Joba Chamberlain News

"The Yankees have a plan for Joba Chamberlain's re-entry from the disabled list, but they aren't showing their cards. "We are taking it step by step," GM Brian Cashman said yesterday after Chamberlain threw a 35-pitch bullpen session at Yankee Stadium with pitching coach Dave Eiland supervising. "I am not open to talk about what's next because if there is a hiccup it's big news when it really isn't." Out since walking off a Texas mound Aug. 4 with what was diagnosed as right rotator cuff tendinitis, Chamberlain threw sliders and curveballs for the first time yesterday. He is slated to throw again Thursday. Though manager Joe Girardi firmly believes Chamberlain will make it back before the ..."

"After watching Joba Chamberlain throw 35 pitches in a bullpen yesterday, Joe Girardi believes Chamberlain will pitch for the Yankees this season even though he didn't know if it will be as a starter or reliever. "I am not worried about Joba. He will pitch for us in the big leagues," Girardi said of the prized right-hander who has been out since Aug. 4 with rotator cuff tendinitis. "I don't have concerns. We all have tendinitis. I don't have any doubt he will pitch this year." Rotation or relief? "We envision him as a starter but we will see how the rehab goes and how much time we have left," Girardi said. "We are taking it a day at a time with Joba. You can't rush it." Chamberlain, who ..."

"Joe Girardi isn't sure when Joba Chamberlain will return from the DL or what role he will be in if he does. Chamberlain, who has been out since August 4 with rotator-cuff tendinitis in the right shoulder, will throw a 30-pitch bullpen session today consisting of fastballs and change-ups. If all goes well he expects to throw breaking balls next week. Asked if Chamberlain will return to the rotation, Girardi was vague. "Obviously, we have always thought of him as a starter and that's how we think about him," Girardi said. "But there is not a lot of time to build him up. Obviously, when a starter comes back you need time to build him up." Hank Steinbrenner said he believes Chamberlain's ..."

"Joba Chamberlain hopes to be pitching for the Yankees within the next two weeks, but Joe Girardi isn't ready to declare that a possibility just yet. Chamberlain played catch Tuesday, the second consecutive day he has tested his injured right shoulder on the field. He made 20 throws at 70 feet, 20 more at 90 feet, then, after a three-minute break, made 20 final throws at 75feet. "It gets loose, it gets going; it feels a lot better than it has," Chamberlain said, estimating his throwing at 80-85%. If all goes well, Chamberlain will throw off a mound in Baltimore on Saturday. "We'll see how he feels on Sunday morning, then we'll go from there," Girardi said. "We have to see how he feels ..."

"Joba Chamberlain made about 25 pitches yesterday, his first throwing activity since hitting the DL last week with tendinitis in his rotator cuff. "After eight days, when you get out there at first you're still kind of leery, but everything went well," Chamberlain said. Chamberlain plans to play catch again today and says he still expects to rejoin the Yankees this season, as a starter. But the right-hander said he would have no complaints if the team decides to use him in the bullpen in an effort to preserve his shoulder."

"Joba Chamberlain begins a throwing program today under the supervision of the Yankees' training and coaching staffs at Yankee Stadium. The two biggest questions surrounding the pitching face of the troubled franchise are: 1) Will the Yankees' place in the standings determine if Chamberlain returns? and 2) If he does come back, will he go back into the bullpen? The Yankees have discussed returning Chamberlain to the bullpen to reduce the stress on the right shoulder that was invaded by rotator cuff tendinitis and landed him on the disabled list Aug. 5. But what happens if the Yankees are hopelessly buried in the AL East and wild-card races when Chamberlain, who is eligible to come off the ..."

"Joba Chamberlain wanting to play catch tomorrow in Tampa is an encouraging sign to Yankee manager Joe Girardi. However, the organization won't let Chamberlain throw until Friday, when the trainers and doctors can monitor the Yankee Stadium exercise. "I made the suggestion that it be Friday in front of us," Girardi said. Girardi said it was a good sign that Chamberlain told the Associated Press he was going to play catch tomorrow and just go from there Monday. Chamberlain has been out since leaving a game against Texas on Aug. 4 with what was diagnosed as rotator-cuff tendinitis. While the Yankees plan on having their future ace back this season, a timetable has not been set. And if the ..."

