" Perhaps no manager in baseball treats his relief pitchers with more care than the Yankees' Joe Girardi. Yet, despite his stringent rules and constant monitoring of their workloads, his bullpen is quickly beginning to look like an infirmary.

Joba Chamberlain became the latest casualty today when the Yankees placed him on the 15-day disabled list with a flexor tendon injury near his right elbow. He will be shut down for 10 to 14 days before beginning a throwing program, meaning the Yankees will likely be without him for at least three weeks.

"Guys that are able to shut down teams in late-inning situations are really hard to replace," Girardi said tonight, as the Yankees lost to the Red Sox, 11-6. "Everyone's looking for them. And when you have two of them go down, it's difficult, but guys have got to step up for us."

Set-up man Rafael Soriano has been on the disabled list since May 14 with right elbow inflammation. Lefty Pedro Feliciano has been out since spring training.

With Chamberlain joining them on the shelf, David Robertson will slide into the eighth-inning role while the rest of the bullpen will be counted upon to fill the void.

Chamberlain has a 2.83 ERA in 27 appearances and had not allowed a run in his last 9 2/3 innings, a stretch of eight games. But over the past few weeks, Chamberlain noticed that he needed a little more time to warm up for appearances. Though he didn't feel the effects of the injury while he pitched, Chamberlain said he felt stiffness in his right elbow after throwing."