From Newsday

Joba has no problems this time against Indians

BY RODERICK BOONE | roderick.boone@newsday.com; This story

May 9, 2008

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As usual, the cheers started when he emerged from the bullpen and began his stroll to the mound. They grew louder once his name was announced over the public address system, signaling the first opportunity for Joba Chamberlain to put Tuesday's rare meltdown behind him.

He was summoned to protect a three-run lead in the eighth yesterday and the Yankees' phenom looked more like his typical dominant self, acting as if his first career regular-season blown save two days earlier never happened. Chamberlain, in a coincidental twist, squared off against the same portion of the Indians' lineup that pounced on him the last time he set foot on the Yankee Stadium mound.

This time, though, Chamberlain came through, easily retiring the side in order to help preserve the Yankees' 6-3 win.

"It's funny how things worked out that way," Chamberlain said.

Chamberlain, firing in fastballs clocked as high as 98 miles per hour, quickly sent Grady Sizemore and Jamey Carroll back to the bench on a groundout and fly ball. He struck out David Dellucci - who cracked a huge pinch-hit three-run homer off him Tuesday - on a filthy slider down and in to end the inning.

That's when Chamberlain showed he has a little Chubby Checker in him. He did his familiar spin move with a twist to go along with a double fist pump as he sprung off the hill and began his walk to the dugout. As usual, he wasn't shy about holding back.

"That's who I am," Chamberlain said. "Everybody knows that."

Manager Joe Girardi said: "That's who he is and he's not showing anyone up. He is not looking at Dellucci. He's looking at our dugout. He is going to show some emotion. There's a lot of pitchers that when they get an out, they give a fist pump. To me, the important thing is as long as you are not showing someone up. And he's looking at our dugout."

Dellucci, however, offered a different take.

"It is what it is," he said. "If he wants to yell and scream after a strikeout, I guess that's what gets him going. It's May baseball. The home run was in a much bigger situation. I didn't dance and scream.

"If a hitter did something like that, it would be bush. It's kind of interesting how a pitcher gets away with it."

Before Chamberlain's inning of work and Mariano Rivera collecting his ninth save in nine chances, Ross Ohlendorf pitched two solid innings in relief of Mike Mussina. Ohlendorf faced seven hitters, allowed one hit and struck out one.

With the plan to move Chamberlain to the starting rotation at some point this season, Ohlendorf could be one of the main candidates to slide into Chamberlain's late-game role. He passed his latest test and served as a bridge to the Yankees' lights-out back of the bullpen.

Ohlendorf, Chamberlain and Rivera surrendered only two hits between them in four innings and kept the Indians at bay so Mussina could pick up his fourth straight win and No.255 of his career.

"It's not just the same couple of guys out of the pen," Mussina said. "We've got a lot of guys contributing out there. And if we can do that over the course of the whole season, we'll be in a lot better shape come August and September."

This story was supplemented with an Associated Press report.