Gutsy Win

For the second night in a row, the Sox found themselves in a 5-0 hole against the Yankees. For the second night in a row, the Sox came back to take a two-run lead into the ninth. But unlike Tuesday night, Jonathan Papelbon did just enough to get the save and snag a crucial 7-6 win for the Sox.

Where's Joba's Fear And Arrogance?

"You be cocky and arrogant, even when you're getting beat. That's the secret. You gotta play this game with fear and arrogance."

-- Crash Davis

That was the last piece of advice Crash Davis gave Nuke LaLoosh as the fireballer was leaving for the show in "Bull Durham."

Maybe Joba Chamberlain ought to sight down and watch that baseball classic because he seems to forgotten an important part of Crash's teaching.

With the exception of three starts following the All-Star break last season, we've seen Joba pitching only with fear. The arrogance, the hair-on-fire, uber-aggressive, attack the batter persona has been nowhere to be found.

It certain was nowhere near Fenway Park in Sunday's 9-7 season opening loss.

Now, Joba certainly wasn't terrible -- that's a description was seized by the fugitive pitcher from the Island of Misfit Toys, Chan D'oh! Park -- but he was far from the sensation that took the league by storm as a rookie in 2007.

Joba allowed one run on two hits and a walk in 1-1/3 innings, throwing 33 pitches.

McClatchy-Tribune

It was a performance that left us wondering: What has happened to that rookie phenom? Where has his arrogance gone?

This isn't a physical problem; Joba's fastball was hitting 96 mph, according to mlb.com's Gametracker. This is about what's going on in Joba's head -- and you can see it in his pitch selection. Chamberlain has fallen in love with his offspeed pitches, especially his slider.

While Gametrack failed to register 10 of Joba's pitches (likely curves and changes), it did pick up 13 sliders and only 10 fastballs.

Umm, hello? Does anyone else see something painfully wrong with this?

Instead of pitching with fear and arrogance, Joba's pitching with "fear and ignorance." (LaLoosh's witty retort to Crash)

There is a reason the fastball is called No. 1. It is the pitch that sets up everything else. It is the pitch that makes every other pitch more effective.

It also is Joba's best pitch.

We saw that when he came up in 2007. His fastball was so dominant, so lively that the hitters had to gear up for it and start their swings early. That made the slider deadly because hitters couldn't look for it and couldn't lay off it.

But Joba doesn't pitch like that any more. For some reason, he believes the slider is his best pitch, his out pitch.

And he's just wrong.

By throwing his slider so much -- and Sunday's 39.3 percent is way too much -- he's actually making that pitch less effective. He's giving hitters too much of an opportunity to see, identify and layoff that pitch.

In other words, he's allowing hitters to get comfortable at the plate.

It's time for that to stop. The Yankees need the old Joba back. The one who as a rookie wasn't afraid to challenge and attack hitters with his fastball. The one that had fun blowing hitters away.

The one who played this game with fear and arrogance.

Up Next
Tonight at Red Sox, 7:05 p.m., YES, NESN, MLB Network
A.J. Burnett vs. Jon Lester

Opening Night Blow By Blow

Pre-game

- As the little kid giving the "Miracle" speech says about the Yankees: "Screw 'em!"

- Nice seeing Pedro throw the first pitch. Wish he had scaled it into the Yankee dugout instead.


Top of the First

- Scutaro throws out Jeter on a first-pitch grounder. He's already better than Renteria.

- 1-2-3 inning. Yeah, that "defense-first" idea really sucked...



Bottom of the first

- Is Sabathia somehow even fatter this year? 10 more pounds and the baseball will start orbiting him between pitches.

- That said, he puts his weight behind it. Easy out with Ellsbury flying out to center.

- Pedey chases a fastball about a foot over his head for the second out. Granted, that is chest-high for you or me, but he knows better.

- CC is pitching well, can't deny that.

- Rem-Dawg talking about the Gold Gloves won by the Yankee fielders. Impressive number, until you remember the only one Jeter should have won was in 2009.*

- V-Mart hanging tough with CC. But he bounces it off the first base bag for the third out.



Top of the Second

- ARod up. Surprised he finds time to hit in between giving testimony about doctors who supply PEDs.

- Beckett looking sharp. Makes it hard for Youk to get ARod out on the grounder with a lousy throw. But Youk shows why he is one of the best first baseman in the game. He made that out look easy.

