Different Joba?

Yesterday's 2-1 win over Detroit marked big strides for starting pitcher Joba Chamberlain. It was the longest outing for Joba since June 1st and the first time he had given up less than 2 runs in a game since his last start vs Detroit on April 29th. Joba overcame early struggles and settled down to win his 5th game of the year, his first win since June 24th against Atlanta. Joba seemed to be in much better command of his fastball, hitting upper 90's with consistency, and seemed to be increasing as the game went on. Joba has a tendency of nibbling around the plate and not being able to put guys away, but yesterday he only had 3 walks and struck out 8 batters. His 8 strikeouts was the second most he has recorded this season, showing he came with a different approach to challenge hitters. This helped keep his pitch count low and allowed him to go 6 2/3 innings as well.

The most important thing I saw from Joba yesterday was how he picked up his teammates. In his last 2 starts Joba gave up unearned runs because he couldn't get out of jams created by his teammates errors. More specifically his start on July 5th vs Toronto, while leading 5-3 with 1 out in the 4th inning and a man on first, Cody Ransom made an error on a possible double play ball, setting up first and second with 1 out. Joba could have cracked down and gotten out of the situation, but it ballooned and he ended up giving up a double, single, and home run for a total of 5 runs. This goes down in the stats as 3 er and 8 runs, so Joba's era remains in tact, but this is a situation where you need to bear down and help your teammate out. In the last few outings Joba failed to do this and let his game get out of control. Yesterday howevere, different story. Joba faced Granderson with 1 out and no one on in the 6th and Granderson lined a pitch to Nick Swisher. It was a well hit ball and certainly should have been a hit, but Swisher tried to play the ball on a short hop and let it get right by him after doing an embarassing leap up. Granderson ended up on third as the go ahead run, and still only 1 out. Joba managed to get out of the inning unscathed thanks to a 97 mph fastball on a 3-2 pitch to Marcus Thames that blew right by him. After recording the out, Joba did his signature celebration with fist pumps and a voilent shake. It was good to see him help out his teammates and not let a small mistake blow up. It was also refreshing to see Joba excited and happy on the mound for the first time in a while. On top of that Joba wasn't afraid to go after the hitter on a 3-2 pitch and dialed it up to 97! Overall many good signs from Joba yesterday and if he can continue this, a good 1-2-3 in the rotation.