"Joba Chamberlain is on the disabled list with rotator cuff tendinitis in the right shoulder, and nobody knows if the Yankees' best pitcher will work again this season. And if Chamberlain does return, could he be sent back to the bullpen to reduce the stress on the hinge? Tendinitis was diagnosed by Dr. Stuart Hershon and Dr. James Andrews yesterday after Chamberlain was examined in Pensacola, Fla., a day after Hershon, the Yankees' team doctor, stuffed Chamberlain into the Carl Pavano Memorial MRI tube in New York. Chamberlain has been told to rest for about a week and start a throwing program shortly after the seven-day period expirers. He will be evaluated throughout the process and ..."

"Joba Chamberlain has been placed on the 15-day disabled list by the Yankees, replaced on the roster by reliever Chris Britton. The Yankees had not officially announced the move as of 5:00 pm ET, but Chamberlain's name was not among the 25 players listed on today's lineup sheet in the team's clubhouse. Chamberlain was set to visit renowned orthopedist Dr. James Andrews today at his Pensacola, Fla., office, but the Yankees have not announced any results. Andrews' lengthy list of patients includes Kerry Woods, John Smoltz and ex-Met Paul Wilson. General manager Brian Cashman is en route back home to New York after attending a memorial service for Bobby Murcer earlier in the day in Oklahoma ..."

"The Yankees have placed starting pitcher Joba Chamberlain on the 15-day disabled list. Chamberlain, who injured his shoulder pitching Monday night against the Rangers, was seen by specialist Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., today after undergoing an MRI yesterday. The Yankees, who called up relief pitcher Chris Britton, did not immediately reveal the extent of Chamberlain's injury this afternoon."

"The road from the Carl Pavano Memorial MRI tube to Dr. James Andrews isn't a path a pitcher wants to travel. Yet, at the Yankees' request, that is the one being taken by Joba Chamberlain, who will have his talented and bothersome right arm examined today by the noted orthopedic surgeon. Though GM Brian Cashman wouldn't comment on why the Yankees are sending their best pitcher to Andrews, the MRI exam taken yesterday at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital and read by team doctor Stuart Hershon showed something that warranted a second look. "It was my decision to send him to New York and our decision to send him to see Andrews," Cashman said. Chamberlain, who will see Andrews in Pensacola, ..."

"Joba Chamberlain and the Yankees now get a second opinion on Chamberlain's right shoulder before we even know about the first opinion, provided by an MRI machine in New York City Tuesday. It doesn't mean we will get bad news on Chamberlain today, it just means the kid is on his way to see Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., who as much of a legend as he is in sports medicine doesn't always specialize in good news. And sometimes turns out to be the bogeyman. We don't know if Chamberlain did serious damage to his shoulder the other night, don't know if he is lost for the season, might find out he is missing only a single start. All we know is that the Yankees acted a little bit like a ..."

"Sources say Joba Chamberlain is on his way to visit Dr. James Andrews for a further diagnosis on his ailing pitching shoulder. Chamberlain, who left last night's game against Texas with stifness in his right shoulder, had an MRI exam at Columbia Presbyterian today. The Yankees said no information on the result would be released. However, sources close to the team said the 22-year-old will be examined by the famed orthopedist. After Monday's game, Joe Girardi and Chamberlain - the cornerstone of the Yankees' pitching future - said the pain was near the deltoid muscle in the front of his upper right arm. "They did some (resistance) tests and nothing is weak," Chamberlain said after the ..."

"The picture of Joba Chamberlain holding his forehead and grimacing in pain on the back page of Newsday is all you need to see to realize he won't be pitching again anytime soon. Yes, both Chamberlain and the Yankees downplayed the injury after the game. It's muscular, they said, in an area that's not the rotator cuff or the labrum. Chamberlain said his strength and velocity were fine, so it can't be a serious thing. Don't let the optimistic company line fool you. There are two body parts a pitcher never wants to feel any stiffness: his elbow and his shoulder. And given how cautious the Yankees have been with their young pitchers, you'd better believe they're going to sit him down until he ..."

"Joba Chamberlain assumes he will enter the Carl Pavano Memorial MRI tube today at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Has there been a more frightening sentence in the Yankees Universe this season? On a night when the game-time temperature was in triple digits, the spines of Yankees fans everywhere went cold at the sight of Chamberlain walking off the mound with trainer Steve Donohue in the fifth inning last night at Rangers Ballpark. Initially, the club announced Chamberlain's right shoulder was stiff. After the game, however, manager Joe Girardi and Chamberlain - the cornerstone of the Yankees' pitching future - both said it was lower, more near the deltoid muscle in the front of the upper ..."

