Don't Get Me Wrong, Joba Chamberlain Is Pitching Great, But Is NY Really Going This Nuts For A Middle Reliever?
It's always exciting to have a good young rookie come up and blow the doors off people. It's not just good for your team, but it's good for baseball. It's exciting to see Verlander and Zumaya throw 100mph cheese or Liriano throw a heavy 97 mph lefty fastball or Felix Hernandez / Papelbon / K-Rod or whoever come in an energize a team. It's fun and it's get fans really excited. So I guess I can kinda understand the lofty hype of the Joba Chamberlain situation going on right now. He's young, he throws hard and he hasn't been scored on, plus he fills a HUGE hole for the Yanks right now as their 8th inning guy. That's great. But he is a middle reliever and what he's doing is done all the time, despite the stats that Scouts.com digs up to say otherwise. While Chamberlain's scoreless streak (now 11.1) innings is impressive, especially for a rookie, it's not even close to several streaks that have taken place this year and earned far less hype. Brandon Webb went 5 games without giving up a run and 3 of those were complete games! 41 people faced Bobby Jenks without getting on FUCKING BASE! That's absurd, yet it didn't get nearly the attention that Chamberlain gets. And in terms of rookie relievers, when named closer in 2006, Papelbon gave up 2 total runs in 34 appearances and didn't give up a run in his first 14. I recognize this is the NY media and baseball hype is par for the course (see Brien Taylor, Kevin Maas, Shance Spencer, Phil Hughes), but the quick niche in baseball lore that this kid is etching for himself is bordering on the absurd. Don't believe me, check these out:
From a question posted on Yahoo Answers:
"Is Joba Chamberlain the best relief pitcher right now in all of MLB?"Really? The best or one of the best? Again, the kid's thrown 11 innnings. And in those innings he's been dominant. But as one poster reminded the audience, he's not even the best reliever on his own team. And maybe I'm a little sensitive because the Yanks just beat the shit out of my team and Joba closed the door twice but I just think that Yanks fans need to slow down a bit before giving this guy the fucking keys to the city. You have a right to be excited, but isn't this a wee bit much?:
Answers (just a few):
I think he is
Heck yeah he is.... his stats are off the chart!
He is not the best but one of the best
Originally Posted by R.V.47:
I heard Michael Kay mention last night that Joba doesnt have entrance music yet. Is it because hes a rookie?
Posted by JavyVazquezIsSick:
Does God need entrance music? Neither does Joba.
Posts
2 comments:
you cleverly don't take a position on whether there was the same circus and general absurdness surrounding Papelbon when he came up. Google "Papelbon best closer Ever"
"Q: Who is the best closer ever?
...
A: terriers1807-27-2006, 05:42 PM
Papelbon is alreedy[sic] the best closer. just look at his numbers compared to rivera this year. no contest!!! and when the sox win the al east, he'll do the same thing in the playoffs too, easy!"
Same difference, except, of course, how easy it is to jump on irrational Yanks fan/media.
And it's not easty to jump on irrational Sox fans/media (See your post). The Red Sox fans were (are) crazy about Papelbon and needed to settle down last year in the same way Yanks fans do this year. I don't exonerate them for their lunacy simply because I'm calling out crazy Yanks hype.
The only difference is that the Sox fans were right and Yanks fans are wrong. Jonathan Papelbon is the greatest closer ever. Actually, fuck that, greatest athlete (or human for that matter) EVER.
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