Sunday, September 20, 2009

Joba Gets Hammered, Then Proves He's In Denial

(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
R H E
NYY 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
1 5 0
SEA 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 X
7 7 0

WP - Ian Snell (7-10)
LP - Joba Chamberlain (8-6)

Joba Chamberlain had another stinker today as he got pounded by the light-hitting Mariners. In three innings he allowed seven run on six hits, walked three, including one with the bases loaded, and struck out two. He threw just 69 pitches, and just 37 found the zone. Now, most athletes with the slightest bit on honesty would admit they pitched poorly, say we have some stuff to work out, and that they'd be better their next time out, but no, not Joba. Just check out these postgame quotes via Peter Abraham:

“My delivery was great,” he said. “I threw some great changeups. My slider velocity was great. My fastball velocity was more consistent. … It’s going to take a lot more than this to get my confidence level down, I’ll tell you that much. You can kick me as much as you want but I’m going to come back fighting every time. That’s how I live this live and that’s how I play this game of baseball.”

Chamberlain was asked whether he was concerned with how he has pitched lately.

“I’m fine, man,” he said. “I’m fine.”

No Joba, you're not fine, man. Over his last eight starts he's now 0-4 with an 8.42 ERA and opposing batters are hitting .331 against him. That's not fine, that stinks.

But really, what else is new? We've seen this same crap from Joba all year; pitch like crap and then pretend everything in hunky-dory. Is anyone as sick and tired of this act as I am? Admit you screwed up and move on.

UPDATE: When I first wrote this post I was unaware of a quote from Joba that Peter Abraham left out of his post. Here it is via MLB.com:

"I let my teammates down, and it was pretty much embarrassing what I did," said Chamberlain, who completed just three innings. "Not being able to pick my team up and get out of here with a series win, it's frustrating."
That's much more like it, and certainly shows a completely different side of Joba. While I still don't know how Joba can say things he did were "great" yesterday, at least he admitted his outing was embarrassing and that he let his teammates down. Thanks to Caroline for pointing this out to me in the comment.
...

I'm not going to get too upset with the sorry offensive performance they had against Ian Snell today. When you're down 7-0 after two it's not easy to comeback.

On the bright side, Mark Teixeira picked up another three hits, including two doubles to raise his average to .292. Sergio Mitre also had a nice game, throwing five innings of one-hit baseball in relief. He walked one, struck out five, and threw 43 of his 65 pitches for strikes. At this point I honestly have more faith in Chad Gaudin or even Mitre than Chamberlain.

The Yankees lead in the division is now down to five, with the next six games against the Angels and Red Sox, so it's safe to say this is a big week coming up. Their lead over the Angels was also knocked down to five games today with their win in Texas.


AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Jeter, SS 3 0 1 0 1 0 2 .329
Pena, R, SS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .284
Damon, LF 3 0 0 0 1 0 2 .288
Hinske, RF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .242
Teixeira, 1B 4 1 3 0 0 0 2 .292
Hairston, J, 3B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .252
Rodriguez, A, 3B 4 0 0 0 0 1 6 .282
Miranda, 1B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000
Matsui, H, DH 3 0 0 0 1 1 3 .278
Posada, C 4 0 1 1 0 0 1 .281
Cano, 2B 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 .322
a-Duncan, S, PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .143
Cabrera, Me, RF-LF 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .273
Gardner, CF 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 .281
Totals 31 1 5 1 5 5 20

a-Flied out for Cano in the 9th.

BATTING
2B: Teixeira 2 (42, Snell, Lowe, M), Posada (24, Snell).
TB: Jeter; Teixeira 5; Posada 2.
RBI: Posada (77).
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Matsui, H; Rodriguez, A; Cabrera, Me 2; Posada.
GIDP: Jeter.
Team RISP: 1-for-11.
Team LOB: 8.


IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Chamberlain (L, 8-6) 3.0 6 7 7 3 2 1 4.72
Mitre 5.0 1 0 0 1 5 0 6.88

Pitches-strikes: Chamberlain 69-37, Mitre 65-43.

MARINERS STATS

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Ian Snell (W, 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K)

HONORABLE MENTION: Ken Griffey Jr. (2-for-3, HR, 2B, 4 RBI, BB, 2 R)

GOAT OF THE GAME: Joba Chamberlain

Tomorrow's Game

Yankees @ Angels
Game Time: 10:05 p.m. TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
LHP Andy Pettitte (13-6, 4.14) vs. LHP Joe Saunders (13-7, 4.75)

36 Comments:

bruceb said...

