As a big time Mets fan, I have to give props to Joba Chamberlain on a phenomenal outing last night. But the bigger question is - at what point will Mike Francesa acknowledge that he was wrong about "Jobahhh"? 7 shutout innings, allowing 3 hits, while striking out 9 versus the Red Sox in Fenway just might be the game that makes Mikey eat his words. But here's the thing, Mike totally downplayed this series yesterday. So because he did that, in Mike Francesa-land, if the series wasn't a big deal, than how can Joba's start be a big deal (Please note this is not how I feel, but moreso the thinking of one Mike Francesa). You see, Mike will NEVER admit he was wrong. He will just alter facts to make it seem like he never said something. When Mike hits the air again, you are more likely to hear "okay listen I wasn't totally sure about Joba as a startuh, I thought he might be okay, and he's been good. Not great. Not lights out. Was he un-hittable as a reliever? Yes. Has he been that way as a startuh. Not totally."
What will it take for Mike to admit he was wrong? Couple no-hittuhs, 3-4 rocking-chair games? Going head to head with and beating Doc Halladay? What will it take?
And Now, A Note From Brian Powell
14 years ago
16 comments:
Francesca is gonna induct him into the BSBG (big spot, big game) hall of fame.
Mike is a fuckin fat fuck blowhard and I hope if MMD break up he will one day appreciate all he had and how the fans made him what he is -
-FB
Is Mike on the air next week? If not, he will forget last night's game ever happened. It will be the same schtick next time the Joba "debate" (I put in quotes because there's really no debate to it, he's a fucking starter) arises.
The bottom line is, of course Joba isn't going to be as lights out as a starter the way he was as a reliever. Nobody is like that, except maybe Fausto Carmona. You pitch more innings, you're bound to get hit more. But the bottom line is Joba has now made 10 starts and his ERA is at 2.30! That's plenty of time where he could have blown up and seen that ERA rise to 4+. He's getting better as he goes along, more economical, his stuff is great, and his endurance is getting better. He is an ace. End of discussion. He's supposed to be the Yankees' Josh Beckett, but he could very well turn out better than that. But Mike won't acknowledge it until Joba is 31 years old.
For now, he'll tell you Joba's record is 3-3, as though that matters. He'll tell you the Wang injury made this a necessity, like it wasn't going to happen even if Wang remained healthy. Joba was going in the rotation even if the other 5 Opening Day starters, including Hughes and Kennedy, pitched out of their minds. Mike will tell you the Yankees have caught a big break because their bullpen has managed to be the best in the game, despite Joba leaving. Farnsworth has somehow turned it around, Veras came out of nowhere, Mariano has been as good as ever. But to Mike, this is somehow luck for the Yankees rather than giving them credit for evaluating and knowing the talent on their staff. Whatever. He's still fat.
It call comes down to Mike's definition of "the big spot" and in my view it is one of the most infurating things about him.
If Jobah had blown up last night, Mike would have said "Jobah, has yet to prove the he can get it done in a big spot as a starter".
But, since he got it done, Mike won't classify it as a big sport.
He does this with Wagner (who I don't like) all the time. If he blows a save, he can never get it done in a big spot. When he saves one, it was to be expected and not a big spot. If Wagner had blown the save in that second game versus the Phils, it would have been a HAYUGE spot according to Mike. But, since Wagner got a routine save, it was not a big spot.
Am I right?
gene...you are dead on. In fact, Mike didnt even mention either of Wagner's 2 saves vs Philly.
and bigjf, you are dead on about the necessity stuff. the reason he does that is it makes it seem like mike can't argue with the move "they need a startuh. it was a no brainuh to move Joba..they had to do it.."
this protects mike from ever being wrong about anything. and he will always start by saying "give the yankees credit..." but then when a caller calls him on being wrong about Joba he will say all your points.."he's only 3-3, etc.."
Guedd what we are going to get for the first 20 mins tomorrow...Not Mets, Johan's CG or Yanks winning 2 of 3 from the Sox. No that would be too predictable. Get ready for: Bruce Springsteen showed his fans at the Meadowlands he still has the 'Magic'
Chris is already in top form, killing the Pirates, and knocking Manny.
