Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Say it ain’t so, Joba
With two outs in the top of the eighth inning one swing from David Dellucci shattered everyone’s view of Joba Chamberlain. Or so the Germans would have us believe.
Joba had his worst inning as a Yankee last night by allowing three runs to the Cleveland Indians, blowing a 3-2 lead and earning the young hurler his first blown save. After walking Sizemore to lead off the inning, Joba allowed a sac bunt from Carroll followed by another walk to Peralta. He then got Garko to fly out. Future Hall of Fame manager Eric Wedge then made the decision to pinch hit Dellucci for Gutierrez. My father can attest to me saying at that point, “I have a bad feeling about Dellucci here.” After fouling off a 95mph fastball, Dellucci got under a 96mph fastball thrown up and in, lifting the pitch over the right field wall for a 3-run home run. In classic WOE fashion, the Yankees failed to score any runs off Lewis in the eighth or Betancourt in the ninth and lost the game 5-3.
While many are now second-guessing Girardi’s decision to stick with Joba after two walks in the inning and the left-handed Dellucci stepping to the plate, I can’t really blame the new manager. While Joba did seem to struggle in the inning, Dellucci is hardly among the elite hitters in the league. Joba certainly has the stuff to compete against a hitter with a lifetime OPS+ of 101. I would argue that the pitch location may have been less than ideal with the short porch and Dellucci being a pull-hitter. Pitching him away may have been the better game plan. But no matter. He threw heat up and in and Dellucci turned on it. Take it and move on.
The idea of trying to find a “silver lining” out of Joba’s outing came up in the game thread. I would argue that there really is one. Joba’s blown save last night was a bad loss in his young career, no question. But it was hardly something that should change anyone’s perception of his talent. If anything, it will serve as a learning experience. What doesn’t break you makes you stronger. He’s going to fail again. It happens. Last night’s loss will help him get over future bad outings that much easier. Better he experience this first big blow(non midge-related) now in early May instead of late September.
One other positive to glean from the game was Pettitte’s performance. Aside from one bad pitch to Peralta in the fourth, he threw an excellent game. With Hughes on the DL and Kennedy sorting himself out in the minors, this team will need Pettitte, Wang, and Mussina to continue putting together performances like they have been.
Tomorrow, Cliff Lee (7-05-0, 0.96) faces off against Wang (6-0, 3.00) in what should be a tight one.
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