Baseball Reference Blog

Joba-mania is huge now in Yankeeland, as a result of Joba Chamberlain's first five games with the Yankees:

 CarGm TmG Date       Opp DR GmReslt Pitcher Result  IP   H  R ER BB SO HR   ERA  BF Pit Str GmSc IR IS Situat. In/Out Inn Rnr O Scr  SB CS Pk AB 2B 3B IW HB SH SF RE DP

+-----+---+---------+----+--+-------+--------------+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+------+--+---+---+----+--+--+--------------+--------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+

     1 113 Aug  7    @TOR  - W  9-2   8-9f           2    1  0  0  2  2  0   0.00  8  33  19       0  0  8b --- 0 a 7   9b end   a 7   0  0  0  6  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  1 

     2 115 Aug 10    @CLE  2 W  6-1   7-8  ,H  1     2    0  0  0  0  4  0   0.00  6  21  14       0  0  7b --- 0 a 3   8b 3 out a 5   0  0  0  6  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0 

     3 118 Aug 13     BAL  2 W  7-6   8-8  ,H  2     1    0  0  0  0  2  0   0.00  3  14   9       0  0  8t --- 0 a 1   8t 3 out a 1   0  0  0  3  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0 

     4 122 Aug 17     DET  3 W  6-1   9-9f           1    1  0  0  0  1  0   0.00  4  10   7       0  0  9t --- 0 a 5   9t end   a 5   0  0  0  4  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0 

     5 124 Aug 19     DET  1 W  9-3   7-7  ,H  3     1    0  0  0  0  2  0   0.00  3   9   8       0  0  7t --- 0 a 1   7t 3 out a 1   0  0  0  3  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0

Looking at Chamberlain's stats, I was curious as to what other relief pitchers started their career with the same results as him. So,  I went to Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Pitching Streak Finder and asked it to find the "Longest Streak with IPouts<=2, SO>=1 From 1957 to 2007, as Reliever, To start career."  The results of the query pointed me towards the start of Todd Wellemeyer.  Check out the stats for Wellemeyer's first five games in the big leagues:

CarGm TmG Date       Opp DR GmReslt Pitcher Result  IP   H  R ER BB SO HR   ERA  BF Pit Str GmSc IR IS Situat. In/Out Inn Rnr O Scr  SB CS Pk AB 2B 3B IW HB SH SF RE DP 

+-----+---+---------+----+--+-------+--------------+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+------+--+---+---+----+--+--+--------------+--------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ 

     1  40 May 15    @MIL  - W  4-2  17-17f,S  1     1    0  0  0  0  3  0   0.00  3  18  14       0  0 17b --- 0 a 2  17b end   a 2   0  0  0  3  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0 

     2  41 May 16    @STL  0 L  4-7   7-8f           2    0  0  0  0  1  0   0.00  6  26  16       0  0  7b --- 0 d 3   8b end   d 3   0  0  0  6  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0 

     3  45 May 21    @PIT  4 L  2-5   6-7            1.2  1  0  0  0  2  0   0.00  5  19  12       2  1  6b 12- 1 d 4   7b 3 out d 5   0  0  0  5  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0 

     4  50 May 26     PIT  4 L  0-10  9-9f           1    1  0  0  0  3  0   0.00  4  18  13       0  0  9t --- 0 d10   9t end   d10   0  0  0  4  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0 

     5  54 May 31     HOU  4 W  1-0  15-16f,W  1-0   2    0  0  0  0  4  0   0.00  6  31  19       0  0 15t --- 0 tie  16t end   tie   0  0  0  6  0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0

The totals look close, no?   Here's the tale of the tape for their first 5 big league games:

Wellemeyer: 7.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 13 K's
Chamberlain:  7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 11 K's

I guess a hot start is not always a lock for future stardom, huh?  Todd Wellemeyer is still out there, today, chucking - on a rehab stint, actually - but, it's not like he's crafting a Cooperstown resume in the process.  As a Yankees fan, I hope things work out better for Joba.  I think the catch here is the number of pitches thrown each time out.  Chamberlain seems to have the edge there - which indicate that control is better, or, at least it's been better in this five game start comparison.

Related posts:

Joba Hall of Fame Watch