If you are a regular reader of this blog (thank you, first of all) then you may remember that in early September I advocated in this post that the Yankees turn Joba Chamberlain into a full-time starter for 2009. Within that blog, I recommended that there were ways to marry caution with a full-time starting job. Now Hank Steinbrenner has said that the plan is to do exactly that, to have Joba as a starter for 2009. The Yanks tried to be enlightened with their plan last season with Chamberlain by essentially limiting his innings as a starter for two months by having him in the pen, where he would help the team immensely for roughly the first 60 games. With 20-20 hindsight now, we see that decision really did not work as far as building Chamberlain toward a full-time rotation role. He actually finished with fewer professional innings (100.1) in 2008 than the 112.1 he had in 2007.
The Yanks, obviously, will try to use caution again in 2009 with Chamberlain. But I believe the reality is that he is just a very hard thrower with a violent motion, and that it will be very difficult over the course of his career to keep him in a rotation for an entire season. It may be that Chamberlain is the wonderful race car that the Yankees never fully get to drive. His presence in the rotation really should motivate the Yanks to keep quality depth at Triple-A.
2. I have finally figured out the Red Sox’s plan. It is not just to win in the playoffs, but to demoralize every other team in the AL while doing so. They have the comeback from down 0-3 in the 2004 ALCS vs. the Yankees and from 1-3 down last year against the Indians. Now they have come back from 7-0 down in Game 5 to draw within 3-2 in the ALCS vs. the Rays. They still have to win twice in Tampa. But the young Rays are going to have to show that they can shake off what occurred Thursday night. To be so close to a World Series invite and have it pulled away is devastating. The Red Sox are down talent wise from their recent champs, specifically because injury has chipped away at some of their roster, especially the effectiveness of Game 6 starter Josh Beckett. But they are as mentally tough as ever, and that is really a great October asset.
3. Early in Game 5, as his struggles continued, David Ortiz was actually booed at Fenway Park. I try to avoid lecturing fans on their ballpark etiquette, but how ridiculous was that? What would this guy have to do to rise above being booed? He is in the first sentence on why there is no longer a Curse in Boston. I know fans get angry in the moment, but have some darn perspective. It is like when I heard booing in Yankee Stadium for some brief failure by Mariano Rivera. Some players should just be beyond the potential of being booed in their own stadiums, and Ortiz is one of them. And just for a reminder why he hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning to begin to really turn ALCS Game 5 around.