Another side of Joba’s life revealed
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Sep 15, 2008 
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There was a compelling story in the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal-Star yesterday about Joba Chamberlain’s mother. Most everybody knows about Joba and his father. But until now, his mother had been a bit of a mystery.
The more you learn about Joba, it really is amazing that he is where he is.
Pete, can you give us the Cliffs Notes version? I don’t have two hours available to parse out this incoherence.
Pete you ain’t kidding!! I’m about halfway throught the article.
I was wondering what took her so long to come forward and tell “her side of the story”. Now she got what she wanted, she is in the public eye.
Obvioisly something happened between his mother and him, it is none of our business, and she has no right to go and drag all this to the media.
And the whoa is me garbage. Harlan was right, it will cause a rift between her and her children. She sounds like a piece of work.
“Now she got what she wanted, she is in the public eye.”
You think she has been a publicity hound? I don’t get that – it just seems like she has some serious issues.
So many times we forget that players are human.
Wow, that reporter must have been getting paid by the word.
And maybe Joba was embarrassed by her (who wouldn’t be?), that is why he said Harlan raised him.
I don’t mean it that way, (as a publicity hound), she wanted her story out there. And I can tell you she won’t get much sympthay. She has serious issues.
jen: Why is it that we blame people for their own mental illness?
Rebecca- Being on drugs isn’t a mental illness
An interesting piece of journalism. However, it can only give hints as to the very complex issues, not just for Joba, but for many other people in similar straits. Serious substance abuse is a horrible disease. Pete’s last sentence, above, sums it up.
You can understand why Joba and Harlan don’t want to call any attention to her, she sounds seriously messed up. I think that if my mom was a meth-head then I wouldn’t want to have the press get in touch with her either.
It does make you appreciate Joba’s apparent solid character – I hope he keeps his head screwed on tight.
AJ: But a thyroid condition that leads to mental illness that leads to drugs?
So, I’ll be a better person for passing on the Klapisch story as well as this one?
I think it was jennifer who said there was lots of great stuff at the Trenton blog? She was right.
Tony Franklin hasn’t seen his wife since February. We assume that everyone drags their families around in baseball.
He said some really nice things about AJ (Jackson).
I was surprised to hear that AJ was with Trenton when they won last year.
But what really got to me was Humberto Sanchez’s quotes. Talk about fate. Thank you very much, Shef.
I never paid attention to the minor leagues, but thanks to the blog, Pete, and the regulars who follow the young guys, my interest has peaked. Hoping that this is “Before they were famous” kind of perspective.
TKinDC
Agreed, I hope he can keep his head on straight. Given what he apparently went through as a child, to go from nothing to having this weatlth and stardum. I really hope he stays on the right path, and no one attempts to take advantage of him.
Yeah – good idea to pass on this one. To me it’s a bit too personal into their lives.
Eh..i dunno. That’s a sketchy area. She’s obviously not mentally ill to the point that she can’t make rational decisions, so yeah, if she was doing drugs, it’s her own fault. When she talks about going out partying as soon as Harlan got home, is that because she was mentally ill?
I’m not saying she doesn’t have the right to tell her story. She does. To say she doesn’t is ridiculous. But i don’t think she deserves much sympathy.
If you ask me this really isn’t anybody’s business but the Chamberlain family and this lady clearly isn’t stable. I guess I can’t fault the journalist because of how popular Joba must be there and they want to sell papers, but I can’t say i’d have printed it. It just seems like a bunch of excuses from a lady who regrets how she’s lived to me.
I’m glad there are others of you who feel as I do. I wish I hadn’t read the article at all.
mel -
I missed the Sanchez quotes. What did he say?
It’s so funny to me that on those nights I manage to not fall asleep on the sofa and keep refreshing the blog, there’s nothing going on, but on those nights (like last night), I drift off something always happens! Last night was the no-hitter by Zambrano and Humberto being called up.
Uh – and Trenton winning, of course!
In other Joba news, Jorge Posada says Joba should be in the bullpen full time…
http://www.nj.com/yankees/inde....._agai.html
IDK if the article is a problem – The lady has a side of the story and now she’s told it. I’ve got to believe that it doesn’t make Joba’s breakfast sit too well, but he could not have expected to keep his mom’s situation a secret forever.
