TAMPA — When you live in a world of great expec tations, everything matters, even your first spring training perform ance a few days after losing a bout to the stomach flu.
That is Joba Chamber lain’s world, and he still is learning to live in it.
The Great Fifth Starter Race began with a thud yes terday. Chamberlain was dreadful. He got four outs, al lowed three extra- base hits and five runs. He threw 33 pitches, just 14 were strikes. Three of those strikes were hammered for two triples and a double.
Phil Hughes didn’t look great either in the 12-7 loss to the Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field, but it never is about the other guy, it always is about Chamberlain. He had little command. He walked the first batter he faced, No. 9 hitter Chris Richard, then surrendered a pair of triples to Jason Bartlett and Sean Rodriguez, who had homered off Hughes in the first inning.
Afterward, Chamberlain shrugged it off, basically saying it was great to get the first outing behind him. This was all about getting started after being knocked for a loop with a stomach virus that caused him to lose eight pounds and his training routine.
Now he can get down to real work, once he keeps down some real food.
On Thursday in a nearly empty clubhouse, Chamberlain said how excited he was on the eve of his first outing and that he knows he is going to succeed this season as a starter. He thinks of himself as a starter. He wants to show the world that is who he is on the mound.
“I know I have a lot to prove,” Chamberlain said. “I’m ready to take that bull by the horns and get that opportunity to get 30-plus starts and be a workhorse for this team.
“Last year was probably my most rewarding year,” he said of his 9-6 season with a 4.65 ERA. “My numbers weren’t great. I had some great starts. I had some terrible starts. It taught me a lot about the game. It taught me a lot about hitters, reading swings and trying to be able to slow the game down.”
There’s only one way to learn those lessons, the hard way. Chamberlain is trying too hard to show the world he is a starter. He’s trying to do too much on the mound. Opposing hitters said last year he was trying to strike everyone out, instead of just getting outs.
When Chamberlain was at his best working out of the bullpen, he was aggressive, attacking hitters. He was a bulldog, that is his personal makeup and he must find a way to bring all that to the mound as he tries to become a successful starter. His velocity was higher, too. He was in the 91-mph range yesterday, a place where he lived most of last season. The first time out in spring training, though, radar guns should be holstered.
Chamberlain is 24. He already has a World Series ring. He has the complete attention of Yankees fans every time he takes the mound. Everyone wants to know about Joba. Everyone has an opinion about him. He is a lightning rod.
This is how Yankees general manager Brian Cashman evaluates pitchers in early spring: “You’re happy when people look real sharp, but if they don’t look good at all, you don’t get all bent out of shape by that.”
Perhaps the best thing Chamberlain can do when he takes the mound is to not think that he is a starter. Don’t think that he is a reliever.
These are the new Joba Rules: Just think in terms of getting the batter out. Chamberlain needs to stay in the moment. He doesn’t need to try to pace himself and he doesn’t need to try to do too much.
Yes, he has a lot to prove, but he needs to start doing it one strike at a time.