Joba looks good in 1-2-3 inning

TAMPA, Fla. - Joba Chamberlain's offseason weight gain prompted mostly uncomfortable questions for the pitcher, not to mention his bosses, when spring training began.

But in deflecting those questions, manager Joe Girardi made a hard-to-argue point.

"The bottom line is he's going to be judged on how he pitches," he said.

In the Yankees' exhibition opener, Chamberlain pitched pretty darn well, delivering a tidy 1-2-3, 11-pitch third inning. That included striking out shortstop Wilson Valdez with a nasty 87-mph slider, one of only two sliders Chamberlain threw.

"I had some good nerves today, which was exciting for me," Chamberlain said. "It was nice to have that. You miss that feeling, that competitive edge, and to go out there and attack hitters was good."

Chamberlain relieved Bartolo Colon, among the contenders for a back-end rotation spot. Colon pitched OK, allowing a run and two hits in two innings.

Seven Yankees pitchers saw action in the Phillies' 5-4 victory, most of whom pitched relatively well.

But the day's most significant performance, from the Yankees' perspective, was Chamberlain's.

The headline-grabbing righthander grabbed the wrong kind of those at the onset of camp, coming in, to use general manager Brian Cashman's word, "heavier" than the Yankees expected. Chamberlain said the increased mass was muscle, the result of his having added a gym to his Nebraska home during the winter.

He certainly appeared to be stronger Saturday, hitting 95 mph on the radar gun.

"Leaps and bounds ahead of where it's been," Chamberlain said of his delivery. "They said I was 94, 95, and I haven't been 94, 95 this early in five, six years. It's a good sign for me."

Chamberlain pitched effectively off his fastball, one of the goals he and new pitching coach Larry Rothschild set during the offseason.

"I was able to pitch off my fastball, which sometimes I get away from," he said. "It's early, it's your first one, but there's always things you can take."

Chamberlain wilted a year ago in the competition for the fifth spot in the rotation - which Phil Hughes easily won - but this year he knows that if he pitches well in spring training, he'll be in the bullpen. No should-he-start-or-relieve debates this time around.

"He attacked," Joe Girardi said of what he liked best about Chamberlain's outing. "And for the first time out, his velocity was really good."

When Chamberlain showed up at the minor-league complex in early February, he discussed a change he implemented in the offseason - going back to placing his hands at the belt, as he did when he made his electric debut in 2007. In other seasons, his hands were at his chest.

"It just feels a lot more comfortable," Chamberlain said. "The movement from my hands down is a lot less because when my hands break, they're at my waist anyway. It's what I did my first year when I was successful and I thought I'd try it again."

Colon, 37, didn't take himself out of the competition for a back-end rotation spot, pounding the strike zone and getting up to 93 on the gun. Colon, who pitched well in winter ball in the Dominican Republic for bench coach Tony Peña, said he felt "real close" to where he was in 2005, when he won the Cy Young Award with the Angels.

"It was pretty much the Bartolo that I knew," Girardi said. "A strike-throwing machine."

But in the case of Colon and Chamberlain - and with Ivan Nova, who starts Sunday, and the rest of the cast going for rotations spots - Girardi's not making decisions in February.

"I don't make too much out of the early go," he said. "We've got a month before we have to make . . . to me, the important thing is you let it play out. You don't jump to too many conclusions early on."