I just figure it will be around for a cycle or two and go away. No one cares much about what a player’s parents are like unless it is something compelling like Harlan’s story. This is just the underside of that story.
Those are the types of stories you wish weren’t written.
The kid is just a baseball player. That’s it. He’s not running for political office and stories like that should be off limits.
Its stories like that which make players hate the media.
Jorge is like most of the fans we can’t stand watching more than an inning or two.
The thing is, we really don’t know how much of her side is completely true. She desperately wants to be relevant. I think it may be telling that Joba doesn’t return calls to her.
Graves Disease is a serious one, but I’ve known a few people, including my family, who had it. They didn’t go out and do as she did.
I am sure there is much more to the whole story, for me, I will just enjoy Joba the pitcher.
Wow! I’m stunned at how adamant Posada is about Chamberlain. I’m less stunned about how adamant he is about remaining a catcher.
Joe I -
Oh, that’s just fine and dandy. Well, I suppose we’ll have to wait until September 28th to get the full context of the Q&A.
I wanted to go to the taping, it is right down the block rom work. but seeing that is was in the morning I couldn’t
. I wish it was at lunch time!!
The Thunder team emulates the Dynasty Yankees
- Good strating pitching (Marquez, Jones, Kontos etc.)
- Excellent coaching (Franklin, Aldred)
- Lights out BP (Dunn, Sanchez, Nunez, Claggett, etc.)
- Role players coming up clutch (Curtis, Piliterri, Pena)
- Stars dominating on both ends (Jackson’s clutch hits and webgems)
- Guys who have been there leading the way (Marquez, Jackson, Piliterri, Curtis)
Posada also told the team to go hard after Santana and they didn’t listen. Why should they listen to him this time?
This type of thinking is exactly why it was foolish for Cashman to think he could rebuild with all the vetrans on this roster.
jennifer -
When I first saw on the YES website that Posada was doing the taping this morning, I was so trying to figure out a way I could get there. But they want you there an hour before taping, and even if my daughter’s bus got here on time and there was zero traffic, it would have been quite a stretch. It sure would have been an interesting one to get to, though. Can’t wait until it airs. It’s been a while since Kay had a Yankee on there, hasn’t it?
“Wow! I’m stunned at how adamant Posada is about Chamberlain. I’m less stunned about how adamant he is about remaining a catcher.”
It is pretty funny if you ask me – Posada is saying that Joba can’t hold up after he’s missed a month. Meanwhile Jorge will be just fine despite missing most of a season.
A little bit of a pot and kettle situation here.
(and Fredo, I did go to see the Terps tame the Bears. Unbelievable outcome)
I wonder if Chamberlains shoulder isnt really as healthy as we’ve been led to believe?
Cause only an idiot would want a healthy Joba in the pen.
From thunder thoughts
this is cute
TheMagi Says:
September 15, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Mike,
Thanks so much for a fantastic blog. Your writing style and ironic wit are superb. More often than not, we received information about the team from you before we received it from our son. Furthermore, we enjoyed getting to meet you, and would like to thank you for the media guide. Good luck with your sports reporting career. GREAT SEASON, THUNDER.
The Claggetts
TK,
To be fair, Jorge held up for 10 years in the most demanding job in baseball. Joba got hurt in Year 2.
I don’t know why his comments should surprise anybody. He’s been saying that for over a year.
We want guys to be honest with us and answer questions that are posed. We they say something we don’t agree with, we rip them.
To me, that’s sports hypocrisy at its finest.
I like the fact that he’s giving honest, no BS answers to questions.
Perhaps if there were a few more guys in the locker room that honest, things wouldn’t have unraveled as they did this year.
I will never rip a player for being honest. I may not agree with his point but, I admire his honesty.
Those are the kinds you win with in the long run.
raymagnetic,
I think if there was ANY hint of a problem with Joba’s shoulder, he wouldn’t be pitching at all.
Posada has inside information obviously, maybe the prognosis on Joba’s shoulder is worse than we thought. No other reason for Jorge to make that statement.
And the funny part is that we don’t even need Joba in the pen next year. Not only with studs like Sanchez and Melancon behind Mo and Marte…. but guys like Bruney, Veras, Edwar, Coke, Albaladejo, Robertson, etc. We are absolutely loaded in the bullpen… we need Joba in the rotation.
“I like the fact that he’s giving honest, no BS answers to questions.”
