TAMPA – Pitching coach Dave Eiland took care of a mechanical fault in Joba Chamberlain’s left leg. More importantly, Jorge Posada, Jose Molina and Andy Pettitte put their cleats into Chamberlain’s backside.
“It’s great to have teammates like that who can call you out but do it on a consistent basis,” Chamberlain said of Posada, Molina and Pettitte pointing out to him that after two horrific starts, it was time for the gas-throwing right-hander to kick it up a notch last night against the Reds at George M. Steinbrenner Field, where The Boss watched a 7-1 victory from his suite.
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How bad was Chamberlain in the first two games? Put it this way, had he wet the bed last night, Chamberlain would have woke this morning entangled in a legitimate competition with Phil Hughes for the No. 5 starter job.
Instead, Chamberlain used Eiland’s mechanical adjustment that eliminated the swinging of his lead leg and the tough-love advice of his teammates to throw three muscular innings, in which he allowed one run, three hits, didn’t issue a walk and fanned three.
“I had a lot of guys come up to me with a sense of urgency,” Chamberlain said. “You work on stuff but do it with a sense of urgency to make the team better.
“I had to do it.”
It was a far cry from Chamberlain’s last outing, when he didn’t retire any of the five Team Canada hitters he faced, walking four and uncorking a wild pitch.
“My last start was embarrassing,” said Chamberlain, who signed a one-year deal for roughly $433,000 before the game.
With more balance thanks to Eiland’s tinkering, Chamberlain knew early his problems had been deleted.
“As soon as I threw the first pitch in the bullpen it felt different,” said Chamberlain, who pitched at 91 to 92 mph and reached 96 mph. “I felt it from the get-go.”
It showed. Reds leadoff hitter Chris Dickerson opened with a single but was erased trying to swipe second.
Chamberlain got Alex Gonzalez to ground out and caught Jay Bruce looking at a third strike.
In the second, he struck out Brandon Phillips to start the inning and Edwin Encarnacion to end it around Kevin Barker grounding out. Even the run Chamberlain gave up in the third could have been avoided if Brett Gardner gloved Dickerson’s fly to center that went for an RBI triple.
Of Chamberlain’s 29 pitches, 20 were for strikes.
“I would be lying to you if I said there wasn’t a sense of urgency,” said Chamberlain, who allowed seven runs, four hits and four walks in one inning across his first two starts. “Maybe you need a kick in the rear end once in a while.”
Nobody had to tell Chamberlain a spanking by the Reds would have jeopardized the starting spot he covets.
“I always think that there a lot of guys behind who want my job,” Chamberlain said.
Joe Girardi, who admitted Chamberlain’s last outing against Team Canada was hard to watch, was impressed.
“That was pretty good, strike, strike,” Girardi said. “Everything was better. You want to see him get going. He turned it up a notch and the result was what we wanted. The first pitch, bam, strike. He looked a lot different and it was consistent. We talked to him, Dave talked to him and players talked to him.”
And Chamberlain listened.
Yankees 7 Reds 1