- Cano out on two pitches.

- Just a thought: you think the Marlins are regretting canning Girardi?**

- Up comes Gramps Posada. He joined the Yanks in the first Reagan Administration, right?

- And the old man makes me STFU. Beckett hangs a high fastball for Posada to ding off the Pesky Pole. 1-0 Yanks.

- Here's newcomer Granderson. You think he's thrilled to get out of Detroit? He hit 30 homers last year and only racked up 71 RBI. How is that even possible?

- Beckett goes full against Granderson. And then allows another solo shot. 2-0 Yanks.

- Just a thought: the run-prevention defense is the right idea. But you need to allow the defense to actually have a chance at the ball.

- Beckett gives a single up to Swisher. And he looks shaky as hell all of a sudden. NESN had a poll about which pitcher should be considered Boston's ace. Beckett was running away with it. I would have chosen Lester in about a half-second. Not that Beckett isn't a good pitcher, but Lester doesn't have these kinds of moments.

- Single to Gardner. On the upside, maybe CC's arm is getting cold from sitting down for so long.

- Here's Jeter with runners at first and second. Beckett's breaking stuff looks weak right now. And Jeter is fighting off Beckett's fastballs.

- Jeter grounds to Scutaro for the force at second. Scutaro is now officially better than Lugo.

- The bad news: Boston is down 2-0 going into the bottom of the second. The good news: it could have been worse.


Bottom of the Second

- What do you think CC eats in the dugout between innings? A whole grinder? Bowl of pasta?

- Youk with a double off the scoreboard. Helps when CC puts a fastball over the middle. Probably didn't get all the mayo off his fingers.

- And here comes Papi. No pressure, Big Guy, but if you can't get back to normal you're going to kill us. Good luck.

- CC runs it to 3-1 on Papi. You know a fastball is coming now. What's Papi going to do? Foul it to the back, that's what. Three years ago, that ball would've broken someone's windshield on Lansdowne.

- Papi grounds out to first but moves Youk to third. A real "kissing your cousin" moment.

- The first appearance of Adrian Beltre. Be nice to see him get Youk across the plate. He should do well in Fenway with the Monster.

- Beltre flies out to Granderson in center, but gets it as close to a homer as you can without doing it. Nevertheless, Youk crosses the plate and its 2-1 New York.

- JD Drew goes 0-2 in two pitches. You're kidding? Really? What a shock.

- Well, the Sox haven't been hitting CC per se. But they've been making him work. He's sweating already. That must be encouraging to Yankee fans. At this rate he'll need a defibrillator by the fifth.

- JD Drew strikes out to end the second. Color me completely unsurprised.


Top of the Third

- Between innings I've decided to call CC "Black Homer Simpson" (BHS) from now on. If he gets any chunkier he'll need a pitching wand because his fingers will be too fat to grip the ball.***

- Meanwhile, the much more svelte Beckett walks the first batter of the third. Beckett is doing a dead-on impression of John Wasdin right now. Sadly, it's not Halloween.

- Beckett had Teixeira at 1-2 and now runs the count full. But he gets Teixeira to chase ball four for a fly-out to shallow center. Better to be lucky than good, baby.

- And here's ARod. Who promptly grounds into a classic 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Nice...

- The once-upon-a-time Toyota spokesman got old and looks like he was stung in the face by 100 bees. Not good...


Bottom of the third

- BHS is breathing like he just finished the Ironman. It's the third inning. C'mon, man...that just isn't right.

- CC walks Cameron. Both pitchers just losing their stuff after the first inning.

- Remy and Orsillo tell us we have a "special" musical guest coming up later between the top and bottom of the eighth. What are the odds on it being Ronan Tynan? 5-1? 4-1?

- Wow. Scutaro lines out to ARod who picks Cameron off first for the double-play. Well, he sure made up for his weak-sister act to end the Yankee third. Of course, on the replay its obvious Cameron was safe. But such is life.

- Ellsbury up. Be nice to see him get on base so he can put his speed to use. I think he has it in him this year to hit 80 stolen bases.

- Ellsbury grounds out to end the third. But BHS hits 50 pitches after three innings. The sweat glands must be working overtime. Nothing a few sandwiches can't help.


Top of the Fourth

- Cano hits it into the left-field corner for a double. Ellsbury mis-times his jump for the ball. Left field in Fenway is not easy in the corner with the Monster and complete lack of foul territory. He'll make those outs in time, but it's a process.

