On the night of July 25, 2008, Joba Chamberlain pitched seven shutout innings for the Yankees against the Red Sox, striking out nine in a 1-0 victory. He walked off the mound that night at Fenway Park with a limitless pitching future.
Now Tommy John surgery is right around the corner.
Phil Hughes was on his way to the All-Star Game this time last year.
Now It’s a big day now when Hughes touches 90 miles per hour on the radar gun on a back field in Tampa. No one knows when Hughes will rejoin the Yankees as he battles right-shoulder inflammation.
The Yankees were going to have these two young arms to anchor their staff for years. They traded Ian Kennedy in the deal for Curtis Granderson after the 2009 season. Kennedy is 6-2 with a 3.01 ERA for the Diamondbacks.
At one point, all three young pitchers were roommates; they represented the pitching hope of the Pinstripe future, arms of today and tomorrow, arms that would lift the Yankees past the Red Sox.
But the Yankees could never figure out what to do with Chamberlain, start or relieve, and the Joba Rules failed. The baseball gods have taken the game out of their hands.
The Red Sox have their two young anchors in Clay Buchholz, 26, and Jon Lester, 27. Lester (8-2, 3.98) beat the Yankees on Tuesday. Buchholz (4-3), 3.82 will pitch tonight in Toronto.
CC Sabathia, the Yankees’ only premier starter, could not stop the bleeding last night as he squandered a 2-0 lead, surrendering six runs in the seventh as the Red Sox scored seven times in the inning on their way to a 8-3 victory last night at the Stadium.
The Yankees staff has hit a tipping point.
Now Chamberlain and Hughes are out of the picture. An ugly situation has gotten much worse.
“What was bound to happen was bound to happen,” Chamberlain said of the torn ligament in his right elbow.
He is taking the approach that he will come back stronger than ever, mentally and physically. After the crowd of reporters left his locker I asked him about that summer night in Boston that seemed so long ago, the night he owned the Red Sox and now his long road back.
Chamberlain, a Yogi Berra fan, smiled and said, “Life’s funny, and baseball’s even funnier.”
Yes it is. Start with the idea that the Yankees thought they could come up with rules to avoid injuries to pitchers, a noble thought. Remember, it was the Mets who abused Pedro Feliciano.
The Yankees have tried to do the right thing by their young pitchers and still their two young stars are on the shelf.
The plan did not work. Chamberlain will have Tommy John surgery, and he might never make it back, and who knows what’s ahead for Hughes.
Chamberlain tried to put it all in perspective.
“Ninety-five percent of the things in this game don’t really work out the way they are planned to be,” he said. “It’s how you can adjust in making them work the way they should. Obviously, with me and Phil it’s two guys going through things that we didn’t plan on initially.
“You can’t dwell on this. You can’t be [ticked],” Chamberlain said. “You can’t fight your body. I’ve been through kind of a lot here, but this is another thing I can learn from.”
Chamberlain said he will not look back or too far ahead.
“I live my life one day at a time,” he said. “A lot of guys go through injuries. Yes, I shed some tears earlier today when I got the news, but too many people believe in me for me to let this get me down.”
He promised he will be back in a big way. Someday he will walk off the mound again like that glorious summer night in Boston and will have only one thing on his mind.
“What do I have to do tomorrow to get better?” he said. “That’s just the way it is.”
Considering all that has gone wrong, that’s the only Joba Rule.
kevin.kernan@nypost.com