Me too SJ – I am concerned that Jorge is going to force himself to play catcher for ego reasons and we’ll lose his bat and leadership. Both things were clearly missing this season.
Joba’s future is going to be a big factor in Yankee success, I just disagree with Jorge’s opinion – I have no problem with him voicing it.
I keep saying Jorge was the biggest loss this year. He was the one policing the clubhouse.
Jorge has been saying that Joba belongs in the pen, it is nothing new.
These are the kind of stories you wish weren’t written and wish even more didn’t get a link on a popular blog. Mental illness is hard on kids whose parents are sick.
Jose, I tend to doubt that the Yankee FO share all the inside information about injuries to the players. Yes, Jorge would have more information about it than we would, but its his opinion that Joba shouldn’t start.
His comment about Joba pitching 200 innings makes me think Jorge is jumping the gun on it. Joba is still young and it will take a while for the transition to get to that many innings.
Who really knows though? No one knows if he will work out, even though he looks like he could be a stud ace pitcher in the rotation, it doesn’t mean it will end up that way.
“I don’t know why his comments should surprise anybody. He’s been saying that for over a year.
What surprises me, in this particular case, is that his comments seem to be fighting a losing battle with logic. Maybe if he expanded on WHY he believes Joba should pitch out of the pen as opposed to starting.
This is what passes as sports journalism has evolved into. This is the type that newspapers pay money to get ahold of. Congratulations for following the money.
This is what happened when you keep taking injured pitchers in the draft. Pretty much all of our pitchers on the farm have been on the DL as have all members of Generation Nay.
So much for the brilliant scouting of Cashman and co. Inoa was healthy from all accounts, that is probably why they passed on him. Not injured enough for their liking.
Newark,
They didn’t “pass” on Inoa. They negotiated in good faith until there was no good faith.
Fredo,
He has said all along why he feels that way. He believes Joba can’t hold up physically over 200 innings of work. He believes his mechanics are such that its going to be hard for him to stay healthy.
So far, whether we like hearing that or not, he’s been right.
Its why I have said all season, the Yankees are going to have to make a decision once and for all on Joba this off-season.
If he is to start, then put him in the #5 spot in the rotation, keep his innings at 120-130, and deal with it, regardless of where the team finishes next year in the standings.
If they determine in the off-season that like Papelbon, he can’t hold up physically over 200 innings, then he goes to the bullpen and stays there the rest of his career.
The volleyballing back and forth from the bullpen to the rotation has to end. Make a decision and stick to it.
As far as returning “studs”, let’s hold off on the hype just a bit.
Guys who have NEVER thrown a pitch in the major leagues aren’t “studs”. They are prospects.
Haven’t we learned anything about that this year?
GB7
Interesting article in yesterday’s paper (NY Times) about an 50-year-old incident that was the beginning of the end for certain stories (sports stories) not making it into the paper. It’s all about the scoop, and one-upsmanship, and, of course the bottom line, selling papers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09.....ecter.html
Didn’t Mo chime in about Joba before they converted him back to starting? IIRC he said that Joba should be in the bullpen, no?
The concerns about Chamberlain’s shoulder tendonitis and whether he’ll hold up are pretty much unfounded. It’s a commen ailment for pitchers of all ages. Carlos Zambrano seems to have recovered fairly well after a month off.
Fredo,
One last thing I left out of the post. He probably didn’t illuminate his belief further in the interview because Michael Kay didn’t ask the followup question of, “Why should he stay in the bullpen”?
I notice that happens often with Kay on that show. He asks a question, gets a response, and thinks the response is the rimshot.
Most people who will watch a Jorge Posada Interview on Centerstage are Yankees fans. Most of them are well-informed.
Well-informed Yankee fans know Posada (along with Mo and Moose among others) have felt Joba belongs in the bullpen.
The “rimshot” if you will is not, “Posada believes Joba belongs in the bullpen”. The rimshot is “why”?
When the interviewer, in this case Kay, doesn’t ask the follow up question, it leaves everybody to speculate. Not a good thing.
***common***
TKinDC,
Did you go to UMD? I was at the game too and I remember seeing a lot of back and forth about the game on this blog.
The Terps played really well, especially after the MTSU debacle. It seems to be their MO under Fridge, play poorly against someone they should beat handly and then come back the next week and destroy a ranked opponent.
It was a nice reprieve from looking at the score of the first game of the doubleheader.