Huge laugher already: Chris says Manny is only batting .290, then YES brings up the graphic of Manny's stats, showing him batting .302, .400 OBP, .532 SLG! I don't like Manny, as a Yankee fan I don't want him because of his age and injuries, I do think he is declining, but he's still having a good year.
Chris HAD to mention getting text messages from his buddies at the Bruce concert. But, do we think he really does text on a regular basis? I'm willing to bet Francesa didn't know what a text message was before A-Rod supposedly opted out via text message and Favre decided he wanted to come back via text.
I remember Chris saying a few weeks ago that he finally learned how to text and he's big on it now.
i have a question about joba? why does he get his vagina tangled in a knot over youkilis? thats like the fifth time hes aimed AT HIS HEAD this year. did youk bang jobas mom or something? i mean, brush the guy off, yeah... but dont keep aiming for his head. the guy has a life outside baseball and prob has a family that he supports. wtf is jobas problem?
Ahh bigjf, I seem to remember that now. Good call....
Jason, you really think he was throwing at his head on a 2-0 count up 1-0 in the 7th inning? I have to agree with Doggy on this one.
dude, if it was the first time this year the ball went near youks head, then fine you can give him the benefit of the doubt. but he aims at his head every single time he bats against him this year. im not kidding. yeah, the score was 1-0 but joba doesnt really think that well out there, and we all know his emotions do get the better of him, a la "oh my goodness its" roger, like his demonstrative all-too-important 8th inning holds against an over the hill frank thomas.
you know, people are like, but the count was 2-0. what other count are you going to try to drill someone on, 0-2? if it was 0-2 then people would be like 'he was one strike away from getting him out why would he drill him?'
i totally understand that the game was close, but beckett was def out of the game, so joba knew he couldnt retaliate and its been a ridiculous amount of times that jobas thrown at youk. you cant give him the benefit of the doubt when he does it over and over and over again.
I agree with you, definitely a weird that he has thrown at one guy - Youkilis - so many times in such a short career. And I agree the other ones were on purpose.
Your count argument is pretty flawed I think. If it was 0-2, you have 2 waste pitches, and this is a perfect time to throw up and in. You prob won't hit him (easy to get out of way) and it will back him off for a good fastball away next pitch. On 2-0 you don't want to risk putting tying run on with no one out in the 7th. Either by going 3-0 then walking him, or hitting him. This is obvious.
Big deal Beckett was out of game. That makes no sense - if he was in the game and did throw back at us he would get suspended. Better for us than if Beckett was out of game and some chump from the soft bullpen had to do it.
Might get in trouble here for so much baseball talk when it is a MMD blog....Sorry guys
if the intent was for him to hit him, than being behind 2-0 is the best time to hit. or 3-0. but if his intent was to just brush him back, then i agree with you. i think we just disagree on the intent. you dont throw at a mans head to "warn" him. you throw at his head to hurt him (clemens to piazza).
sorry for going off topic. we agree to disagree. but we can agree that mike and md suck. haha.
Haha, well said. And yeah you're right I think we disagree with intent.
If you look back to last year, Joba threw above Youk's head twice in a row on the same at bat. This is the one Joba got suspended for, which is fair enough. There is definitely a case to argue that Joba was trying to send a message, but also a valid arguement that he was losing control.
The third time it wasn't even close to Youk's head (earlier this season), but Youk flipped out like a baby so many people act as if Joba was throwing at him.
The fourth time was on friday and this was the first one that was dangerously close to Youk's head in a very close game with a one run lead. Without the history, this would definitely seem like a pitch that managed slip away. I'm pretty sure those 3 occurences were the 4 pitches (not 5 as far as I know) which everybody mentions.
Looking at each occurence, I think you can definitely make a case that you can give Joba the benefit of the doubt on the Friday miss. Keep in mind that Joba has never once hit Youkilis, and was trying to finish 7 innings for the first time as a starter, not head hunt Youk and get kicked out of the game, and perhaps miss his next start due to suspension.
In regards to Mike and the Mad Dog, Chris just blatantly admitted he was dead wrong about the Joba transition to starter and feels like thats where Joba belongs. Lets see if Mike says anything close to that without mentioning that it was a great move because Wang went down.
Post a Comment