"Since they first recognized Joba Chamberlain's extraordinary talent, the Yankees have made him a case study in protecting young pitchers. They have shifted his role from starter to reliever and back again, tracking every inning, all so he could help them while not damaging his golden arm. But it is all guesswork, and Chamberlain's shoulder let him know that it was time for a rest during Monday night's 9-5 loss to the Texas Rangers. Chamberlain was removed from his start at Rangers Ballpark with two outs in the fifth inning with stiffness in the deltoid area of his right shoulder. Chamberlain will fly to New York on Tuesday morning for tests on his shoulder at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. ..."

"Joba Chamberlain is making Hank Stein brenner look like a genius, but the Yankees owner is not about to gloat over Chamberlain's success and the right-hander's magnificent 1-0 win over the Red Sox on Friday night, the night Joba became the Yankees' Josh Beckett. That's exactly what Steinbrenner envisioned when he stated long ago that Joba rules in the rotation, not the bullpen, and heard a barrage of critical comments for his strong belief that Chamberlain can best help the Yankees as a starter. "I'm really proud of this kid," Steinbrenner told The Post from Tampa. "This is not about being right or wrong, it's about the Yankees being a stronger team with Joba in the rotation." That's been ..."

"Years ago, Justin Chamberlain’s niece gave her uncle the nickname “Joba” because she couldn’t pronounce his given name. Last night, the Yankees pitcher made another name for himself. After taking in all that last night’s Red Sox’ 1-0 loss to New York had to offer, the monikers for Chamberlain were flying fast and furious. Some were the kind of complimentary offerings you might expect after the performance the Yanks’ rotation savior turned in at Fenway. Two months ago, Yankees poo-bah Hank Steinbrenner called this kid their own Josh Beckett. That name certainly fit this time around, as did the other pat-on-the-back utterances that went with Chamberlain’s best start of his career - a ..."

"The pitch was mid-90s and next to Kevin Youkilis' batting helmet. The message was clear: Take this Joba and shove it! Yankees ace-in-the-making Joba Chamberlain and Boston's All-Star first baseman have some bad blood in their history and the righthander's brushback pitch in the seventh inning of Friday night's game brought it back to a roiling boil. The 2-0 pitch put Youkilis on the deck. He sprang to his feet almost as quickly as he went down and came up screaming. Chamberlain stood on the mound unfazed and up a strike in the count because the ball struck Youkilis' bat. Home plate umpire Marty Foster got between the two and issued a warning to both benches. "It was right at my --- ..."

"It took six batters for Joba Chamberlain to pitch himself and the Yankees into trouble in the fifth inning yesterday. It took the young right-hander just two pitches to get out of the jam. After a one-out sacrifice fly by the Athletics' Ryan Sweeney With runners on first and third trimmed the Yankees' lead to a run in the fifth inning, Chamberlain proceeded to load the bases on a single by Kurt Suzuki and a walk to Jack Cust. But facing cleanup hitter Carlos Gonzalez with the go-ahead runs on base, Chamberlain quickly extricated himself. First pitch: ball one. Second pitch: an inning-ending pop-out."

"Goose Gossage knows about the bullpen and about the Hall of Fame. So listen to what he had to say yesterday. Gossage believes the Yankees need to put Joba Chamberlain Joba Chamberlain back in the pen and that George Steinbrenner should someday join him in Cooperstown. "I think he's more valuable, personally, in the bullpen, to utilize him two or three or four days out of the week is more valuable to a ballclub than starting him," Gossage said of Chamberlain."

"Joba Chamberlain thinks he needs to throw more first-pitch strikes. He thinks that will allow him to pitch deeper into games, maybe even help him toss that first career complete game. "As a strikeout guy sometimes you get your pitch count up," he said. "I need to continue to throw strike one." Thing is, that first-pitch problem is all in the 22-year-old's head; he hasn't had a problem firing his fastball past hitters early in the count. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Chamberlain has thrown first-pitch strikes 62.9% of the time since becoming a starter. That's a better percentage than Andy Pettitte (59.5%) and Chien-Ming Wang (57.5%)."

"This was not the Joba Chamberlain the Yanks have grown accustomed to seeing. He labored - four innings 91 pitches, 49 strikes, four walks. And yet he kept the Yankees in the game only allowing two runs. "I wasn't finishing stuff in the beginning," said Chamberlain, who struck out six. "I just battled through it and I felt better later on. I just wasn't finishing, getting everything up. But that's your job sometimes as a pitcher, to keep your team in the game and limit runs as much as you can, and I did an OK job with that. I had to work hard in those four innings." Chamberlain said this is all part of the growing process."