- Posada grounds out and moves Cano to third.

- Beckett gets Granderson to ground out to first for the second out and keeps Cano at third. At the risk of jinxing the Sox, it looks like Beckett is slowly re-finding his groove.

- Too slowly. Swisher is looking to get Cano home and Beckett's breaking stuff is still all over the place. It's starting too far off the plate and not breaking enough to the left.

- Still, Beckett gets Swisher to chase a fastball to run the count full. But he misses with a third breaking pitch for the walk.

- Falls behind on Gardner 3-1. Beckett either has to get cracking on the breaking stuff or just pound the fastball. Beckett grabs the corner for a full count.

- Gardner gets the single and drives home Cano for the 3-1 lead. BHS is happy because he gets to chow down some more.

- Beckett goes inside on Jeter. I only wish he had meant to do that.

- Jeter gets a seeing-eye single past Scutaro to bring home Swisher home for the 4-1 lead. Forget that whole groove thing I wrote earlier.

- Remy bitching about Joe West not giving Beckett the corner. That's true to a point, but Beckett's stuff has just been mediocre tonight. His breaking stuff is crap.

- Good lord. Yanks pull off a double-steal to perfection and get their fifth run. But hey, Beckett gets the strikeout to end the fifth right after. Now that's what I call timing.

- The Yankees are now right where they want to be. Last year, once they got five runs they were near unstoppable. It will be interesting to see how Boston responds to this inning.


Bottom of the Fourth

- 21 minutes and six cannolis later, BHS takes the mound.

- Pedroia leads off the second.

- Pedey grounds to first and looks like he beats the flip to BHS on the bag. Replay shows Pedey beats the tag by a hair. But hey, looks like Joe Hernandez wants to screw the Sox over tonight. That's two calls he's screwed up at first that have gone against the Sox. I don't agree with the West criticism tonight, but Hernandez has been atrocious at first.

- By the way, Pedroia is not a speedster. So let's not get all excited about BHS lumbering over to first. Speed is relative, people.

- That blown call at first just sucked the life out of Fenway. At this point, as long as Yankee pitching doesn't throw a rod, the Yankees should win this.

- 1-2-3 fourth. Thanks Hernandez. Want to kick some babies in the larynx between innings to top it all off?


Top of the Fifth

- Look, Josh. West isn't giving you the corner tonight. He isn't giving it to BHS either. So adapt already, okay? God damned stubborn Texans...

- First Heidi Watney sighting of 2010. She's looking very...blonde.

- Josh gets the first two outs and then Cano lashes a hit to deep right that hits so hard that Drew gets it back in to hold Cano to a single. Love those.

- Beckett goes 2-0 on Posada as he hits 90 pitches in the fifth inning. Wow. It's like the Brian Rose Era all over again.

- Does it make anyone feel better that Beckett was lousy last April as well (2-2, 7.22 ERA)? Me neither.

- Hey, Beckett doesn't get the corner again and walks Posada. Who saw that coming? Oh, right, everyone!

- And here comes Scott Schoeneweis. 4.2 innings for Beckett along with five runs on eight hits...so far. Let's see if Scott can close this inning out.

- Well, a muffed pitch by V-Mart allows runners to move to second and third with two out. Not exactly a great Opening Night for Sox fans thus far.

- But Schoeneweis gets the strikeout to end the fifth without any damage.


Bottom of the Fifth

- Word is that between innings, Joe Hernandez drowned a couple of kittens in the Muddy River out in the Fens. And laughed while he did it.

- BHS wakes up from his nap for the fifth inning. It's fun to joke and all, but Chubsy-Ubsy is throwing a one-hitter through four and working with a nice lead. Still, it hasn't been a dominating outing for BHS. But when Beckett goes Wasdin, you don't have to be dominating.

- Papi pops out on a 3-1 fastball. That's two he has missed. It's not a good sign when your slugger can't tee off on a fastball.

- Beltre chases a low change-up for out number two. You can almost hear the grass growing in Fenway right now.

- Drew gets a two-out single. He makes it look so easy. WHY CAN'T YOU DO THAT MORE OFTEN????

- Cameron runs the count full and gets a single off BHS. Runners on first and second with two outs.

- Scutaro gets Boston's third single in a row. Drew comes home on a crap throw from Gardner that allows Cameron and Scutaro to advance a base. Second and third, two outs and Ellsbury coming to the plate with Boston down 5-2.

