Friday, July 24, 2009

Game 96: Nebraska

When the Yankees last saw Brett Anderson, he was a rookie with two Big League starts under his belt, and a record of 0-2. They touched him up for 5 runs over 5 1/3 in the game against Sabathia we mentioned in yesterday's preview and left him with a 5.89 ERA.

Since then, the 21 year old right hander has made 14 more starts, lowered his ERA to 4.25 and gone on a tear as of late. He hasn't allowed a run in his last three starts, starting with a complete game shutout in Boston on July 6th, and leaving off with 8 scoreless innings against the Angels last Sunday. I'm sure Brett's a nice kid, but it would be nice to bring him back to Earth.

Heading into the All-Star break Joba Chamberlain was coming off of three dreadful outings against the Mariners, Blue Jays and Angels. The one against the Halos was the most frustrating because he not only blew a seemingly comfortable four run run lead but did so by following up a fielding error by A-Rod by allowing a 3 run shot to Kendry Morales. However, he came out of the All-Star break strong with 6 2/3 innings of one run ball against the Tigers and earned himself his fifth victory on the season.

It's only one start, but Joe Girardi thinks the break might have helped Joba:
Girardi thought that the biggest difference in Chamberlain's return from his time in Nebraska -- when he said he spent most of the time chasing his 3-year-old son, Karter, around the family backyard -- was that he was able to repeat his delivery more consistently and get out of jams.

"I just got back to being myself," Chamberlain said. "It was fun to get away from baseball for four days. I think that was the best -- to get those four days to get my mind right and get back to having fun and the confidence and attitude I know I have."
We took a much-needed hiatus during the break, so I can kind of see where Joba is coming from. Hopefully he can carry that confidence into tonight's game and keep the Yanks rolling. In any event, look on the bright side, Joba. You're not in Nebraska anymore.


And Nebraska's so flat that I don't care,
I'll never use this map, have I made it clear,
I don't know jack, but I stay sincere,
Woah-oh my navigator's here.

And just because it's Friday (and it's in black & white), here is the Springsteen version, which Matt most likely would have chose had he wrote this post:

2 comments:

  1. As much as I like Springsteen, when it comes to Nebraska I too would have gone with moe.

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  2. The lyrics to the Bruce one are kinda sappy and don't really apply anyway.

    ReplyDelete