I suspect they will shut Joba down for the remainder of the season. His arm is too valuable to waste on one season.Joba Chamberlain will fly back to New York tomorrow for an MRI and other tests on his right shoulder.
Chamberlain said he was injured in the fifth inning while pitching. “It was something where it grabbed and popped and got stiff,” he said.
The injury appears more muscular in nature and does not involve the labrum or rotator cuff. “It doesn’t hurt in the wrong places,” Chamberlain said. “My velocity was fine.”
Joe Girardi said that at the very least, Chamberlain would miss his next start. The last time he said that about a starter was Chien-Ming Wang.
If Joba is out for the year you can put this season to bed. It's over. They are not winning anything with Wang and Joba on the shelf. It's just not happening.
I still blame the blown call by the umpires on that Kinsler double play for this whole mess.
Am I the only one who feels this team is snake-bit? I've never seen a team with worse luck than the 2008 Yankees. I wonder if the baseball gods are pissed that we're tearing down the greatest stadium in the history of mankind.
8 Comments:
Greg, "snake bit" is the understatement of the year. I would LOVE to see any other contending team in baseball lose 3/5 of their projected rotation, including their #1 (Hughes, Kennedy, Wang), one of their best relievers (Bruney) their starting C (Jorge Posada), and one of their best run producers (Matsui) for nearly a full season and still be in playoff contention.
That doesn't even include some of the big names who missed some time (Jeter, A-Rod) or have nagging minor injuries.
Now with Joba - who knows. To me, from all the comments I heard, it sounds like it's NOT a structural thing and it's more a muscular thing, so he might only miss a few starts and be 100% with no injury risk. But if he feels pain beyond, say, a week of rest, then they'll probably shut him down.
The funny thing is that I still think the Yankees could make the playoffs without him. Boston is an awful team right now, and Tampa Bay has a TON of road games remaining and they're awful on the road. With Kennedy and Giese in addition to Pettitte, Moose, and "whoever", I actually think the Yankees 5 starters could get this team into the playoffs. All it would really take is this offense playing a bit more consistantly, and call me crazy but I think it's very possible.
The issue for a Joba-less Yankees would be attempting to win in the playoffs.
I don't think Boston is awful right now, which is why I don't think a Joba-less Yankees team can catch them. I hope I'm wrong, and I really hope that Joba comes back.
I also don't have much faith in Giese as a starter.
But it's baseball and anything is possible.
I'll never try to assert that I know anything more about baseball than anyone else, and I'll be happy to respect the opinion that Boston isn't awful, because they don't on the surface look awful. So pretty much it's just my opinion, however, here's my reasoning as to why Boston is bad:
Bad road record (24-33).
They are 7 and 9 since the ASB. Of those 7 wins, 6 came against Seattle and Oakland, which are easily two worst offensive teams in the AL. They are in a "suck league" all their own offensively. The conclusion I draw from this is that Boston is now 1 and 9 in their last 10 games against offenses that don't blow ass. My conclusion drawn from THAT is that their pitching isn't getting the job done.
Their bullpen is a joke. Not just a small joke.
They are 12th in the AL in runs scored since the ASB. Their offense is more inconsistant than the Yankees.
The only thing Boston has going for it is a decent front end of the rotation, and I don't think that's enough.
Again, I'm fully open to contrary opinions, but I stand quite resolutely in my belief that even a Joba-less Yankees can beat Boston, but in order to do so, the offense will simply need to be more consistant. Not a huge task, but by no means is it a guarantee.
The other advantage the Yankees have is they only have to catch Boston and either the ChiSox OR the Twins, not both. The WC is coming out of either the East or Central. That's assuming Tampa Bay runs away with the East, and I don't think that is happening either.
I just don't believe there are any teams that are "easily" better than the Yankees.
But of course, time will tell, and I make no guarantees!
I respect your opinion, and your analysis is very good.
Maybe it's that I don't feel the Yankees are better than the Sox without Joba. So maybe the Sox are awful, but the Yanks are even worse. I just don't see this team doing anything this year, especially with Joba out.
It also could be that I'm just down on this team after another pathetic loss.
I dunno.
But again, If Joba is healthy it's a whole other story.
Believe me, I hear you. I do not think it will be easy, only that they have a very good chance to make the playoffs, and I think it has more to do with the offense being consistant than with the hole left by Joba.
Cheer up! We're gonna see Pavano back on the mound in pinstripes. And thank God we didn't trade Igawa for Jarrod Washburn...
C-A-R-L Carl Carl Carl!!!! WOOOHOOO!!
Raven,
Thanks for the laugh.
Post a Comment