A much better look at Girardi’s year, in my opinion, from Jack Curry of the NY Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09.....ref=slogin
You can be critical without being mean.
Not every injury is the same. Nor are you guaranteed to be given proper and accurate information from the Yankees regarding injuries to ANY player, let alone Chamberlain.
The fact is, none of us know what happened to Joba. We “know” what we were told. Since there have been several cases this year of fans/media being told inaccurate information re: Yankee player injuries, its natural to be suspicious of the information.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again:
Start Joba in the rotation next season. They can figure out how to finesse his innings limit IF NECESSARY as the season progresses. We have no idea how much the bullpen-to-rotation scheme was responsible for the subsequent shoulder woes, but we do know that he’s not going to reach his innings limit. Trying to be too clever backfired.
Francessa did say that we should put Joba in the pen and him combined with Mariano, Marte, Bruney, Veras and the other kids. He said the pen will be ‘special’ and we can ‘build the team around it’ and he can eventually take over for MO.
Doreen,
Ashmore’s “exclusive” with Sanchez:
The Grinch of Diet Coke never stays consistant.
Piliterri – Lo Duca (leadership wise, prime)?
Joba needs to start in the rotation next year. The Yankees are trying to have it both ways: have him for the whole year by having him start in the pen then the rotation as opposed to having him start in the rotation but will need to be shut down by August due to innings cap.
If you’re going to keep him as a starter he’s just going to have to be shut down in August. Can’t have him going back and forth between the pen and the rotation. Unless they’re willing to have him exceed his innings cap.
Boy that was a depressing story about Joba’s mother.
This is exactly why Hughes needs to start the season in the minors as the 6th starter… he is Joba insurance. The last thing we need is to dip into the Rasner/Giese pool again when someone gets injured. Both Joba and Hughes have been injured and both are on strict innings limits…. so slotting them both in the rotation at the same time is very foolish.
Tank,
No mention of Arroyo? He has a point, but I think we can still build a special pen without Joba.
We had an outstaning pen for a long stretch this summer. And that was without Bruney and with Edwar.
They need to replace Veras. I know he can throw heat, but his control doesn’t inspire confidence.
Mo
Marte
Bruney
Coke
Aceves (long/swing)
(Melancon?)
(Sanchez?)
What they do with Joba will depend on who we get in free agency.
If we get CC & AJ, keep Andy & Mike, get back Wang. We can actually let Joba build up his innings in the minors. I know, I know, he has nothing to gain there. But he never got to build up his innings properly.
Of course, the more likely situation is that we only have 3-4 of those guys, you got to start Joba in the Bronx right out of the gate to give the Yankees a fighting chance.
I predict that Hughes will play some sort of role in this last scenario.
it’s sad that the likes of mike francessa and kay are the yankee fans representing us in the media
mel -
Thanks! That was a pleasure to read. I hope he’s as good as advertised.
Mike: TKinDC is a Vanderbilt grad, I think, but a close relative went went to UMD and I think TK said he was going to attend the game.
Congrats to both of you, very nice win for the Terps. I’m a Cal grad, pretty ugly effort on our part until it was too late. The excuses are just that, but the bottom line is that the Terps showed up at kickoff to play and Cal didn’t. I think we will still have a decent season and I can’t wait for the rematch with the Terps next year in Berkeley.
Piliterri – Lo Duca (leadership wise, prime)?
It’s Piliterre and he reminds me of Brian Schneider not Lo Duca.
Imagine a pen of Rivera, Marte, Joba, Sanchez, Melancon, Bruney, Coke (long man) to start the year?
Games could end by the 4th inning. And when Joba moves to the rotation, games can end in the 5th inning.
Nick in SF:
Do you remember our convo about the strange nicknames of the Cali schools?
Anteaters, Banana slugs, etc?
I swear there was one that the student body got to pick. They chose some kind of endangered crustacean. Some kind of shrimp? Does it sound familiar?
mel, I don’t think it was me you had that conversation with.
There are some goofy names, but California Golden Bears is simple and classic, while the UCLA Bruins is appropriate for a junior version that to this day copies our fight song.
But I can tell you that when Stanford decided that the “Indians” wasn’t PC enough, they put the new name to a vote and the students chose “Robber Barons”, which was of course rejected. So they settled on… the Cardinal.
Brilliant.
