Aceves does what Joba can't in Yankees' 10-8 win
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Yankees vs. Blue Jays
Joe Girardi was pretty succinct in his postgame evaluation of the most important Yankees pitcher in yesterday's 10-8 win over the Blue Jays.
"Ace knows how to pitch," Girardi said of Alfredo Aceves, who came into a mess of a game and threw four brilliant innings to earn his first big-league save as the Yankees won their third in a row and 10th in the last 11 games.
What was left unsaid was that Joba Chamberlain hasn't learned how to do what Aceves did.
Chamberlain, staked to a 4-0 lead after two innings, was awful, allowing eight runs (three earned) in the third and fourth, all with two outs. He was slow and nibbling and not aggressive, Girardi said. "It's just about attacking hitters," he said. "The 3-and-2 slider to the first hitter [Marco Scutaro, who walked] kind of set the tone."
Chamberlain took issue with Girardi's assessment. "It's actually the best I've felt all year coming out of the bullpen [to start the game]," he said after throwing 86 pitches in 3 2/3 innings, 53 for strikes. "My mechanics were the best they've been all year. I did a good job [of attacking the strike zone] today, I felt like."
Asked why Girardi felt so differently, Chamberlain said: "You'd have to ask him that."
There was no disagreement about the job the already taxed bullpen did after Chamberlain left in the fourth, having allowed an RBI double by Raul Chavez, a two-run single by Scutaro, a two-run homer by Aaron Hill and a single by Adam Lind, who had followed Hill's RBI single in the third with a two-run homer. Boos cascaded down from the 46,320 at Yankee Stadium as the Yankees trailed 8-4.
Jonathan Albaladejo (3-1), fresh up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, got out of the fourth and escaped a man-on-third, one-out jam in the fifth by picking up two strikeouts, giving the Yankees time to regroup against a ragtag pitching corps.
Hideki Matsui (four RBIs) hit a three-run homer off Brett Cecil in the fourth to make it 8-7, giving him three homers and eight RBIs in the last four games.
In the fifth, Derek Jeter (four hits) put the Yankees ahead with a two-run homer off B.J. Ryan (1-1) and Jorge Posada added a two-out double for his fourth hit and third RBI to make it 10-8.
By then, with Phil Coke, Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera all resting after consistent use and Saturday's 12-inning win, bullpen coach Mike Harkey told Aceves he'd be going long.
"So I figured, why not?" said Aceves, who worked as crisply and aggressively as Chamberlain had not. "It was a weird game. I didn't know when I was going to throw. But I'm available, like all year."
The first five innings were endless, with Chamberlain trying to slow things down and the teams delivering 18 runs and 23 hits. Aceves made it a different game. "He was attacking the zone with great stuff, keeping guys off-balance, working quickly," Mark Teixeira said. "He just did an amazing job of getting us where we needed to be."
After the eighth, when he allowed the only baserunner of the 13 batters he faced, Aceves came to the dugout and pitching coach Dave Eiland cornered him. "He said, 'You want to finish this game?' I said sure," he said. "I mean, it's an honor. With Mo, he's got 501 [actually 503 saves] and I got zero."
But Aceves breezed through the ninth in Rivera-like fashion, striking out Lind swinging and Scott Rolen looking. Aceves has a 2.02 ERA in 21 appearances. "He looks like he's been pitching here for 15 years," Rivera said.
Chamberlain hasn't gotten those same raves lately. He seemed quite content with his outing, which might not sit well with Girardi. "I think he's learning some valuable lessons," the manager said. "Valuable lessons aren't always learned when you're throwing the ball great."
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