"When the Yankees decided to convert Joba Chamberlain from the best setup man in baseball to a starter, it ignited a colossal debate that splintered the Yankees' universe. Now, a little over a month into the bold move general manager Brian Cashman and organizational pitching guru Nardi Contreras hatched looks very good... "This went as well as it could have went," manager Joe Girardi said of the conversion after watching Chamberlain dominate the Pirates in last night's 10-0 victory in front of 38,952 at PNC Park. "That shows how hard Joba has worked and embraced the challenge.""

"Joba Chamberlain will have to wait until next year to get his first start in a Subway Series, but he won't have to be nearly as patient to experience a start in the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry. Joe Girardi decided to leave his starting rotation intact for the coming week, lining up Darrell Rasner, Chamberlain and Mike Mussina to pitch the three games this week in Pittsburgh against the Pirates. That means Dan Giese will pitch one of the two games in Friday's split-stadium doubleheader against the Mets, with the other game still undecided. Sidney Ponson could get the call for the other half of the day-night doubleheader."

"The San Diego Padres loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning, but beyond those bare facts, there was not much to concern the Yankees . The Padres have the weakest lineup on the schedule, and Joba Chamberlain was facing their bottom three hitters. Chamberlain has no decisions in four starts, and he has not yet exceeded 100 pitches. But his teammates already consider him an ace, and the second inning showed why. With two strikeouts and a tag play at the plate after an errant pitch, Chamberlain escaped by himself en route to a 2-1 Yankees victory Thursday."

"Joba Chamberlain may be just what Yankees need to point rotation in right direction. So it turns out that Hank Steinbrenner was smarter than everybody else all along. Wow, it's not every day you get to write that sentence, especially in light of Boss Hank's recent rant about the DH-less National League being stuck in some prehistoric era. But let's face it, it was Steinbrenner who was screaming about needing Joba Chamberlain in the starting rotation way back when most of us thought Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy would be just fine this season."

"The Yankees are going to work with Joba Chamberlain to speed up his delivery. Jorge Posada said the pitcher is "a little slow, there's no doubt about that" and the Astros stole four bases while Chamberlain was in the game on Friday. "You continue to work on it," Joe Girardi said. "He's not horrible." Chamberlain compounded matters when he threw wildly on a pitchout. But Posada also threw out Michael Bourn trying to steal third in the sixth inning and Chamberlain picked off Lance Berkman at second in the fourth."

"Those who believe everything that is wrong with the Yankees stems from Joba Chamberlain being moved from the bullpen to the rotation should remember this: The Yankees are 1-1 in Chamberlain's two starts. Chamberlain's third start is tonight in Houston against the Astros, where he will be allowed to extend to 95 pitches after throwing 62 and 78 in his initial two games when he went 21/3 innings against the Blue Jays and 41/3 frames versus the Royals, respectively."

"Johnny Damon has taken the advice of Yankees general partner Hank Steinbrenner. The left fielder is sticking to playing and not talking about the team's moves. After Joba Chamberlain's second start in Sunday's 6-3 win over the Royals at the Stadium, Damon was on board with the plan. "I like what I saw from Joba today; he went a little further than last time and he did it in the brutal heat," Damon said. "I know he is going to get better and it is a positive." Damon drew a quick response from Steinbrenner after expressing doubts about the plan to make the reliever a starter. Steinbrenner then told the Daily News that Damon should stick to playing ball."

"Chamberlain, 22, does not appear close to being a dominant major league starter, but that is the goal of this strange delayed spring training the Yankees are holding, under very public scrutiny. Chamberlain showed a good fastball at times, no surprise, mixed in with an occasional sharp curve, a decent slider and even a rudimentary changeup. But he was not as overpowering as he usually is in the eighth inning, when he blows down the opposition while the folks in the audio room cue up Metallica. When Joba walked the second hitter in the fifth, he was replaced by Dan Giese, who had pitched well in long relief last Tuesday. His training session over, Chamberlain did not run a few ..."

