Joba Chamberlain went down with a stiff shoulder during a tight pennant race. On a tough night in Texas for the New York Yankees, the latest injury to their pitching staff really hurt.
After the hard-throwing Chamberlain came out in the fifth inning, the Yankees lost 9-5 to the Rangers on Marlon Byrd's game-ending grand slam off Damaso Marte with two outs in the ninth.Chamberlain was slated to return to New York on Tuesday for tests, and manager Joe Girardi said the 22-year-old right-hander probably will miss a turn in the rotation. Anything more than that would be a major blow to the depleted Yankees, who are 2 1/2 games behind Boston for the AL wild-card lead.
"My strength was fine. My velocity was fine," Chamberlain said. "We'll have tests just so we can rule out everything. It kind of grabbed and it was a little bit tighter in the fifth inning."
Already missing Chien-Ming Wang and Phil Hughes from a top-heavy rotation, the Yankees got more bad news when Chamberlain began shaking his arm on the mound.
"He has a little stiffness. We believe it's muscular," Girardi said. "We'll see what the tests reveal. I don't think it's serious. I don't think he'll be shut down a long time."
Bottom Line: The Rays also lost last night to Cleveland, so the standings remain frozen for one night... but this could be a huge blow to the Yankees. When Joba was moved in to the rotation, Yankees management looked like geniuses as they watched him fan 69 batters through 60.2 IPs in June & July, while earning a 2.24 ERA and a 3-1 record.
If this injury is serious, I don't think "genius" is the word Yankees fans will be using any more...
Also, I really wanted the Sox to grab Marte at the deadline... but hearing that he gave up a 2-out, game losing Grand Salami makes me feel a little better.
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