Couldn't agree with you more, Greg. It's time Joba stopped acting like the superstar he thinks he is and started acting like a promising young pitcher who's having a rough transition from bullpen flame-thrower to starter. The jury's out on whether he's lost his velocity completely or whether he can still produce it over one inning from the pen. I think it's definitely time for the Yanks to try the latter and dispense with these silly "Joba Rules". Clearly, they aren't working because sad to say, Joba doesn't rule anymore.

Mike B. said...

Glad to hear what you said, Greg. As I said a while back, I'm sick of Joba and his "game." This guy has turned out to be a bust. I'm not sure he'll EVER be any good. The question is, how long will it take Girardi and the rest of the Yankees "brain trust" to realize that this guy will kill us every time he pitches. The bloom's off this "rose" (as I've said before, too), and it's time for us to admit that we will not win when this clown is on the mound.

Don't misunderstand: when Joba first showed up, I, too, was behind him and enjoyed the way he pitched. Well, for whatever reason (we over-estimated his pitching talents and/or his mental attitude, he has some sort of injury, or the team ruined him with their stupid, idiotic "Joba Rules"), he's now a serious liabilty who might never be able to perform in Pinstripes. He needs to go far away because I'm sure that whenever he pitches we will lose.

Perhaps this reveals the incompetence of the manager, or the pitching coach, or any number of others who keep giving this guy the ball.

Perhaps a ticket back to Nebraska is in order. I'm sorry to have to state such things, but it's hard to argue with the stark reality we've been witnessing.

Oh, boy....

Mike

Anonymous said...

Wow. Short-sighted/Mike Francesa comments. Hey Bruce, Joba rules aren't there to make him pitch well. They're there to keep him healthy, which he has been.

Oh and Mike, dude have patience. Joba is a fucking 23 year old pitching as a starter full-time in the bigs for the first time, that too in the AL East.

Jeez, people these days. No wonder our world is becoming worse.

Anonymous said...

And Greg, what do you want him to say? You want to say that he stunk ass and should be released?

Anonymous said...

What would it solve if the player said “Oh I just fucking sucked today, Curveball? Hung like a horse. Slider? Slid right onto the sweet spot. Fastball? Yep right down the middle, straight as an arrow”
Absolutely nothing

Greg, I love your blog and all but you've been really negative and overreacting lately bro.

Greg Cohen said...

Yes, I would have liked to hear him say the truth, which was that he stunk today and has a lot to work on.

Pretending everything is fine, when it clearly is not, won't help anything. Maybe that's why he's not making the proper adjustments.

I'm not saying he's done, but he has been simply awful this year, especially lately.

As for the team itself, they've lost four games in the standings in a week, if they do that again they'll be up by one game with 8 to play. It's time to put this thing away.

Anonymous said...

Yea, he has been bad and Im sure he knows that. It doesnt mean he has to tell the media about it.

For the team, they've had a rough stretch after being extremely hot for 2 months. The Sox have played shitty teams (they own the Angels BTW) and got lucky.Im not worried because the Sox have to win nearly all of their games to catch us anyway. Gotta have faith.

Greg Cohen said...

Saying this stuff to the media will only hurt him. This is New York, not Nebraska. Nobody in the media cares if he fails or not, all they want is a story, and by acting like nothing is wrong he's opening himself up to more attacks. Read the papers tomorrow and you'll see what I mean.

The idea that Boston has to win all their games doesn't hold any weight because they play three against the Yanks. Also, they play KC while we face the Angels. Is it that hard to imagine the Sox gaining a couple games over the next three nights? I don't think so. Then, all they'd have to do is beat us.

Those head-to-head matchups could decide the division, and the way the Yanks have been playing lately, against bad teams, doesn't give me that much hope. They're going to make the postseason, which is nice, but Girardi's lax managing and poor pitching from Joba has put this team in a spot where they can blow it.

That said, I don't think they will, but it's far from impossible, and I can understand why fans are concerned.

Anonymous said...

Forget the media. You have to overcome them. Don't even worry about them. Joba's confidence will only help him overcome them. The media shouldn't really come into the equation of your pitching and whatnot.

I dont think Girardi has managed badly at all. You can second guess his decisions but its mostly hindsight. He's better than the LaRussa's or even Torre's of the world. The only thing I dont like is that sometimes he likes to bunt in wrong times. He's led us to the best record in the Majors and you shouldn't doubt him.

I guess we're just different. I'm positive and stats say we have a 97% to win the division still. It's possible, of course but pretty unlikely. Im positive, you're bit more pessimistic.

Greg Cohen said...

