With Joba rushed
This was one of those dog days of August games. The Yankees and Texas were weary heavyweights in search of a knockout. Their targets were the underbellies of the opposing bullpens.
In and around all the bloopers, errant flips and dropped fly balls on Thursday, it was Joba Chamberlain against whom the Rangers were able to score the TKO. Perhaps now the Yankees need to rethink their decision to rush back their onetime prodigy just because it looked like he had made a miraculously quick recovery from both Tommy John surgery and an open dislocation of his right ankle.
It was not until the sixth inning that the Yankees were finally able to wipe away the cobwebs from Wednesday’s rain-delayed late-night victory over the Rangers and finally solve Derek Holland, the lefty they had compiled a 5-0 record and 9.26 ERA against in seven encounters. By then, Texas had already mounted a 4-0 lead, although in fairness to Ivan Nova, Texas’ two-run rally in the sixth might have been different had Andruw Jones not lost Josh Hamilton's leadoff fly ball to left in the sun. In their half of the sixth, the Yankees scored five runs, two of them on a redemption homer by Jones and another thanks to Casey McGehee’s fly ball to right being dropped by rookie Mike Olt for a two-base error.
Unfortunately for the Yankees, their middle relievers — and Chamberlain in particular — were not up to reserving the lead. After striking out Hamilton with Mike
Young at first base, Boone Logan served up a single to Mike Young in the seventh and a game-tying double to Adrian Beltre, prompting Joe Girardi to summon Chamberlain for his sixth appearance since being recalled from Scranton on July 31. Chamberlain struck out .152-hitting Geovany Soto, but after an intentional walk to Mitch Moreland, Craig Gentry slammed a 2-2 down-the-middle-of-the-plate fastball for a single that restored the lead for Texas.
“My front was flying open — something I’ve got to work on — and that caused the fastball to tail back over the plate,” explained Joba. “One mistake. You can’t do that against those guys. They’re too good.”
Probably because Chamberlain needs the work, Girardi chose to stay with him in the eighth. That proved to be fateful as the Rangers roughed him up for three hits and two more runs to put the game away.
Chamberlain's numbers — batters are 13-for-29 (.448) against him — would suggest he wasn't ready for prime time. Girardi wouldn’t go that far, insisting the Yankee high command felt he was ready, even though when he was beginning his rehab from the ankle injury he had suffered on a trampoline in spring training, they said they did not expect to see him this year.
That apparent indecision could have been what Tommy John himself had in mind when he spoke about the Yankees and Chamberlain on ESPN radio Thursday.
“The Yankees screwed Joba Chamberlain over,” the former Yankee said. “I mean, this poor kid has had all kind of problems, and they had Joba Rules. . . . It didn’t help him a bit. He still had to have Tommy John surgery.”
It was Joba, however, who had vowed to prove the Yankees wrong and Joba who proclaimed he had nothing more to prove at Triple-A. Thursday, he reiterated that, but conceded he still needs work.
“It’s frustrating because my velocity is there and my stuff is there,” he said. “I’ve got to keep on building. At the end of the day, it’s just a game. Life is a lot a harder. You’re gonna get knocked down.”
When he walked off the field, after Soto became the first Ranger catcher in the four-game series to hit the ball out of the infield (an RBI single), Chamberlain was greeted with uncustomary boos. The fans who loved him were now saying: Why did you come back so soon?
“I would have booed me, too,” Chamberlain said. “I sucked. They paid to see a good ballgame. I didn’t give them one. I understand. My own sons have booed me.”
But while Girardi acknowledged that Chamberlain needs work, he seemed intent to continue using him in “low leverage” situations. Turns out, though, even though it was the seventh inning, this one was not low leverage. The Yankees had a chance to win this game and complete a fourgame sweep of the Rangers and instead were dealt a premature knockout punch.
“It’s gonna take time for me,” said Chamberlain. “It’s not easy up here.”
Precisely the point.