Doreen, great article. Duran gave the same account on a tv interview a few years back and it was pretty much as what this article said and matches what Duran said in a book. Duran was a charcter, but, he was also a nearly blind alcoholc with a 100 MPH fastball. He was the first of the intimidating relief pitchers. He wore green tinted glasses that resembled the bottoms of coke bottles. His first two warmup pitches usually ended up over the backstop.
He was the main player involved in Billy Martin’s trade from the Yankees in 1957. He said that he was bothering everybody and spilling booze on everyone and Houk (a coach then) told him to sit down and Duran took a swing and missed. He was something else, but, the alcohol killed his career.
Back in 1966 after he was released by another team, he got drunk and parked his car on a train track and waited for a train to hit him. Apparently, either an off-duty cop or a minister came by and pushed the car off of the tracks a few minutes before a train came through. Duran has been sober ever since and became a drug and alcohol counselor.
I’m not going to read it. It really seems like ignorance might be bliss, in this particular case.
Did that story really need to be told?
“Rebecca- Being on drugs isn’t a mental illness”
Actually, it is. There are a whole bunch of drug and alcohol-related disorders listed in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV-R, which is the bible of shrinks here and elsewhere. What’s more, many therapists believe that people who can’t stop using drugs and alcohol are self-medicating psychiatric illness. (And no I’m not a therapist myself. I’m a lawyer whose represented my addicts with regard to their non-criminal issues (and have friends who are therapists and agree with me). And, by the by, I’ve also had at least one client who developed severe depression as the result of Graves disease.
Wow. I’ve often said that the yankees should stop treating Joba like a baby but it looks like he really is a baby! He really needs to grow up. Thats your mother. You only get one.. unless you’re from Boston or California.
And what the hell was with how that story was written. It reminded me alot of how I write and I can’t write.
Nick,
Didn’t you correct me about Kurt Suzuki’s college?
You can clearly tell this writer was trying to pull everything she could out of an interview with one person. I think it was written this way because nobody else was willing to comply and make some sort of statement to add to it. Makes it bland and one sided.
Side note though: I am not saying I am really on the mothers side, but how would you feel if you keep hearing stories about how poor Job was raised only by his father and you neglect to mention a mother even exists. She may have made poor choices, but I think the Chamberlin family played this all up a tad. From what I have heard, the father had a job and wasn’t living the life of poverty. Myself included have been raised by a single parent and its hard but we all make do the best we can.
E-Man
A baby? Maybe you never lived with the situation of having a parent with a major abuse problem. It’s not easy and sometimes not simple to forget. Sometimes wounds have to heal before you can make amends.
People are pretty judgmental of someone you only watch throw a baseball. Get off your moral high horse.
Hey Nick –
Your Cal Bear fans turned out surprisingly well in terms of numbers – It was a game where I was waiting for the other shoe to drop the whole time.
It was a scorching hot/humid day – and with the early start time it seemed like your squad had a hard time getting going.
At least we didn’t go all-BYU on you!
“Wow. I’ve often said that the yankees should stop treating Joba like a baby but it looks like he really is a baby! He really needs to grow up. Thats your mother. You only get one.. unless you’re from Boston or California.”
You post some fairly bizarre stuff at times, and this is no exception.
Being a mother in name only because you gave birth to someone doesn’t make you a mother. Motherhood is defined by actions. And some mothers actions, are not worthy of respect regardless of if you only have one mother.
Alcohol and drug abuse are sicknesses.
But there have been people who stopped drinking or using without any medical intervention. So it’s not a medical problem.
I think it’s one of those gray areas. It might be a mental illness but only as far as it relates to addiction personalities.
It’s not right to use this kind of “sickness” as an excuse for harmful behaviors, though. People are ultimately responsible for their behavior.
Spread the word Jacobs/Ward/Bradshaw want to be called “Earth,Wind and Fire” in thier highlights from now on we play “September”
E-Man:
Unless you walk a mile in the man’s shoes, I think yours is a hard and, more importantly, uninformed one to make. As a divorced father of three children who’ve been on the ass end of having a substance abusing parent, I can tell you it’s simply not as easy as you make it sound.
That’s the impression I certainly got from Harlen. It sounded as if Joba’s mother walked out on the family when he was a very young age and they never heard from her since. She certainly has issues but sounds like she was definitely around for him.
Harlen and to some extent Joba definitely played her suppose absence up.