Like you said, he's 23-years old, it's not easy for a kid to brush that stuff aside. Yes, he should, but it's not that easy. Adding fuel to the fire only makes his job harder.

Girardi has been managing like this thing has been over for two weeks. The lineups he's thrown out there, the pitchers he's used in certain spots, and other moves have left me scratching my head.

And no, he's not better than Torre. The day he wins his fourth ring he can be put in Torre's category.

LaRussa, maybe, I've always thought he was overrated and he also ruined the way teams use the bullpen.

I didn't say the Yankees weren't going to win the division, but it's not as much of a sure thing as it looks, mainly because of the head-to-head matchups with Boston. I still think they're going to win, but they're making it more and more interesting by the day.

Danny said...

Greg you really can't put all the blame on Joba. This kid's development has been seriously mishandled. His act after losses is getting tiring, but at least he's not throwing the organization under the bus for completely destabilizing his pitching schedule. You can't get mad at him without pointing the finger at Cashman, Eiland, and Girardi.

Greg Cohen said...

I'm not putting all the blame on Joba, but he's been a disaster his last nine starts. His ERA is over 8.00 during that stretch, and he's 0-4.

Whether he's been mishandled or not, I think Sweeney Murti said it best today when he said, "I don't care what Rules you're talking about. Joba has made 29 starts this year. If he's bad, it's his fault."

Anonymous said...

Agreed completely regarding the Sweeney quote. You cant blame Cash or Girardi for protecting his arm for the future. It's up to him to execute. He had one start that was messed up schedule wise. However, the rest were for him.

Also, honestly, Torre had great players those days. Managers are vastly overrated for baseball. I dont think that Torre won those rings. If he was so good, what happened in 2001-2007? He made some bad decisions and killed bullpens. Girardi isnt really assuming he's won. He has to keep his players fresh for the postseason. He's giving them rest while leaving enough firepower in the offense. What days were the lineups really bad? Also, when did he put in pitchers in bad spots? Bruney? he's been decent at times but mostly bad and he's trying to get him right while we have a decently (now we do I guess, it was way more comfortable a week ago) comfortable lead. He could be huge for us in October if right. I think you're overreacting. He hasnt done anything bad, its your hatred blinding you. When did he do those things (more than once?)?

Greg Cohen said...

"If he was so good, what happened in 2001-2007?"

The 2001 team made it to game 7 of the world series, they did 99% of what they were supposed to an Mo blew it.

2002 was a good team that got no starting pitching against the Angels.

2003, once again made it to the world series, but David Wells' bad back and the hangover from the Boston series took care of that.

2004-2007 the teams never had the starting pitching or bullpens that you need to win in the playoffs. You want to blame Torre? I blame Cashman.

As for Girardi you can defend him while trying to take credit away from Torre and saying managers are overrated. If they're overrated than Girardi's job this year should be looked at in the same light. He also has one of the best teams on paper this team has had since Torre took over.

I don't have any hatred and I'm not blind. He's not a terrible manager but he's far from great too.

Anonymous said...

Exactly. If he didnt have a good team, its not his fault. And when Torre won, he had good teams. And yes Girardi has a great team so I dont give him a lot of credit, similarly you shouldnt give him a lot of blame. Mo lost that game the other day too, IBB or not.

Greg Cohen said...

I don't believe managers in baseball are overrated, I think up until two or three weeks ago Girardi was doing a fantastic job. But he took his foot off the gas a bit and it's cost them. That's one of the reasons their lead has shrunk.

Anonymous said...

Eh, Idk. You have any evidence? It's just a rough stretch. And it because Boston is on a streak that they cant keep going because they arent so good. It's all about perception too. If we had a 4 game lead but made it a 5 game lead today, people would be happy. It's just because it shrunk to 5 that people are worried. Look at it this way, since the Boston series, we played good ball while our manager is complacent according to you and they have played great ball apparently. Yet they've gained only 2 and a half games in a month. They're going to start resting some players too as the division, while in reach, is pretty unlikely as they wont waste too much energy for it, instead saving it for the playoffs.

Greg Cohen said...

A rough stretch against Baltimore, Toronto and Seattle?

Things off the top of my head include batting Hairston a couple times was mindless. In the Jeter game he went with Marte, Albaladejo and Edwar Ramirez instead of his main guys, and that was after an off day. His insistence on playing everyone and resting everyone while nothing has been accomplished. And I still disagree with not walking Ichiro.

Their 4-5 in their last nine over a ten day stretch since sweeping Tampa, that's when I think Girardi relaxed a bit. That's when we started seeing some of the things mentioned above. This is the stretch I'm talking about.

