming Wang ran his record to 6-0, putting him on a 30-win pace. Since then he’s gone 0-2 in five starts. Mike Mussina enters tonight’s game with eight wins, putting him in a five-way tie for third place in the majors behind Brandon Webb (10-2) and the surprising Joe Saunders (9-2). I’d still be surprised if he wins more than 15 on the year.

Moose has eight wins because he’s had 5.28 runs of support per game thus far and has earned the decision in every one of his 12 starts. Despite his eight wins, Mussina has just five quality starts (four if you use the stringent < 3 R rule rather than the looser < 3 ER standard). In his last three outings he's allowed 15 runs in 11 2/3 innings, but eight of those runs were unearned (all scoring after Mussina failed to pick up his defense following a first-inning error) and he's gone 2-1 in those games. Mussina has exceeded expectations beyond his 8-4 record, but that is largely due to how low the expectations were for him entering the season.

Twenty-three-year-old Jesse Litsch is 7-1 on the season and didn’t allow a run in either of his last two starts, totaling 16 innings. Over his last six starts he’s posted a 1.67 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, averaged over seven innings per start, and walked just two men in 43 innings.

The Yankees need to snap their sudden three-game losing streak, but unless Mussina’s luck keeps up (I though it had ended three starts ago when he failed to get out of the first inning, but I was clearly wrong), tonight might not be their night.

Jorge Posada has been activated with Dan Giese getting farmed out to make room (so much for repeating the Joba-Giese tandem on Sunday), but he’s not in the lineup. Moose will pitch to Jose Molina with Wilson Betemit at first base subbing for Jason Giambi who’s getting a day of rest after fouling a pitch off his foot late in last night’s game. Both Giambi and Posada are expected to start tomorrow afternoon’s series finale.

As expected, Joba Chamberlain, was effective, but innefficient in his first major league start. So much so that his “start” actually worked out to be something of an early relief appearance setting up the game’s actual non-starting starting pitcher, Dan Geise.

Beginning his outing with nothing but fastballs, Chamberlain got ahead of Toronto’s leadoff hitter Shannon Stewart 1-2, then pinpointed a 99-mile-per-hour fastball up the upper outside corner. Stewart was nearly beat by the pitch, but managed to tip it into catcher Jose Molina’s glove, knocking off his batting helmet in his follow through. The pitch hit the webbing of Molina’s glove with such force that it sprung out, extending the at-bat. Chamberlain then switched to his slider for ball two and another foul, then missed high twice with 96-mile-per-hour heaters, walking Stewart on eight pitches in an at-bat that would set the tone for his brief outing.

It took Chamberlain six pitches (four of them fastballs) to strike out Marco Scutaro on a slider. Then, with Alex Rios at the plate, Chamberlain threw to first and was called for a balk that sent Stewart to second.

Joba got ahead of Rios 1-2, starting the at-bat off with a nice 76-mile-per-hour curve that dropped into the zone for a called strike, but the second strike, a 93-mile-per-hour heater tailing down and in that Rios swung through, squirted by Molina and sent Stewart to third. With Stewart on second, Molina didn’t give a clear target for the pitch, so it’s unclear where he was expecting it. John Flaherty has said in YES broadcasts this year that catchers should anticipate having to block breaking pitches, but you can’t expect them to anticipate a fastball in the dirt. The thing is, this pitch wasn’t in the dirt. It hit Molina’s glove just below knee-high, but Molina didn’t move his body an inch to attempt a block, instead he rather sleepily snatched at it only to have it tip off his glove and roll to the backstop.

Chamberlain again pinpointed a 98-mile-per-hour heater on the upper outside corner and got Rios to ground out to second, but what should have been an inning-ending double play ball was instead an RBI groundout due to the balk and the passed ball.

At this point, Chamberlain had thrown 18 pitches, right around his inning average this season. He then got ahead of Scott Rolen 1-2 on a pair of fastballs and a slider that Rolen missed by about three feet. His next pitch was another fastball on the outside corner and it produced another groundball to the right side, but this one was perfectly placed between Robinson Cano and Jason Giambi and scooted through the infield for the only hit Chamberlain would allow on the night.

Now at 22 pitches, Chamberlain was in danger of blowing a huge chunk of his allotted 65 pitches. In retrospect, the pitch count came back to haunt Chamberlain, not just because his inefficiency was exacerbated by bad luck, but because the Blue Jays clearly came into the game with the strategy of taking pitches and forcing Chamberlain out of the game early, a strategy which worked perfectly.

With two out and one on, Matt Stairs took four borderline fastballs to get to 3-1, fouled off a fifth, then took his base when Chamberlain’s second curve of the night missed high. Lyle Overbay followed by watching six pitches go by– the first four fastballs, the last two sliders–to walk and load the bases. At that point Chamberlain was up to 34 pitches and the Blue Jays had only swung at one of his last 12 offerings.

With the bases juiced, Rod Barajas took two more pitches, but both were sliders for strikes. Barajas then fouled off a slider away and swung through a 98-mile-per-hour fastball that Molina managed to hang on to for the third out.

One inning. Three walks. Two strikeouts. Thirty-eight pitches, 58 percent of his allotted total for the night.

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The Yankees week didn’t start off the way they wanted it to last night in Minnesota, but regardless of their record on the field this week, things are looking up as Jorge Posada is set to return to the lineup on Thursday and Joba Chamberlain joins the starting rotation tonight (you mighta heard about that).

It was less than two weeks ago that Joe Girardi told Kim Jones “the process has started,” and Chamberlain still hasn’t thrown more than two innings in a major league game, but with some post-game work in the Camden Yards bullpen after his last appearance, Chamberlain got up to 55 pitches in his last outing and will thus be allowed to get up to 70 tosses tonight.

The big question isn’t really how well Chamberlain will pitch, but how deep into tonight’s game those 70 pitches will allow him to go. In terms of results, Joba’s brief track record (47 2/3 major league innings and 15 minor league starts) speaks for itself. In the majors he has posted a 1.32 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 12.08 K/9, 3.21 BB/9 and held opponents to a .168/.249/.251 line. In the minors (including his three minor league relief outings) he’s posted a 2.45 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, 13.75 K/9, 2.75 BB/9.

If there’s one flaw in his game at this early stage of his career, its his pitch-efficiency. The Yankees didn’t get Chamberlain over two innings prior to tonight in part because he used up all 35 of his allotted pitches in the first two innings of his first multi-inning stint and threw 40 of his allotted 45 in the first two innings of his next appearance. On the season, he’s averaging 17 pitches per inning, which would only get him through four frames tonight. In his three “extended” relief appearances in preparation for tonight’s start, Chamberlain threw 103 pitches in just 5 1/3 innings. At that rate (19.3 P/IP) he’d only get through 3 2/3 IP tonight.

That’s why Dan Giese is in the house tonight (he takes Scott “The Stranger” Patterson’s place on the roster). For all the excitement about Joba Chamberlain’s first major league start, this could be an even bigger night for Giese, as there’s a chance he might actually pitch more of tonight’s game than Joba will.

All of that said, Joba is where he should be. His performance tonight will be analyzed to death by everyone watching (myself included), but at least for tonight, the results are less important than the journey he’s making toward becoming the pitcher he should be. Don’t be misled. Tonight’s start is just another step on that journey. He won’t have reached the destination until the reigns come off and the artificially low pitch and innings limits are discarded. Despite the surprising speed with which Chamberlain’s gotten to this point, he still has a long way to go.

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