Very sad story. Very well written.
Mental illness is a horrible thing, as is drug addiction. Both are medical problems, despite anyone’s opinion to the contrary.
Ask a professional or do some research if you’re interested.
“Spread the word Jacobs/Ward/Bradshaw want to be called “Earth,Wind and Fire†in thier highlights from now on we play “September—
This mean Bradshaw is dropping “I Fought the Law and the Law Won” as his personal theme song????
This news totally bums me out
http://www.newsday.com/sports/.....?track=rss
Mel, I vaguely recall someone referring to Suzuki as a Japanese player, after which I pointed out that he was an American of Japanese descent and had gone to college at Cal State Disneyland, oops, I mean Cal State Fullerton. But I don’t remember the other stuff you’re talking about — could you be conflating multiple convos?
TK, the other shoe came close to dropping. My buddies and I were all yelling not to onside kick with 7+ minutes remaining. I guess it would have looked smart if it had worked, but instead the Terps got great field position and scored a couple plays later.
Anyway, it was Cal’s own fault that they were so far down to begin with. The early game start, the humidity, the travel, all factors sure, but nothing that couldn’t and shouldn’t have been overcome. You should have bet me, you’d be waiting for Moose Bars now if you had!
Brandon, Bradshaw should be Wind, Jacobs the Earth and Ward Fire.
jay destro,
As someone who is not obssessed with Joba and does not know everything about his personal life. As just a regular yankees fan, whos caught his story on Yes and in a couple Yankee magazines, I was under the impression that his mother was dead.
You can’t heal something that’s dead.
Gayle:
That sucks.
Kay is going to rip into Cano
E-Man, just because you’re a man/boy and can get someone pregnant, that doesn’t make you a father and just because a woman/girl gives birth to a child, it doesn’t make her a mother. It takes a lot of work and sacrifice, and, judging by what has been said and by what she said in this article, she was no mother. She made no sacrifices. She was nothing more than an immature kid. I have no idea what the entire story is, and, neither do you or the writer of this hack job.
“We’re like brothers, do everything together on the field and off—
Well, except time.
Well, except time.
LOL
Nick –
Blame ESPN for the start time – a night game would have been a much different story imo.
Rest assured, if I had wagered Moose Bars on the game, the Bears would have rolled. I have amazing ‘kiss of death’ powers.
Nick,
Different person. Huh. There’s another Yankee fan in California. Who knew?
I don’t know much about Harlan, but I think they were living in close to impoverished conditions.
Can’t blame them for trying to trying to downplay the mother. Only one in a million person would shine a light on it.
Their best bet would’ve been the “no comment” route.
Joba’s hardly the first celebrity/athlete to have an estranged parent. Hopefully, they’ll be able to resolve things before the mother passes on. I think he’ll regret it if he doesn’t.
Gayle -
Thanks for linking that story. It stinks for this year – just another sign of all that things that were just “wrong” this year. But, perhaps Mr. Sheppard will be able to build up his strength at least enough to be there on opening day at the new stadium, to start things off right.
Things in Yankee-land have just felt so out-of-whack, especially this season, but even going back to when Bobby Murcer’s illness was first reported, and before that, when Jim Kaat announced his retirement from the booth, and before that, Phil Rizzuto passing away. I may have the chronology wrong, but you get the idea. Not a lot of good news.
Fire Girardi !
Hire Willie now!
Maybe its just my public school education, but I had a very hard time following that article.
Ooh. I feel for the Astros. Tough to play when your city’s in a shambles. I heard Ike caused $20B in damage.
No-hit in their last 11 innings.
Eh, I don’t blame ESPN too much. Cal-Maryland isn’t exactly the matchup that USC-Ohio St was supposed to be (or Cal-Tennessee was last year).
I wish all success for the Terps now, if they do well it makes the loss look a little better.
It was a bad day all around for the Pac-10 outside of USC. Blech.
Can you imagine the piranah feeding frenzy if word had gotten out about Mickey Mantle had he been playing in this age….or, Babe Ruth?
“It was a bad day all around for the Pac-10 outside of USC. Blech.”
Pac 10 was 0-4 against the Mountain West??? Ouch!
***piranha***
Well, that didn’t take long.
I wonder if Jorge was spitting when talking about Pedro.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=3589306
bad news for cashman if there’s a problem with joba.
i felt back in june that he had bet his job on joba’s success.