- Ellsbury has had a rough night. No hits and a botched fly ball in left.

- West suddenly decides to start giving the corner. BHS uses it twice to go 0-2 on Ellsbury. Thanks, West. Could have used that decision about three innings ago.

- Ellsbury leaves the runners on base with a called third strike. Still, Boston grabs another run and makes BHS sweat through his shirt.


Top of the Sixth

- Schoeneweis gets two quick outs and comes out for Ramirez, who gives up a first-pitch single to Jeter. Look, I understand the whole "left-right" thing. But Schoeneweis was rolling. Why not give him the third out?

- Nick Johnson flies out to end the inning. Wow...a pain free inning. Haven't seen one of those in over an hour.


Bottom of the Sixth

- BHS comes out to start the sixth and is approaching 90 pitches. This is when I believe they wheel out the portable oxygen tank.

- Pedroia walks on five pitches. Now, I think it's clear that BHS is starting to fade. How long with Girardi wait to go to the pen? Why risk your lead? On second thought...good plan, Joe!

- V-Mart laces a double down the left-field line. Runner on second and third with no outs. One cannoli too many for BHS.

- Youk comes up and Girardi leaves BHS in. Could this be a major mistake? The Fenway crowd is warming up. I don't know, but I am wagering that Aviv is screaming at Girardi through his TV screen right now to take out BHS.

- Youk calls time to get sweat out of his eyes. That's the downside of going bald - no natural mop-up material.

- YOUK!!!!!! A triple down the right-field line makes it 5-4 as Swisher seems to lope after it. Thanks, Girardi! Everyone could see BHS was on his last legs except you.

- And then Youk almost gets picked off third on a passed ball. Luckily, ARod wasn't on the bag so there was no throw.

- Another fastball, another foul from Papi. And BHS is still in the game. What is Girardi waiting for?

- Broken-bat ground out from Papi that keeps Youk stranded at third. And Girardi finally pulls BHS. Because this was the obvious time to do so...if you're clinically insane.

- Beltre with the single and we have a tie ballgame folks! Never doubted it for a second! Forget all that other talk.

- The Yanks escape without any more damage. But it's 5-5 going into the seventh. Now we see which bullpen can carry the day.


Top of the Seventh

- The happiest guy in Fenway right now? Beckett, who gets a no-decision for the night.

- Steven Tyler in the house for "God Bless America". He is officially in the "Creepy Looking Old Dude" phase of his life.

- Ramirez walks the first batter and then gives up a monster double to ARod. Second and third with no outs. Way to piss away the tie, Ramon!

- In the Battle of the Bullpens, New York takes the lead.

- Yanks get 6-5 lead on sac grounder. Right play by Pedroia.

- 7-5 with a single from Posada. Oki seems to have Ramon Ramirez Disease. Boston's pitching (with the notable exception of Schoeneweis) has pretty much failed them tonight.

- Good lord, Joe West's strike zone is about the size of a deck of playing cards.

- 5-4-3 to end the inning. Very nice. A good example of what Boston's defense can do. That wasn't an easy DP and it looked easy.

- Steven Tyler sings "God Bless America'" and shows why Steven Tyler shouldn't be singing "God Bless America"****


Bottom of the Seventh

- And Chan Ho Park starts off by almost decapitating Scutaro. This should be fun!

- Scutaro with the single. I missed you, CHP.

- Ellsbury goes 0-2. Rough, rough night.

- Strikes out. Oof.

- Neil Diamond in the eighth inning. If you care. Which I don't.

- PEDROIA!! Two-run blast for the 7-7 tie. Who can hit? Pedey can hit!

- CHAN HOOOOOO!!! Love you, baby.

- Full count to V-Mart. Suddenly, Francona's decision to throw Ramirez out instead of Atchison looks good.

- Youk wall-balls a double off the Monster. And Girardi once again waits too long to pull a pitcher.

- That outing was Chan-tastic!

- So that Youk... he can play, huh?

- Marte goes wild and Youk moves to third. A single puts Boston in front. C'mon Papi!!

- Again!! Another wild pitch and Youk comes home for the 8-7 lead. Another unpredictable Boston-New York matchup.

- As a pitcher, Marte is mediocre. But he could clean up on the lawn bowling circuit.

- Here's comes Joba, the Reliever Who Wanted to Be a Starter.

