Looking at Joba Chamberlain’s first Major League start, I’m not impressed or disappointed.  Given his pitch limit—and the Yankees announcing that to the world—the Blue Jays had an invitation to be incredibly patient, and they were.  I’m not shielding blame from Joba, because obviously four walks is not going to cut it.  He really ought to work on the pitch selection.  It’s great that he has good off-speed stuff and it’s even better that he has confidence in those pitches, but full counts in the early innings isn’t the place to throw sliders out of the zone.  If you’ve got the heat, why not just use it then?

Most of the media slaughtered the Yankees for the move, but last night isn’t a proper indication of success or failure.  The first start in the process wasn’t supposed to be a 6 inning quality start.  The goal was to continue to extend Chamberlain out, which happened.  Sure, Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman would’ve preferred three or four innings, but if it took him through 2.1, then so be it.

Oh, and, cut LaTroy Hawkins.

******

I’m saddened to say that John Smoltz’s career is probably over.  He’s probably best remembered as part of the Braves dynasty (duh) and even more so as the “third wheel” of the Atlanta Three.  Those claims are both true, and Smoltz shouldn’t feel the least bit slighted (I doubt he does) about being third to Gregory Maddux and Thomas Glavine; most of us are behind them too.

I always marveled at Smoltz and how smart he was.  Yeah, he had heat, yeah, he had command, and yeah, he had the best slider thrown by a man not named Randy, but he knew what he was doing on the rubber.  He knew what you wanted to do to, and that’s just as important, frankly. 

If it is over—and boy, it looks like it—Smoltz should go ahead and get the induction speech penned.  You certainly have my vote.

******

Pedro’s back!  I still get more excited over seeing the name Pedro Martinez in the Pitching Probable page than any other pitcher, aside from maybe Tim Lincecum or any number of Yankee guys.  Pedro was so good, the kind of peak that... well, has never been touched.  (Don’t give me that crappy 1968 Gibson junk... the entire league was OBPing like Corey Patterson.) 

I wasn’t ever sure what I liked best about Pedro.  Was it the fastball?  Dude threw hard, and he was never afraid to blast you with 98 MPH heat.  How about that change up?  (No offense to Johan Santana—great change—or Trevor Hoffman—very good change—, but Pedro’s was and is king.)  It’s cliché to say this, but that pitch was allergic to bats.  The slider?  Very good, like, 60 out of 80 on the scouting scale.  And, he had a nifty power curve that would be the best breaking ball in virtually every other pitcher’s arsenal; I always recalled it being Pedro’s fourth offering.  And of course, he had the two-seamer for the ground balls when he didn’t feel like ripping your heart out.  And that brings me to my favorite trait of Pedro: he really hated the guys he pitched to.  That little guy was angry, and for nothing other than people like me calling him a little guy.  I remember someone liked Peter Gammons calling Pedro “the engine of a Ferrari wedged into a Pinto” and that seems to be correct, in more ways than one.  Pedro’s shoulder exploded again last year, and for the longest time the Red Sox had to be careful with Martinez, giving him extended rest as often as possible to keep the Pinto running. 

 I remember the media hyped up Pedro vs. Clemens, and I distinctly remember Pedro ripping through the Yankees order like a knife through warm butter.  Clemens tossed a quality start or something, but 6 IP-3 ER isn’t even close to being good enough to take down Pedro when he’s being Pedro. 

And, I still want to see Pedro drill Babe Ruth in the ass.  We all know he would.

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