(Best E Casino) - Yankee Stadium should be abuzz this evening, as right- hander Joba Chamberlain makes his first major league start when the
New York Yankees and
Toronto Blue Jays play the first of three games in the Bronx.
Chamberlain has been incredible in a setup role since being called up to the big leagues last August. After pitching to a sparkling 0.38 earned run average in 19 games last season, Chamberlain has carried his success into this year, having surrendered a run in just four of his 20 appearances.
However, Chamberlain is now being thrust into a starting role thanks to injuries and ineffectiveness to two of the other heralded Yankee pitching prospects, Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes.
The 22-year-old Chamberlain, who is 1-2 with a 2.28 ERA this season, has faced the Blue Jays six times in his young career and gone 1-0 with a save against them. He has surrendered just three hits and struck out 14 over nine scoreless innings versus Toronto.
New York could have used Chamberlain in the eighth inning on Monday, as Kyle Farnsworth served up the winning run in Minnesota's 6-5 victory over the Bronx Bombers. The Yankees had the lead three times in the contest, but starter Andy Pettitte gave it right back each time.
Pettitte surrendered five runs -- four earned -- on 10 hits in seven innings.
With Farnsworth (0-2) trying to preserve a 5-5 tie in the bottom of the eighth, Michael Cuddyer led off with a double off the wall in right. Pinch- hitter Nick Punto then dropped a sacrifice bunt and Delmon Young delivered his third double of the night by slashing a liner to the gap in right-center, scoring Cuddyer to give the Twins the lead for good.
Alex Rodriguez finished 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI, while Derek Jeter added three hits as well for the Yankees, who lost the final two games of their four-game set with the Twins and finished their seven-game road trip 3-4.
New York is now home for its next seven games, with lowly Kansas City paying a visit for four games following this series with the Blue Jays.
Toronto, meanwhile, has lost two in a row after dropping a 4-3 decision to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Sunday at Angel Stadium. Closer B.J. Ryan (1-1) failed to hold a ninth-inning lead in that one for the Jays, who have lost just three of their last 11 games.
Hoping to get Toronto back on the winning track tonight will be ace right- hander Roy Halladay, who has won his last three decisions. Halladay was brilliant against the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday, as he allowed just a run and eight hits in eight innings to improve to 6-5 and lower his ERA to 2.93.
Halladay lost to the Yanks earlier in the season, but is 10-5 with a 3.03 ERA lifetime against them.
New York won two of three from the Jays in the Bronx earlier in the season and is 34-23 in this series since the start of the 2005 campaign, including a 19-12 mark at home in that time.
