I don't know how many times Joba has pitched in Texas, or anywhere where it is over 100 degrees. I imagine there is a learning curve to maintaining your strength in those conditions. If it is indeed just some muscle 'fatigue', it's about the best news we have had all year.

I remember the first time I was in Texas. I was warned of the heat, but hell, NH gets into the high 90's at times, and I been to islands on the equator. Bull hell (and I mean that literally), Texas was something new. I was there and I still couldn't believe how hot it was!

[insert oliver stone one-liner here]

everything coming out of the organization says that this is minor, but i won't feel at ease until i see him throwing smoke with my own two eyes.

If Joba misses 1 start it won't be the end of the world, particularly if Hughes is ready to return by the end of the the month for the home stretch.

Don't lose hope yet. Don't lose hope.

http://tinyurl.com/5b9bvn

this is a quote from raf's link heralding pavano's start in trenton on thursday:

"Thursday's game is Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey Night at Waterfront Park. There will be a health fair on the stadium concourse..."

too perfect.

"St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center is the presenting partner of "2008 Thunder Rehabs". St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center is a 129-bed, fully accredited, not-for-profit, physical rehabilitation hospital in Lawrenceville, NJ. It offers comprehensive rehabilitation services for both inpatients and outpatients, and has been serving the community for over 35 years. As a rehabilitation hospital, St. Lawrence has seen the traumatic effects of injuries and is committed to safety education and injury prevention in our community. The hospital has been a Trenton Thunder partner since 1999 and is proud to work with the Thunder in various safety initiatives."

http://tinyurl.com/5ztlzv

6:34 p.m. UPDATE ON JOBA CHAMBERLAIN

Chamberlain had an MRI today in New York. The Yankees would not reveal what it showed. However, Joba is being sent to Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., for another examination tomorrow.

Girardi did not say who would start on Saturday. The first name he mentioned as a possibility was Darrell Rasner

---------------------------

Yeah, that doesn't sound too good to me. Le sigh.

The lineup's been posted. It's Christian instead of Melky again. And Sexson at 1B.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deltoid_muscle

I also believe that the sudden back flop he had to do to avoid I-Rod's throw may have had something to do with the injury. He may have tweaked/jammed something then.

UPDATE, 6:41 p.m.: Just spoke to Brian Cashman. He said the Yankees know what the images showed but until they hear from Andrews, they're not going to reveal what that is.

sigh .... sounds more like a tear then ....

Yes .... strict "rotator cuff" injuries are more of a wear and tear issue. This seemed to be more of a "traumatic" injury. He hadn't been showing any signs of trouble prior to last night (reduced velocity / movement), so I believe he overextended himself on a pitch and/or tweaked something when doing the back flop.

This is not to say it ISN'T "rotator cuff" related, since the deltoid is one of the 6 muscles related to the cuff, but I would have been more concerned cuff-wise if he couldn't raise his arm, or pointed to his shoulder blade.

sorry, how do you make those "tinyurl" links??

this is going to be a long game..isn't it?

There's also a firefox plugin for tinyurl, you just right click on the page and select "Create TinyURL for this page" - if you use firefox.

I don't want Joba using that golden arm for anything like that, at least until Dr. Andrews sees him.

Ouch. Pettitte's up in the zone. Not good.

Of course, it doesn't exactly help to be running out crappy lineups like the one we have today.

nice to see JC shaken up on that steal ... not like everything's not going wrong already

1. Joba/Hughes/IPK will be a year older in 2009 and maybe 2 of 3 of them will be contributors then. Maybe they can stay healthy --- kids get hurt, just ask Leiter and Josh Beckett.

2. If we don't make the playoffs, maybe Hank will say, "fuck it", roll up his sleeves, and go get CC and Tex. Maybe we're experiencing Boston's 2006 and will have a glorious rise from the ashes next season.

3. With every hit Jeter is closer to 3,000; with every homer Arod is closer to 763. In the lean 1980's we had to learn to enjoy individual seasons.

4. And in the same vein, if Moose wins 20 games this season (he only needs 6), he'll be up to 270 for a career, will likely return in 2009 and has a damn good shot at getting to 300 wins.

5. And finally, we have other kids like Melancon ready to contribute next year (maybe even Ajax) and thankfully we DIDN'T pick up Washburn. If we're not going to win anyway, who wants Seattle's garbage.

i'd say it's pretty damn remarkable.

I guess the bright side is I am not fermenting with frustration over the fact that the Yankees are being shut down by a raw rookie and that the evidence of Jeter being on the downside continues to mount.

AND I understand that different people measure the success of the team in different ways. For me, success is winning a world series. That's not to say that I despise every season where we haven't won.

I still look back fondly on Donnie Baseball hitting .343 in 1984 and on Murcer driving in all 5 runs against the Orioles 29 years ago tomorrow.

But this season feels a bit "lost" to me.

Duh

I'd like to fucking smack that bastard..and yes...these grapes taste sour.