By TYLER KEPNER
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com
Published: June 26, 2008
New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain delivers in a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Pittsburgh, Wednesday, June 25, 2008.
(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
PITTSBURGH — It could be that Joba Chamberlain is more than the future ace of the Yankees. With each start he makes, Chamberlain seems closer and closer to being the ace of the moment.
Chamberlain has made five starts for the Yankees, and his earned run average in those games is 1.80, with 26 strikeouts in 25 innings. He overwhelmed the Pittsburgh Pirates for six and two-thirds innings Wednesday night in a 10-0 victory at PNC Park.
It was Chamberlain’s first decision as a starter, and he threw 114 pitches, so many that he could not remember the last time he did so.
“A hundred and fourteen? Shoot, probably sophomore or junior year of college,” said Chamberlain, who went to Nebraska. “Not since I signed. I think 100 was the most I threw in the minor leagues.”
Chamberlain struck out seven and allowed six hits and a walk. His fastball and slider silenced a Pittsburgh lineup that had pounded the Yankees for 12 runs on Tuesday, earning the team a scolding from Manager Joe Girardi.
This time, the Yankees’ offense took over, led by Bobby Abreu, who went 3 for 5 with a homer, a double and four runs batted in. Derek Jeter and Robinson Canó also had three hits apiece.
New York Yankees Robinson Cano high-fives with teammates in the dugout after scoring the Yankees' fifth run with a solo home run in the sixth inning against Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher T.J. Beam at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, June 25, 2008.
(AP Photo/John Heller) (AP Photo/John Heller)
“We started the game with a lot of intensity,” said Abreu, who beat out an infield single in a two-run first inning. “Last night, we were down. We didn’t play the game right. But today, we started to concentrate on everything we did. We scored some runs early, and Joba did a good job.”
Chamberlain said he felt stronger in the later innings than he did early on, because his mechanics were smoother. Abreu threw out a runner at the plate to end the second inning, and the Pirates advanced only one more runner to third.
The Pirates’ Adam LaRoche, who struck out twice against Chamberlain, once on a fastball and once on a slider, said: “He’s pretty deceptive in how he hides the ball. He can make 93 or 94 miles an hour look like 98 or 99. Then the slider is such a huge difference in speed, and he can throw it for a strike. It’s a pitch you have to keep in the back of your head, because he’s not just bouncing it in the dirt.”
LaRoche said he also saw a changeup from Chamberlain, who guessed that he threw three or four, and four or five curveballs. He never threw the changeup and rarely threw the curve as a reliever, and although he does not throw 100 m.p.h. in his new role, he did hit 97 when he struck out Jason Michaels to end the sixth.
That was Chamberlain’s 98th pitch, and with an 8-0 lead, Girardi could have removed him and let the bullpen finish up. But Girardi had said before the game that “the kid gloves are off,” and he let Chamberlain face four more hitters.
He retired the first two before Jack Wilson and Doug Mientkiewicz singled. Mientkiewicz saw seven pitches, but Girardi said that did not make him nervous. More than anything, perhaps, that signaled that the transition from bullpen to rotation was complete.
“I just liked the way the last few innings were going, and I thought he was throwing the ball really well,” Girardi said. “He got ahead of Jack Wilson, 0-2, and I thought maybe we’d keep it around 110. It got a little bit higher, but we were comfortable doing that.”
New York Yankees' Derek Jeter, left, pats teammate Bobby Abreu on the helmet after Abreu hits a three-run home run in the sixth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, June 25, 2008.
(AP Photo/John Heller)
Chamberlain pitched with a lead the whole time. Jeter doubled with one out in the first, and after Abreu’s infield single, Alex Rodriguez walked. Jason Giambi followed with a potential double-play grounder, but Rodriguez broke it up at second and Wilson made an error on his throw to first.
Two runs scored, and the Yankees were leading, 5-0, when Abreu turned on a high, inside fastball from the former Yankee T. J. Beam in the sixth. He smashed an arching three-run shot into the bleachers in right, putting the game well out of reach and shaking a minislump.
Abreu, who was 4 for 40 before he homered on Tuesday, said he was at his best when he tried to hit every pitch through the middle and reacted to inside fastballs. He said he stood taller at the plate and felt more balanced.
“I haven’t been doing my job well the last two weeks,” Abreu said. “But it felt good today to help the team.”
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