Thweek will go along to show what the Yankees currently have in Joba Chamberlain. This will show if he is ready to make the next step to being THE ACE. These will be the best two lineups that he will ever face. First Tuesday night will be the Texas Rangers. They feature 3 of the top 10 hitters in baseball and the Rangers are arguably one of the three best offenses in baseball. Joba will need to show he dominate quality hitters like Milton Bradley, Ian Kinsler, and Josh Hamilton. They also have perrenial All-Star Michael Young which gives them an extremely tough 1-4 in their lineup. Joba will need to work ahead and mix speeds to be succesful.
The Yankees are not making life easy for Joba. They will really know what type of fortitude he has after Sunday's start. He will be on National TV vs their biggest rivalry. The Stadium will be going nuts as Yankee fans are ready for Joba to go out and dominate their foes. He will need to keep Ellsbury and Pedroia off the bases and have Manny Ramirez come to the plate with no one. When people are on they can not challenge Manny. The spotlight should not get to Joba as he has shown great confidence in himself every step of the way since being called up last August.
Should you expect Joba to be as lights out as he has been? No thats unreasonable. It will be just his 4th and 5th real start with no training wheels. He will get hit and he wont shut people out. But he will give them a chance to win. He knows how to pitch and keep things from unraveling. This will be a big test to see if the Yankees have their Ace or if they need to wait a year before he is in full form.
Keywords: Joba Chamberlain, New York Yankees
