A Joba Well Done

NEW YORK— Any Yankee fanatic making their way out of the tunnels of the booming stadium in the Bronx Monday night experienced the buzz.

Not fretting about another less than mediocre start turned in by Chien Ming Wang, not succumbing to a sigh of relief that Mariano Rivera didn’t cough up more than one run in the game tying top of the ninth, and not calling Derek Jeter a hero once again. No, those were just factual side stories that orbited the real headline of the evening.

Ron Villone recorded his first out in the seventh inning after taking over for Wang and the sold out stadium turned vigilant eyes toward the Yankee bullpen. Joba Chamberlain, the rookie sensation that sports a 100 mph fastball and a slider Brad Lidge would envy, started to stretch.

The whispers relaying the message that Joba is coming became louder, and eventually they transpired into jubilant cheers as a burly figure sporting a No. 62 on the back of his pinstriped jersey jogged to the mound for his Yankee Stadium debut.

The future has arrived.

Though tagged with a ‘handle with care’ sticker and certain rules about how often and how much he can pitch, nothing was held back last night in front of 56,000 wowed fans. Miguel Tejada dug in with his Baltimore Orioles down 6-5 to leadoff the top of the eighth and sat down just as quick. Two blazing fastballs and one devastating slider later, Tejada was a perennial all-star turned into a dead duck.

Next, Kevin Millar was put in a fast 0-2 hole by Chamberlain and actually made contact with the next pitch. A hard groundball to Alex Rodriguez translated into two outs and one thing became clear.

A 21-year old kid from Nebraska named Joba (pronounced Jahba) Chamberlain very well may be the most heralded homegrown Yankee pitching prospect since Mariano Rivera. Look no further than the staggering numbers from this year: In A-ball, 51 strikeouts in 40 innings, in AA-ball he recorded 64 strikeouts in 39 innings and in AAA-ball he struck out 18 in eight innings. Maybe that was enough to earn a call from the Bronx.

Finally, the boy wonder fell behind Aubrey Huff 2-1. But the encouraging words from catcher Jorge Posada rang throughout his ears. “Slow down. The game can’t go until you do,” Posada said after the final warm up pitch of the inning. Chamberlain regrouped, got another strike to even the count at 2-2.

Then it happened. For those of you who watched since his Major League debut last Tuesday in Toronto, you can say that it happened yet again.

And it wasn’t even fair.

The 6-foot-3 and 235 pound bulldog reared back and released a hard slider with plenty of bite. Huff was fooled and looked absolutely baffled. Chamberlain parted with the strike-three call and the strut to the dugout filled with swagger began as Huff whiffed—but not before an animated fist pump and intimidating scream into the New York night. That caption would later be Tuesday morning’s New York Post back page with the text, “JOBA’S HUT” in big white bold letters.

On Monday, Yankee Stadium sure was Joba’s hut. Drawing similar comparisons to what Joel Zumaya did for the Detroit Tigers last season, he made pinstripe fans feel a bit more at home for the first time in a while. That’s three games, five innings, eight strikeouts and zero runs in the books thus far. So far, so fantastic.

It was one inning of nine. But for that one inning of pure euphoria, a star was born. His name is Joba Chamberlain and he is here to help — something GM Brian Cashman and manager Joe Torre have been begging Kyle Farnsworth, Brian Bruney and Luis Vizcaino for all season long.

Chamberlain spoke after the game about how it has been such a blessing to have his locker next to Roger Clemens’ and to have the opportunity to listen to veteran advice when it comes to matters on the mound. The poise oozed out of every word he conveyed, adding to the list of unbelievable positives the kid brings.

Coupled with Phil Hughes’ return from injury, the future of the Yankees’ starting pitching looks brighter than the sun. But for now, Joba will just pitch in relief in order to develop his arm slowly. No matter, since the Yankees, who own the best record in baseball after the all-star break, got their guy to serve as a dominant bridge to Rivera.

Now, for one inning every two or three days, hope will linger a bit more throughout the stands in a recharged Yankee Stadium.