Again, overall he's done a great job, they wouldn't be where they are right now if he didn't, but that doesn't mean he gets a pass for the last two weeks. This team has no accomplished a thing yet and they shouldn't be playing or managing like they have.

Anonymous said...

OK, batting Hairston was dumb once. However, he had done well since coming here but is in a slump now. That game was a pretty much lost when put those guys in. It made it worse but it soaked up innings. It is just a rough stretch in which we had to face Halladay and Felix while our pitching was bad (AJ, Joba, Mitre, etc.). Its not Girardi's fault.

Greg Cohen said...

Marte came into the Jeter game with the lead, and Edwar came in when they were down three, that game was far from over, at least until Edwar got his hands on it.

Hairston has hit second twice in the stretch I'm talking about, they split those two games.

He also DH'ed Duncan in a game which is ridiculous.

You're right, it's not all Girardi's fault, but he's made moves that have cost them at least three games in the standings in that stretch. That's a huge difference at this point. And the mistakes could have easily been avoided.

Look, the bottom line is I'm not saying they're going to blow it, I'm not saying Girardi should be fired, I just think he's relaxed a bit and it's hurt the team so far.

Anyway, nice chat. We may not agree, but I do respect your stance. But for now I got to hit the hay, can't keep my eyes open anymore. Have a great night.

Anonymous said...

Thing is that he was resting various players. He didnt take out like 3-4 regulars the same time. Taking out one shouldnt do anything.

Im sleepy too so good night too.

CMB said...

"I let my teammates down, and it was pretty much embarrassing what I did," said Chamberlain, who completed just three innings. "Not being able to pick my team up and get out of here with a series win, it's frustrating."

Yankees.com

CollinM said...

I LOVE that Joba takes on that attitude following a lousy game. Humility be damned. I don't expect any pitcher, from CC down Mitre, to stand there and mope for the cameras and hit himself over the head.

Greg Cohen said...

Caroline, thanks for the quotes. That's much more like what I had hoped he say. I'm surprised Peter Abraham left that out of his post... You know what, on second thought, no I'm not.

I'll add it to the post.

Mike B. said...

Well, I assure you guys that I'm not trying to make the world a worse place. Not at all.

And I respect all of your opinions. Perhaps I could say that there have been many 23-year-old pitchers who washed out of major league baseball, so perhaps Joba is one of them. As I said many times here concerning other issues (Girardi, Cashman), I might very well be wrong. I just don't think I am and stand by what I said earlier. As a Yamkee fan, I'm not happy having to say what I felt I had to say.

Mike

JP said...

Joba's been saying the same thing for 2 months now, its getting old and frustrating. Another performance like that should make Girardi think twice about putting him in the post season rotation.

Mike B. said...

Amen, Durden.

Mike

Anonymous said...

much more confident in Gaudin in a game 4 clincher then Joba.

Anonymous said...

what is that for Joba now, 8 "goat of the games"?

Peter Abraham said...

I used that comment in my newspaper story and posted the ENTIRE audio of his comments on my blog, which nobody else did.

What else would you have me do?

Greg Cohen said...

Hey Peter, my mistake. I completely forgot about the audio. I apologize. I took the part about you out of the post. Once again, my bad.

Greg Cohen said...

By the way Pete, thanks for the comment.

I'll explain a bit more where I was coming from with those comments, and it's not because of you specifically. I've noticed that some writers leave out very significant quotes out of articles so that the article fits a certain theme. I understand your jobs are much harder than just being a blogger and the battle to come up with a story or stories day in and day out is a difficult one. So that's probably why I've noticed this. It's completely understandable, and I'm sure if I was talented enough to hold that kind of position I'd do the same.

Also, I set up the post for the poll for the 4th starter last night before I went to sleep. Had I known you were going to ad the same poll to your site I wouldn't have sent it through. Wasn't trying to steal your idea.

Anonymous said...

Greg, why are you explaining youself to this guy? He did exactly what you suggested he did, audio or not. He knows people are lazy and left out the important parts because he figured most wouldn't listen to it and just read the quotes from the post. You don't owe him anything, plus he's writing for the Red Sox now.

Greg Cohen said...

Anon, what are you talking about? First of all, he's moving to the Globe because that's a better position. Look at it like a promotion. Plus, these guys aren't fans, they're professional writers. It doesn't matters to them who they cover as long as they are still being paid. Also, he's going to be closer to his family, which as I stated in another post is very important to him. You can't knock a guy for that.

Anyway, to answer your original question I feel like I have to explain myself because I respect the guy.

Anonymous said...

You're a tool.

Greg Cohen said...

And you're an idiot.