"Sometime in the not-too-distant future, Joba Chamberlain will be like every other starting pitcher. He will take the ball to start a game and won't give it up until he gets the job done. Chamberlain certainly pitched a respectable game Sunday at the Stadium, but his day ended sooner than he would have hoped. The young phenom turned the game over to the bullpen after 4-1/3 innings, then watched the rest of it play out from the air-conditioned comfort of the Yankees' clubhouse. "As a competitor, you want to be out there as long as you can go," Chamberlain said. "But you understand it's a transition, you have to be patient, learn from it and try to be better every time out." Unlike ..."

"Joba Mania Part II, otherwise known as the second career major-league start for phenom pitcher Joba Chamberlain, commandeered Yankee Stadium on Sunday. But unlike his starting debut five days earlier, a truncated dud that ended in defeat, Chamberlain did enough to put the Yankees on the path to a 6-3 victory over the Royals."

"The Yankees will see if Joba Chamberlain can do more with 80 pitches than he did with 62. Chamberlain's transition from reliever to starter continues today against the Royals, where he will make his second start since moving out of the bullpen. The last outing, on Tuesday against Toronto, didn't exactly live up to either the hype or his own expectations, and Chamberlain is looking for a better outing this time. "Obviously anything's better than 2 1/3 (innings)," Chamberlain said. "Well, not one or two. But I'm excited to get back out there.""

"Joba Chamberlain will take his second crack at this starting business for the Yankees today against Kansas City at the Stadium, and he will do it with one thought in mind. "Obviously, anything is better than 2 1/3 ," Chamberlain said before yesterday's 12-11 win over the Royals. Because his debut start didn't go so well. The 22-year-old righty was frustrated after using up 38 pitches in the first inning and departing after using 62 of his allotted 65 pitches with one out in the third here vs. Toronto on Tuesday. Chamberlain was charged with two runs - only one of them earned - one hit and a career-high four walks, but he took a no-decision in the Yankees' 9-3 loss."

"Joba Chamberlain is slated to throw 75-to-80 pitches Sunday against the Royals in his second major-league start and Joe Girardi is hoping to see "five innings of good baseball" from him. Chamberlain, who lasted only 2-1/3 innings in his debut Tuesday against Toronto, allowing two runs (one earned), one hit and four walks, said he will not do anything different in this start. "I'll continue to attack and pitch off my fastball," he said. "I've got to continue to get ahead. They know I'm on a certain pitch count. I've got to take advantage of getting strike one and try to get those guys out on three pitches or less.""

"Jacoby Ellsbury is beloved by Red Sox Nation. He is also a member of Navajo Nation. Ellsbury, whose mother is Navajo, is the first person from that tribe to reach the major leagues. He is among 47 American Indian baseball players whose contributions to the game, from its earliest innings, are chronicled in “Baseball’s League of Nations: A Tribute to Native Americans in Baseball,” an exhibit that opened April 1 and runs through Dec. 31 at the Iroquois Indian Museum in Howes Cave, N.Y. “Since this exhibit opened, we have had some of our largest crowds in recent years,” said Erynne Ansel-McCabe, the director of the 27-year-old museum. “People have been staying for ..."

"You can feel the concern creeping into the Yankee clubhouse. By now the Yankees are practically the home office for slow starts, but the players are all too aware that improved pitching throughout the American League East means it won't be so easy to bludgeon their way to the top this year. "We've seen that early on this year," Johnny Damon was saying at his locker Wednesday. "It's going to be tough to push across a lot of runs. So every game is precious. "We've gotta win the games we should win. We didn't do that on the last road trip. We could have been 5-2. Instead, we went 3-4. That's a big swing." We've gotta win the games we should win. In the language of ballplayers, that ..."

"For all the hype surrounding Joba the Heat, the Blue Jays simply wouldn't bite. For one thing, Joba Chamberlain, in his first fling in the New York Yankees' rotation, had drawn a tough card last night. That would be Jays ace Roy Halladay, who gave up two runs in the first and hung tough for the win as the Blue Jays melded a dozen hits and 10 walks into a 9-3 spanking of the Bronx Bombers."

"As experiments go, the Yankees didn't blow up the laboratory by starting Joba Chamberlain. That all came later. Chamberlain surely wasn't great in his maiden voyage in the starting rotation last night against the Blue Jays, a move made for reasons certainly worth debating, but he has electric stuff and he might be okay as a starter, if they don't ruin him the way they seem to have ruined some other young arms. But the Yankees have severely weakened an already lousy bullpen by removing the 22-year-old and there is no better evidence than last night's arson squad, which gift-wrapped a 9-3 laugher for the Jays."

