Sun, Sep 27, 2009 page20

• Chamberlain leads Yankees to victory

  BACK WITH A BANG Starting pitcher Joba Chamberlain retired the first 11 batters over six innings, yielding five hits and three runs off 86 pitches against the Red Sox

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  AMERICAN LEAGUE

  REUTERS, NEW YORK

  Joba Chamberlain was asked to show he deserves a place in the Yankees’ post-season pitching plans and the young right-hander responded with his best game in almost two months as New York beat Boston 9-5 on Friday.

  

  Starting pitcher Joba Chamberlain of the New York Yankees bites his glove as he walks to the dugout during the sixth inning of the American League game against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium in New York on Friday.

  PHOTO: EPA

  The hard-throwing Chamberlain, who turned 24 two days ago, was coming off a string of poor outings including a three-inning stint against Seattle his last time out in which he yielded seven runs.

  A frank discussion with Yankees manager Joe Girardi helped turn him around.

  “Joe said: ‘You have to step up,’” the pitcher said. “It’s just a challenge. As a man, you take a challenge and you can do two things with it — either step up or you run away from it and I’ve never ran away from anything in my life, and I’m not going to start now.”

  

  Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees, top, turns a double play over Kevin Youkilis of the Boston Red Sox during the seventh inning of their American League game at Yankee Stadium in New York on Friday.

  PHOTO: EPA

  Concerned that throwing too many innings in his first full year as a starter might damage the promising hurler’s arm, Yankees management have strictly limited his usage in what has come to be known as the “Joba rules.”

  Over the last five weeks he has been kept to a maximum of three or four innings per outing, but the results have been disturbing.

  Now, with the post-season just around the corner, the reins are being removed and Chamberlain is being allowed to throw a normal number of pitches for a starter.

  “This is an important time of the year,” Girardi told reporters. “We told him we needed him to step up and he did. I wouldn’t say we read him the riot act. We just had a discussion that we knew he was capable of pitching better and that we needed to see him pitch better.”

  Girardi gave Chamberlain high grades for his outing on Friday, in which he retired the first 11 Boston batters.

  “He just went out and threw the ball the way he is capable of throwing. I thought he threw a great game,” Girardi said. “He attacked, he attacked, he attacked.”

  Chamberlain lasted for six innings and tossed 86 pitches in his longest appearance in six weeks. He yielded five hits and three runs and improved to 9-6.

  “You’re challenged and that’s the way it should be. That makes our team better, makes us individuals better,” Chamberlain said.

  “We looked at each other in the eye, man to man,” he said about the challenge from Girardi. “Try to be better, to make this team better.”

  Also See: Rockies beat Cardinals in bottom of the ninth
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