- Joba gets the third out, but Boston leads 8-7.



Top of the Eighth

- It's Boston's next closer, Daniel Bard.

- Neil Diamond singing before Boston's half. If you care. Which I don't.

- Bard gets Gardner to ground out for the first out.

- Bard 2-0 to Jeter. Big at-bat here.

- Bard gets Jeter for the second out.

- Johnson walks. Once again, the Sox cannot close the deal with two outs.

- Teixeira up. Big moment for Bard. And he comes through. Bard showing some maturity here.

- Bard is the 21st Century version of Dick Radatz. Except his slider won’t end his career early.

- And Diamond comes out to kill momentum. I blame you pink hats for this garbage.

- He has a blazer that says "Keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn." How very timely. I’m going to start petitioning to make sure the Braves don’t leave Boston.



Bottom of the Eighth

- Peter Abraham just twittered that the biggest cheer of the night was for Diamond. Kill. Me. Now. God damned pink hats...

- Papelbon warming up for the ninth. I don't feel particularly comforted by that fact.

- Cameron works Joba to get a single. Man on first with one out.

- Joba goes 3-2 on Scutaro. Cameron going on the pitch.

- Walk.

- Ellsbury... NOW is the time.

- Guess not.

- Pedroia gets the insurance run with a single as Cameron turns on the jets to score. Joba picks up relieving where he left off starting.

- What power outage?

- Joba double bluffs on the pickoff. Best part of his game.


Top of the Ninth

- Here comes Paps. By the way, Joba Chamberlain needs to get his head straight. What a mess.

- ARod up first. Paps gets the grounder to third on two pitches.

- Ellsbury hoovers up a Cano fly to left-center. Two outs.

- Posada gets a single. Crafty grandpa.

- Granderson could make it interesting.

- 0-2. Finish it, Paps.

- Beltre shows his awesome fielding powers for the final out. Sox win a doozy 9-7. And it isn't even midnight yet!

- Beckett looked bad and the bullpen was mixed, but the fielding was good and Boston’s hitting was damned solid. And not every umpire will call a strike zone as small as Joe West’s. In other games, Beckett will get those strikes. Bottom line, the Sox beat the Yanks to kick off 2010. Works for me.

-----------

* Go on, defend one of the other ones. You Yankee fans know he got the early ones on name recognition.

** It's still one of the most baffling managerial decisions made in recent memory. Of course, Girardi did a lousy job of managing the pitchers tonight...

*** The only way this could get better is if Sabathia broke out a mumu. Or just starts eating things between pitches.

**** If you missed this, I cannot describe just how bad Tyler was. It was embarrassing. Just a painful experience all the way around.

Stop Messing With Joba

The Yankees made it official Thursday, naming Phil Hughes as the fifth starter -- a move that has been expected for several days.

Unfortunately, the brass just won't give up the ghost about Joba Chamberlain being a starter.

Shortly after the decision was announced, Brian Cashman told Newsday:

“He’s a starter in the bullpen. He can do both. He’s a starter who was just beaten out in the competition. That’s what we honestly believe, but we only had one spot.
"If someone wrote a story 'Joba is a failed starter’ -- that’s just not true. Bottom line, he’s a major-league starting pitcher.”

For the good of the team, for the good of Hughes and for the good of Joba, it's time to give up the dream. Move Joba to the bullpen and leave him there. Declare him a reliever and end this circus.

Associated Press

Hughes has come a long way this spring, developing a changeup to give him four quality pitches. But that doesn't mean he's going to go out and suddenly blossom into a dominant pitcher. He's still young and he's going to have ups and downs. And unless the Yankees do something, when Hughes runs into a rough patch, there will be calls for Joba to replace him in the rotation.

That's the last thing Hughes and the Yankees need.

Hughes needs to go out there every fifth day confident that a bad start or two or even three is not going to cost him his spot in the rotation. He shouldn't be looking over his shoulder.

Further, the Yankees need to give Hughes a legitimate opportunity to prove himself. The only way to do that is to let him start in the majors, experience growing pains and learn what it takes to be successful in the majors. Developing quality starters doesn't happen overnight and very few come up from the minors and have long, sustained success immediately. It can take two or three years.

And Joba also needs his future with the team defined. Does Joba have the talent and ability to be a dependable major league starter? Yes, but the Yankees have not handled his development in the most efficient -- or sane -- manner. And clearly bouncing between the different mentalities between starting and relieving has not been an easy adjustment for the 24-year-old righty.