I hope he sends the speech. I want to hear it! But knowing espn they cut to some stupid commercial. Damn ESPN!
Don’t judge people until you have walked a mile in their body chemistry.
Sometimes the best and most loving sacrifice a parent can make is to allow someone more capable than themselves to raise their child. It is often a scar that is felt by both the parent and child for their entire life but the scars from not making that choice are often worse.
Fredo, the Pac-10 was pretty much 0 vs everyone besides USC and Oregon St, which beat some visiting Pacific Islanders on a rare trip to the mainland. A sad display all around.
Oh, and Jorge talks about getting FA pitching. At least he didn’t say they need to grab an ace. Anyone else remember that slip of the tongue?
Nick:
Actally caught a good chunk of the 2nd half of Oregon. Not a bad win there against Purdue.
USC should be required to play only nine at a time in conference play for competitive reasons. That might be Carroll’s best team yet.
*Actually
Nick,
Was that payback for the Red Sox joke?!?
We have enough frequent miles to go to the moon.
Oh yes, I forgot about the plucky Ducks. Nice for them to have sqeaked by with the win, but I wonder how good Purdue really is. Didn’t Oregon lose its QB at the end of that game?
Most of the Pac-10 would like to hit ‘re-set’ and start over.
Mel, I wouldn’t recommend scheduling any games on the moon; there’s a reason that Moon St always wins at home.
Poor Joba.
Nick,
Haha, I think that my team could beat your team if the moon was used as a neutral site.
Maybe Jorge is right about keeping Joba in the pen but that decision will come over the winter and will depend how Cashman does on the trade and free agency fronts to fortify the starting staff.
One thing is for sure, flip-flopping him for another year is NOT the answer for his career.
If doctors were to say keeping him in the bullpen is best for the style of mechanics he has and he had a similar career to Mo’s, there would be little argument what the correct decision should be.
I would be happy to bet a case of Moon Bars that you’re wrong, but I suspect we’ll never know.
But there is a better-than-zero chance that Cal could face Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl, so we can discuss wagers if that comes to pass.
Ted Lilly has a 4 inning no-hitter so far, against Houston. Only one ball hit hard.
WOW!!! Talk about late season shakeups. Milwaukee has fired Ned Yost (tied for first in the Wild card) and Ted Simmons (bench coach)was reassigned. Really odd.
I’m not going to beat a dead horse with this one. It’s his personal life. I have my opinions, you have yours. At the end of the day, I really don’t care. Normally, I wouldn’t read this tabloid garbage but it was posted here.
Wow Joba has a messed up family life, join the club. That’s all there is in America, messed up families, and messed up families that hide it well.
love all the people here that think this story is ‘off limits.’ im sure you all felt the same when arod’s divorce was on both the front and back pages of every ny paper…
this kinda makes me think of his dad as a dirty old man.
he helped her through catechism, and she was 19 when he knocked her up.
he would have been 32.
a 32 year old with a 19 year old?
that doesn’t seem right.
I guess gossiping not just live in Taiwans’ media.
This is like Wang’s father is actually his uncle news, it’s not baseball related.
What a sad story. No, not all that guff about Joba’s relationship with his mother. (Boo hoo, a professional athlete doesn’t get along with his mommy.) But the part about Yankee Stadium being referred to (yet again) as “baseball’s cathedral”. Yeah, I understand it’s got a lot of history to it. (Not that I would expect the average Yankees fan to know, let alone appreciate, their favorite team’s history; sure, they’re quick to remind the rest of us that the Yankees have won 26 World Championships, neglecting, of course, to mention that they know absolutely nothing about the 22 pre-1996 championship teams because they weren’t even alive yet.) I’ve been to Yankee Stadium many times. Yankee Stadium is vastly overrated and has little to no character, unlike Wrigley Field (e.g., the ivy, the scoreboard, and the troughs in the men’s rooms) or Fenway Park (e.g., the Green Monster). There’s a good reason they’re tearing down Yankee Stadium while these true cathedrals will remain standing for many years to come. Who’s with me? I says, who’s with me?!? Anyone?
I’m clearly deranged, but even I know Yankee Stadium is a dump! AND I smoke crack!
Thanks, Joba Chamberlain’s Mom, I knew you’d agreed with me. Your own son may not love you, but I sure do.