Encouraged Joba Chamberlain: 'I feel like I'm ready'

Joba Chamberlain remains encouraged and thinks he's nearly ready to return to the Yankees.

The reliever was at the Stadium Friday, tossing a bullpen session in front of team officials in preparation for his next rehabilitation assignment. Chamberlain, working his way back from elbow and ankle injuries, didn't report any issues afterward and is pleased with his progress.

"I never had any doubt whatsoever," he said. "It's going to be awesome to put this uniform on again at some point and be able to pitch for this team. The biggest thing for me is to show my son -- the fact that he was there with me through this whole thing -- is to never give up on anything that you set your mind to. That was the biggest thing that drove me through this whole thing."

Chamberlain is expected to pitch for Double-A Trenton on Sunday, a move up in classification. He hopes to enter a game in the middle of an inning, possibly with runners on base, something he hasn't done.

He estimates his fastball velocity is somewhere between 94 and 100 mph. "Yeah, I feel like I'm ready," he said. "Obviously, the physical part's over now. It's just the mental part now of getting into a routine and trusting your pitches and the fact you can get guys out."

Swisher sits againNick Swisher (strained hip flexor) missed his sixth straight game, but there's a chance he'll play Saturday. "We are making sure he's as close to 100 percent as possible," Joe Girardi said. "When you have slight strains, you have to make sure that you don't have a setback . . . I don't think we are being overly cautious. It's just not quite ready yet." . . . Eric Chavez got hit by a pitch just above his right ankle in the eighth. It stiffened up, but X-rays were negative and he thinks he'll be fine . . . Girardi said Alex Rodriguez (broken hand) will have an X-ray next week and "as far as a timetable, it really just depends on how quickly that heals. So we'll just watch it carefully."