Associated Press

Another team -- one that doesn't have the expectation the Yankees have -- might have been more successful making Joba a starter, but it's not going to happen in the Bronx. Not now.

If Andy Pettitte, as expected, does retire after this season, the free agent class this coming offseason appears as if it will so strong, that it's hard to believe Joba will even get another shot at the rotation next spring. Think the Yankees will pass up on the likes of Cliff Lee, Jeremy Bonderman or Josh Beckett if they hit the open market?

Joba -- unless Yankees do something crazy like send him Triple-A -- is going to be in the bullpen this season. Leave him there. Stop this madness.

No One To Blame But Joba

There was one issue for the New York Yankees headed to Tampa, Fla., for spring training: Who would be the No. 5 starter?

Yes, Joe Girardi has had to deal with whether to start Curtis Granderson in center or left and how reconstruct the lineup after the departures of Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Melky Cabrera and additions of Granderson and Nick Johnson in the offseason. But those were relatively minor issues. The Yankees' lineup is still formidable and the defense is improved no matter how Girardi puts it all together.

With CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte and Javier Vazquez solidifying the first four spots in the rotation, the Yankees and Girardi had one big question to figure out: Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes?

Yes, Alfredo Aceves, Chad Gaudin and Sergio Mitre were included in the "competition," but did anyone believe they were legitimate candidates? I certainly didn't, and I would be shocked if one of them ended up in the rotation, despite their strong springs.

This was about Joba vs. Hughes ... and Joba seemed to be the guy with the leg up entering the training camp.

The 27-time World Champions (I'm going to love tying that all season -- if for no reason other than to annoy Dave) spent the last two years babying Chamberlain, adhering strict to pitch counts, setting innings limits. It was all done to protected the prize, fire-balling righthander while carefully building his arm strength.

All of it was done to get to this point. This was supposed to be Joba's year to prove the Yankees' scouts right. All the limits, the Joba Rules were out the window. Joba was free.

All along in the Great Joba Debate, I've said we need to wait and see what Chamberlain is. Yes, we knew he could be a great reliever, but that didn't preclude him from also being a great starter. Joba needed to be developed and then he needed to go out and get the job done.

This was the spring Joba was supposed to show us what he's got.

Instead, he hasn't shown us much of anything.

Chamberlain has thrown the ball better of late, but by all accounts, Hughes has been better, taking control in the battle for the fifth spot, according to the Daily News' Mark Feinsand.

Hughes has spent the spring working on his changeup, giving him four major-league caliber pitches. And while Hughes did serve up three homers in Monday's outing, both he and Girardi were pleased with the way he was throwing.

Girardi is nearing the point when he's going to have to make decision, possibly as early as Thursday. For now, the manager is not ruling anything out, including sending both Hughes and Joba to the bullpen or even sending one to the minors.

But if Girardi does not go with Joba, then Joba will have only himself to blame. Given the opportunity to prove that he deserves to be in the rotation, Joba has thrown to a 16.20 ERA -- bloated even by spring training standards to say the least. He has failed to seize the prize before him. There are no more excuses.

It's looking likely that Joba's future is destined for the bullpen. It's time to end the debate.

A.J. Steps Foward, Joba ... Oy Vey!

Two weeks ago, talk radio in New York was filled with Yankees fans who were concerned about the state of the team's pitching.

Nevermind that the Yankees statistically had the AL's best pitching staff since the All-Star break. Fans were worried about a scuffling A.J. Burnett and a Joba Chamberlain who looked to be more like a fragile porcelain figurine and than a tough, fireballing bulldog on the mound.

Burnett responded by putting together three outstanding outings, capped by Tuesday's 4-3 walkoff win over the Royals on Juan Miranda's ninth-inning single.

After showing the form he had in winning three straight after the All-Star break in a win over the Red Sox, Joba reverted to the form that had Yankees fans pulling out their hair through much of the second half in a 4-3 loss Wednesday.

Burnett had miserable August and start of September and failed to win a game between July 27 and Sept. 7. But he's been brilliant in his last three starts, recapturing the form that made him one of the best pitchers in the majors in June and July. In his last 19 innings, he's posted a 1.89 ERA, struck out 25 and allowed 17 hits and nine walks.

