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It wasn't Joba Chamberlain's night tonight, and for the second of his starts in a row, it didn't really have to be. The offense came alive in the first inning with 3 straight hits to lead off the game and took a 2-0 lead out of the box. Robinson Cano scored on a sac fly in the 2nd and Joba was staked to a comfortable early lead. Or so it seemed.

Chamberlain hit the skids in the third inning when he loaded the bases with two outs via a walk, a single and another walk. Lyle Overbay continued his solid series with a bases clearing double to tie the score. The Jays tacked on another run with a solo shot by Bronx native Randy Ruiz in the 4th. Joba made it to the 6th without allowing any further damage and finished with five strikeouts and two walks.

The scored remained at stuck at 4-3 until the bottom of the eighth. Cito Gaston brought in lefty Jesse Carlson to face Hideki Matsui, which is amusing because Matsui is slugging .122 higher against lefties this year and the batter behind him, Jorge Posada has been better against southpaws this year as well. Matsui hit a prodigious blast past the second deck in right and Posada followed it with one that necessitated instant reply and barely evaded Joe Inglett's leaping try. The place went bonkers and the Yanks were up for good. Although Mariano Rivera gave up a home run to Edwin Encarnacion, he still converted teh save and the Bombers previaled 7-5.

This homestand has stirred the New Stadium to levels of noise and euphoria that haven't been experienced since the place across the street was still open. Some people thought the new building was to blame for the lack of enthusiasm early in the season, but it turns out that fans just needed something to get legimately excited about. After the slow start, the Yankees steadily picked up steam but didn't full hit their stride until the series against the Sox. Lately they've have the feel of one of the vintage Yankee teams who was never out of a game and the crowd is responding to it. It's a good time to be pulling for the Pinstripes.

Game 113: No Mistakes

The Yankees and Joba Chamberlain find themselves in similar positions tonight. While the Yanks lost their first game last night after winning seven straight, Joba put up his first bad performance since the All-Star Break in his last start Thursday against the Red Sox. Joba was lucky enough to walk away from his poor showing with a win, but he reverted to his old form in a bad way.

Even though the Yanks spotted him 8 runs in the bottom of the 4th inning against John Smoltz and Billy Traber, Joba allowed his 5th, 6th and 7th walks of the outing in the top of the 5th. He ended up throwing 27 pitches in the frame to bring his total for the start up to 108, which tied his season high, and sent him the showers immediately thereafter.

It was the last thing any supporter of the Yankees wanted to see. More than anything, the team needs Joba to be more efficient with his pitches and go deeper into games. He had all the incentive in the world to throw strikes and challenge hitters with that kind of a lead, but he simply couldn't. In addition to those 7 walks, he allowed six hits and was lucky that his two home runs came early in the 3rd and 4th innings, before more runners had a chance to get on base.

As far as the offense goes, Nick Swisher gets the day off with Eric Hinske filling in for him in RF. Damon is back in left, Jorge back behind the dish and the usual suspects from there on out.

Opposing the Jobanator for the Blue Jays will be Scott Richmond. The 29 year old right hander was rolling along with an ERA under 4 when he hit the disabled list at the end of June with a "sore right arm". He's only made one start since then, more than a week and a half ago, wherein he took the loss to Oakland and threw 86 pitches in three innings. He allowed 6 runs (4 earned) and got tagged with the loss, but more importantly the 31 pitches he threw in his first inning of work couldn't have helped the injury he was trying to come back from. The stressful outing probably explains the extended rest he was given between the two starts.

Joba's last start against the Blue Jays was no great shakes either. It was his shortest and arguably his worst of the season. It took place at Yankee Stadium on July 5th and he gave up 8 runs, although only 3 were earned. After 86 pitches and 3 2/3 innings Joba was in the clubhouse, but the Yanks rallied to win the game 10-8. Following the game, Joba had some dismissive comments about his weak effort.

That seems like a long time ago, doesn't it? Since then we haven't heard anything like that from the young gun and it's not because he's been perfect. Like my favorite Canadian rapper, he's getting better at realizing his missteps and has got to try to correct them if he wants to go forward. Tonight would be a good place to start.

This year, no mistakes,
Got here, no fate,
Paid dues, won't wait,
Made some mistakes and I'll probably make more,
Just how it happens when you're try to go forward.

Game 81: America, F___ Yeah

[The previews are abridged for holiday weekend purposes. Hope you understand. Because if you don't, you hate America]

The Pitchers:

[UPDATE : Richmond has a sore shoulder and has been scratched in favor of lefty Brett Cecil. Except we didn't prepare a graphic for him. Such are the perils of mailing it in on a holiday weekend. Check his numbers here.]

The Song:

America, FUCK YEAH!
Coming again, to save the motherfucking day, yeah,
America, FUCK YEAH!
Freedom is the only way, yeah,
Terrorists, your game is through, cause now you have to answer to,
America, FUCK YEAH!
So lick my butt, and suck on my balls,
America, FUCK YEAH!

