Joba Chamberlain was set to start against the Orioles in the series finale against Adam Eaton.  Joba’s outing was definitely shorter than he expected it to be. 

Joba’s and Aubrey Huff’s fist pumping debate was the least of Joba’s problems.  After striking out Brian Roberts, Adam Jones, who has been hot at the plate, came up to bat.  He hit a sharp liner back to the mound.  It hit off Joba’s leg right above his knee.  He recovered and got the ball to first for the out.  After the play, Joba bent over in pain as he tried to shake it off.  He stayed in the game until a double by Aubrey Huff got him taken out of the game.  Ironic, huh?  When he was going to back up the play, he was in obvious pain as he ran with a limp.  Girardi took him out of the game so that he wouldn’t be hurt anymore. 

The x-rays on Joba’s knee came back negative, so that’s good news.  The soreness in his knee isn’t anything too serious so there is nothing to worry about.  He might be out of action until the soreness goes down, but he should be back soon.

On another note, the Yanks continued their winning streak and got their ninth win in a row.  Robby Cano had a big game offensively.  He went 3-4 with a two run homer, a double, and a single.  He was a triple short of the cycle.  He had three total RBI’s.  He scored two runs.  And he ultimately led this offense to the victory.  But Cano wasn’t the only player to have a good game at the plate.  Big Tex went 2-3 with an RBI, a run scored, and a walk.  Melky went 1-4 with two RBI’s.  The only players not to get a hit were A-Rod, who was extremely silent in the game, Francisco Cervelli, and Brett Gardner. 

The bullpen had to come in very early to replace Joba.  When I learned of this, I was hoping so much that they would be able to continue to play well and keep the O’s at bay.  They did exactly that.  Alfredo Aceves was the first to come in.  He has been the most consistent and successful pitcher out of the ‘pen during this streak.  Really all this season.  He pitched great.  3.1 innings giving up three hits, a walk, and striking out one.  He got the win in the game. 

When Aceves came out, Jonathon Albaladejo came in.  After a relatively good start to the season, Albaladejo has had some problems of late.  Yesterday was a good example of this.  He went 2.1 innings giving up five hits, two for homers (Roberts, Markakis), and gave up four runs.  This is all the O’s would get but nontheless, it was a disappointing performance from Albaladejo.  On the bright side of things, he did strike out two. 

Jose Veras relieved Albaladejo and went 1.2 innings giving up only two hits.  Nothing else.  Veras is starting to come around in the bullpen and it has and will be huge if he can continue to pitch like this. 

Rivera came in after Veras to close out the game.  He did it in perfect fashion giving up nothing and taking down one guy by way of the K.  Rivera’s ninth save of the season comes in the Yankees’ ninth win in a row.  Interesting.

Joba’s injury is obvioulsy a concern but the good thing is that he won’t be out for too long.  We have to keep an eye on it but there isn’t too much to worry about. 

The Red Sox completed their sweep of the Jays which helped us immensely.  We are now only 1.5 games back of first.  We are 1 game behind the Sox.  This winning streak has been huge for the team and has gotten us well into the race for the top of the AL East.  Let’s keep it up. 

Interleague play starts today.  We are set to play the defending champs Phillies.  The Philles have been playing some good ball of late so it should be a good matchup.  The Yanks look to continue their streak and I look to continue enjoying Yankees baseball.  It’s so much easier rooting for a team that wins a lot than doing so for a team that loses a lot (like the Nats).  But just so you all know, the Nats did beat the Pirates yesterday. 

It’s gonna be Burnett vs. Brett Myers in the interleague opener.  Burnett has looked good and hopefully he can keep it up.  We need a good performance from him against the powerful Phillis offense. 

-Dillon