Girardi: Joba no longer primary 8th-inning pitcher
Joba Chamberlain walks back to the dugout after retiring the Royals in the eighth inning at Yankee Stadium. (July 25, 2010) Credit: Getty Images
CLEVELAND - Joe Girardi said after Monday's game it was matchups and not a lack of confidence in Joba Chamberlain that caused him to go to David Robertson and Boone Logan in that night's eighth inning.
Before last night's game, he acknowledged Chamberlain, for lack of a better word, had been, at least temporarily, demoted from primary setup man.
"You'd love for him to get back to the way he pitches and we just stay with him in the eighth inning," Girardi said. "But like we've said, he's struggled a little bit . . . but we believe we can get him back on track."
Girardi said "you always worry about the confidence in your players," but that he didn't feel the need to address that specifically with Chamberlain, or that other pitchers might get a crack at the eighth inning depending on the matchups.
"The guys down there know my stance," Girardi said. "When you're pitching well, you're going to pitch."
Phil Hughes was invaluable from early July last year through the end of season as the lockdown eighth-inning guy, something the Yankees haven't had this season.
"You'd like to be able to [have that] but it won't be the end of the world if it doesn't happen," Girardi said. "We will get through it and we'll find ways to make it work."
After Monday's game, Chamberlain said he wasn't upset by the demotion.
"You have to be ready from the sixth inning on for any situation that may happen," he said. "You have to be ready for any situation and hope the guys that go out there get the job done."