Tuesday he was at his best. Burnett allowed two runs -- one earned -- on three hits and three walks, while striking out eight. He was lifted with one out in the seventh at 108 pitches (69 strikes) only because with nothing left to be decided in the regular season, the Yankees (102-57) capped Burnett's pitch count at 110.


For a while, however, it appeared that Burnett would be tagged for loss in this one as Phil Coke, who relieved in the seventh, forgot to take his brain with him to the mound. With the score tied at 1 after Mark Teixeira's 39th homer of the season in the sixth, the Royals had a runner on first with one out and elected to have Alex Gordon lay down a sacrifice bunt.

Gordon executed, sending the bunt to the left of the mound, where Coke fielded the ball. However, he took his sweet time and was late with the throw, allowing Gordon to reach with a single. Josh Anderson then bounce a tapper back to the mound. Coke fielded, but instead of getting the sure out a first, he wheeled, fired wildly to second and sent the ball in to center allowing the go-ahead run to score.

And as if that wasn't bad enough, Coke botched the next play, too. Mitch Maier bounce a tapper back to Coke, who could have caught Gordon drifting off third for the second out of the inning. Instead, he turned and got Maier at first, but allowed Gordon to score to make it 3-1.

I know lefties, such as Coke, can be flighty at times, but that was ridiculous. A major leaguer has to know better than that. This was was Little League-where's-the-play-type decisions the Coke botched.

But the Yankees bailed out Coke. First Nick Swisher homered in the bottom half to make it 3-2. Then the Yankees victimized former teammate Kyle Farnsworth in the ninth.

With one out, Francisco Cervelli and Eric Hinske singled to put runners on the corners. Robinson Cano then brought in the tying run, lofting an 0-and-3, 94 mph fastball into deep center for a sacrifice fly.

Hinske then displayed some surprising speed, stealing second and hustling to third when John Buck's throw sailed into center. Farnsworth responded by walking Johnny Damon to get to Miranda, who earned the whipped cream pie by lining a shot off Farnsworth to bring in the winner.

It was the Yankees' 50th come-from-behind win and 15th walkoff this season.

Burnett has one more start left in the regular season, but he looks to be back in the groove. If he can carry that into the playoffs, then look out because when Burnett is right, hitters simply detest facing him.

Joba, on the other hand, has become an enigma.

Since the end of July, he has gone 2-4 with both wins coming against the Red Sox. The rest of the time he's simply looked scared.

Wednesday, he was awful. Once again he was passive, afraid to challenge with his fastball and unwilling to attack the strike zone. It was maddening.

He allowed three runs on seven hits and four walks while throwing 91 pitches (just 52 strikes) in a mere 3-2/3 innings.

And the question becomes whether the Yankees can really trust him when they need a fourth starter in the ALCS? If he is aggressive, Joba can slow down any lineup. We've seen that this year. But when he's off, he's miserable. Who knows? Maybe the electricity of the crowd in the playoffs gets Joba's adrenaline going and he delivers.

But with Chad Gaudin having pitched well with the Yankees having won each of his starts, it sure is tempting to go with him over Joba.

The good news is there is time for that decision to be made.

The bad news is that the Yankees couldn't escape Joba's poor start with a win, snapping their winning streak at seven.

Derek Jeter hit his 23rd career leadoff homer, one off Rickey Henderson's team record, and Nick Swisher hit a two-run homer in the fifth to tie it at 3.

Swisher, however, misplayed a flyball from John Buck into a triple, allowing the go-ahead run to score in the seventh and capping the Yankees' last regular season homestand at 5-1.

Now it's off to Tampa after an off-day today, as the Yankees do some more fine tuning in their final three games of the regular season.

Runners In Scoring Position
Tuesday
1-for-4 (.250)
Wednesday
0-for-4 (.000)
Season
409-for-1,513 (.270)
First Half
217-for-819 (.265)
Second Half
192-for-694 (.277)
Since A-Rod's Return May 8
344-for-1,240 (.277)
Vs. Red Sox
45-for-204 (.221)

Up Next
Friday at Rays, 7:38 p.m., YES
CC Sabathia (19-7, 3.21 ERA) vs. David Price (9-7, 4.60)

The Yankees would love to make Sabathia the majors' first and possibly only 20-game winner, but they won't do it at the expense of extending him deep into this game. Like Burnett on Tuesday, expect Sabathia to have a pitch count of around 110.