"The cameras flashed and energy sizzled through a packed crowd last night at Yankee Stadium, the telltale signs of a huge event. Then why did it feel, to some degree, as if the Yankees were still in spring training? It was the first week of June, yet the Yanks remained in the audition phase, turning Joba Chamberlain into a starter and running through a cattle call to try to find a suitable replacement for him as a late-game reliever. In the big picture this probably is the right move with Chamberlain, to see if he indeed can blossom into a top-of-the-rotation stalwart. But it sure does feel as if 2008 is slowly being sacrificed to this experiment."

"The hype, the build-up, the expectations were pure New York. Unless you've been living in the trunk of a '56 Buick, you knew Joba Chamberlain was making his first major league start for the Yankees. The Stadium was in a frenzy. "I thought Ruth had come back," said Blue Jays leadoff man Shannon Stewart. Stewart, who fought off a 1-2 fastball that arrived at 98 mph, "set the tone" for Toronto, according to teammate David Eckstein. The plan against the Yanks' cult status righty was make him work. Stewart worked Chamberlain for an eight-pitch walk to start a 38-pitch first inning."

"One day we will look back at Joba Chamberlain ’s first Yankee start Tuesday and ask ourselves, “How did this turn into the biggest thing since Hideki Irabu ’s debut?” Before he became a fat toad to George Steinbrenner , Irabu was Steinbrenner’s pet, a right-hander the Boss desperately sought. Eleven years later, a baby Boss, Hank, blustered and fulminated that Joba must start. And he did. The YES Network did not exist for Irabu’s winning debut, on July 10, 1997, offering no chance to obsess over him like a rare orchid, as Chamberlain was, on the 6 p.m. show, “ Yankees Batting Practice Today,” or the 6:30 pregame show."

"In the end, the scoreboard showed that the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Yankees, 9-3, after a sloppy performance by a bullpen that misses Chamberlain. But the really important number was the one on the board in straightaway center, directly under the Canadian flag. That is where the Yankees display the pitch count, their guiding light in Chamberlain?s development."

"The Jays spent yesterday as tourists in Manhattan, a scheduled off-day before a three-game series against the reeling, fourth-place Yankees. Major changes are expected in the Bronx if the season does not turn around for the Bombers. The free-spending Yankees are already beginning to fiddle while Hank burns, setting wheels in motion for the transition of young phenom Joba Chamberlain from setup role to starter. He goes tonight on a limited pitch count against Roy Halladay. "I am curious," Jays manager John Gibbons admitted."

"When the Yankees brought up Joba Chamberlain last year to save their season, Brian Cashman made it clear that the hard-throwing righthander's future was as a starting pitcher. That future begins Tuesday. Chamberlain will take the mound tonight at the Stadium against the Blue Jays, making the first big-league start of his career."

"They turn Yankee Stadium into "American Idol" Tuesday when Joba Chamberlain gets the ball against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Yankees put as much on a young pitcher, even one who can throw baseballs 100 miles per hour, as they have on any young pitcher they've ever had. It's like Hank Steinbrenner and Yankee fans voted often enough and now a kid who was pitching in the low minors a year ago gets a start in the big house, ready or not."

"With Yankee Stadium counting down its final season, Yankees tickets have become increasingly difficult to get this year, but Tuesday night's ticket may wind up being the hottest one yet. That's because Joba Chamberlain will be making his debut as a starter against the Blue Jays, kicking off what the Yankees hope is a journey to becoming the team's next ace. "I'm excited for the opportunity to continue to help this team win ballgames," said Chamberlain, who has been working toward this goal for the past 10 days. "It's been fun, so I'll continue to extend and get lengthened out.""

"Beginning Tuesday, Yankee fans won't have to wait until the late innings to experience Joba Mania. With the Yankees officially announcing yesterday that Chamberlain will start Tuesday against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium, the buzz created by the cult hero who is known by only a first name with a 98-mph fastball and filthy slider will smother The Bronx from the first pitch."

"Joba Chamberlain will make his highly anticipated first major league start Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium against the Toronto Blue Jays. Manager Joe Girardi said he made the decision after weighing “a ton of factors,” among them keeping Andy Pettitte on normal rest. “It was just a series of factors that I don’t really want to get into,” Girardi said Friday before the Yankees opened a four-game series with the Minnesota Twins at the Metrodome. “After a lot of consideration, I thought Tuesday was the best.”"