Nice bounce-back performance by Chamberlain

The boos serve as mere muffled background noise to Joba Chamberlain. Somehow he is able to ignore the disapproving cries of an impatient Yankee Stadium crowd no matter how much he struggles, no matter how often he fails to resemble the Joba of 2007.

"It's their right,'' he said. "They paid their money to see a win, they can do whatever they want. I honestly don't even hear it.

"It's like anybody; if you have a bad day at your office and your boss yells at you, it's the same thing. It's part of the game, it's part of every situation in life. If your shoulders aren't big enough to take it, you probably need to go take a hike and do something else."

Two days after being charged with three runs in the ninth inning of a 7-1 loss to the Phillies and getting booed off the mound, Chamberlain was poised for a rebound performance yesterday. And he delivered by pitching a scoreless eighth to help preserve the Yankees' 5-3 victory over the Mets.

After he retired Jesus Feliciano and Jose Reyes on groundouts, Angel Pagan ripped a double to rightfield. But Chamberlain made quick work of his next batter, David Wright, who entered the game tied for the National League lead with 53 RBIs.

With the count 1-and-0, Chamberlain threw three straight sliders to Wright, striking him out swinging on a sharp-breaking 87-mph offering that wound up low and outside. Chamberlain's immediate reaction was one Yankees fans have come to love: his trademark fist pump.

"We needed to attack him after the previous at-bats and especially with the runner in scoring position," he said.

Joe Girardi could have brought in Mariano Rivera for the final four outs of the game, but he chose to trust Chamberlain. "I liked the way Joba was throwing the ball and I liked Joba's slider there," Girardi said. "I liked the velocity, his ability to locate the ball away. I had Mo ready possibly if I needed him."

Chamberlain has had an odd season. He has a 5.52 ERA, but that's mostly due to allowing 15 earned runs in three innings in five of his outings. In his other 26 games, he has given up three earned runs in 261/3 innings.

Chamberlain insisted he doesn't dwell on his rough outings, adding that he already had pushed the bad outing against the Phillies out of his mind.

"Every game is important. It doesn't matter what's happened before," he said. "Every day's a new day. You can't look at what's happened before, you've got to take advantage of what you're doing right now and understand what we did to be in that position and try to do everything you can to hold it up . . . No matter if I'm a starter or a reliever, it's easy for me to turn the page."