Joba Rules: Just Playing it Safe

Bryan Hoch, a writer for MLB.com, wrote an article yesterday about Joba being concerned with re-injuring his left hamstring, an injury that sidelined him for a month at the beginning of the 2007 season. Here's a quick blurb, and if you're interested in reading more, click here.

Chamberlain ready, available in 'pen. Yankees give right hander two days off after heavy work load.

CLEVELAND -- Yankees right-hander Joba Chamberlain felt that familiar sensation in the back of his left leg, and warning bells might as well have gone off in his head.

When Chamberlain slipped in the wet clay of the mound at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago on Thursday, the memories of a strained hamstring that delayed the opening of his 2007 season flashed back quickly. Chamberlain tweaked his left hamstring pitching that eighth inning against the White Sox, so when the Yankees came at him with two consecutive days off, he was in no position to argue.

"[The injury was in a] different spot, but it took a month and a half," Chamberlain said Sunday. "I didn't start [for Class A Tampa] until May 7. I knew exactly what it was because I dealt with it all last year. It wasn't anything serious at all, but you just want to make sure it's OK. I don't want to go out and create anything. It could be a little achy when I go out on April 26 and be out until June."

One day after the Yankees were rather secretive with Chamberlain's availability, instead using Kyle Farnsworth and Ross Ohlendorf in the late innings of a 4-3 loss to the Indians, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said that the 22-year-old right-hander would be ready to go in a similar situation if needed Sunday.

"He's available," Girardi said. "As I said [Saturday], he wasn't going to pitch because of how much we've used him. We were giving him two days off."

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