Stick To The Script

Just like the one before, last night's game went according to the script. It seemed like a forgone conclusion that the Yankees would be dominated by Roy Halladay on Tuesday but some of us had doubts as to whether they would get to Scott Richmond. The 29 year old rookie fit the profile of a certain type of starter who have given the Yankees troubles in recent years. Facing minor league journeymen with limited scouting reports had already lead to a few losses this season.

As I sarcastically suggested last night, the bottom of the line-up actually did help the Yanks by triggering the rally in the 2nd inning that knocked Richmond out of the game. Brett Gardner hit his first home run in 222 Major League plate appearances and was followed by Ramiro Pena's first big league hit better than a double (a three-bagger). I think the look of of disbelief of Jeter's face in the shot above says it all (how much do you want to bet he was behind this?). Pena then scored on a triple by Johnny Damon and as the Yanks left the Jays in the dust. 

Andy Pettitte needed 106 pitches to trudge through his six innings, only 64 of which went for strikes. He allowed five hits, four walks and survived two fielding errors but held the Jays to only two runs, one earned. Aceves and Albalajedo combined for three innings of scoreless ball, with Albie inducing a game-ending double play ball in the bottom of the 9th with the base loaded.  

It wasn't the most captivating contest. You'd take the result twelve times out of ten, but after the Yanks established their lead, there were essentially no moments when it felt like the game was on the line. However, as always, there were a couple of funny/interesting occurrences worth highlighting via screenshot. 

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If you were watching the YES broadcast, I'm sure you noticed the guys in full umpire's gear mimicking the signals all along the way. You what's even sadder if you are a Yankees fan? They only paid $210 for their "Action Seats", (and they got to watch a first place team).

YES offered a poll via text message which asked if fans felt the Blue Jays were a playoff team:

What do you think YES Network viewers thought...

Pretty rich coming from Yankees fans, considering the team's current circumstances, but what did YES expect when they asked a dumb question like that? 

And I saw one of my favorite things in baseball... A hitter ducking out of the way for a breaking ball, which turns out to be a strike.
 

Albaladejo came extremely close to doing it again in the bottom of the ninth, but barely missed the called strike. 

Game 33: Rock Bottom (?)

For the 8th time in 12 series this year the Yankees have dropped the opening game. They are behind the 8 ball to the Jays and are two games under .500 the season. 

The Bombers have been unlucky this year, but not on the field. They have been outscored by 25 runs and their 15-17 record is actually slightly better than the 14-18 their run differential projects. Compare that to the 15-19 Rays, who have outscored their opponents by 13 and based on that, should be 18-16. 

Standings Based On Pythagorean Record

22-13 - Toronto

18-15 - Boston

18-16 - Tampa Bay

14-18 - Yankees

14-19 - Baltimore

Many of the players on the Yankees have been injured or thus far underperformed. There's a fundamental difference between playing well on the field on getting unlucky in regards to how your runs are distributed and not playing up to potential. Much of the Yankees' record was accrued with Alex Rodriguez out of the line-up, but they have few other excuses to justify their slow start, aside from simple under achievement. Jorge Posada has appeared in 23 of 32 games, a proportion that is only getting worse in the short term. Mark Teixeira has is batting .191 and has an OPS+ of 91. A.J. Burnett's ERA is north of 5.   

At this point in each of the last three seasons, the Yankees have been at or below .500, so we are probably a little too familar with trying to grapple with the thought I'm about to put forward. 

Have they hit rock bottom?

Last year the low point came after a 12-2 loss to Baltimore that put the Yanks at 20-25. They won 89 games and obviously didn't reach the postseason. In '07 the Yanks slipped all the way to 21-29 before righting the ship and finishing 73-39 and capturing the Wild Card. In 2005, they started 11-19, but then ripped off 10 straight wins en route to 95.

It's painful to watch your team flounder below .500, especially when they spend as much money this offseason as the Yankees did (not to mention what it cost to build the Stadium). It's easy to feel like we've been jipped so far and the team is due for a turnaround. It's tougher to accept the fact the team the Yankees have put on the field night in and night out is a lot closer to the Orioles then they are to the Blue Jays, Sox or even the Rays. 

Tonight, Andy Pettite starts for the Bombers against Scott Richmond. It's only Scott's 11th major league start, which has been a pretty bad sign for the Yankees so far this year, judging by ther results against Matt Palmer, Brett Anderson and Jeff Niemann. But perhaps the fact that the Yanks have four guys that should probably be in the minor leagues in their line-up (Ramiro Pena, Fancisco Cervelli, Brett Gardner and Melky Cabrera) will work to their advantage.

Here's to hoping this is in fact Rock Bottom. 

But fuck it, if you know the rules to the game, play,
Cause when we die we know were all going the same way,
It's cool to be player, but it sucks to be the fan,
When all you need is bucks to be the man.