Joba Chamberlain makes rule No. 1 winning Yankees' 27th championship
BY ANTHONY McCARRON
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Tuesday, February 12th 2008, 4:00 AM
Sipkin/News
Joba Chamberlain is ready to let loose but understands if Yanks keep him in check on way to a crown.
TAMPA - Before this winter, Joba Chamberlain never owned a tuxedo, never traveled to Puerto Rico or Arizona. Rarely, outside of his hometown of Lincoln, Neb., had people approach him on the street because they recognized him.
All that changed after his Yankee star turn last season. In one instance, a man in Phoenix approached him holding out his iPhone with Chamberlain's picture on the screen. The man said, "You're my favorite player."
Chamberlain, taking a break after throwing a bullpen session at the Yankees' minor-league complex Monday, smiled as he told the story: "I'm in Phoenix, Arizona, dressed in regular clothes and I think I even got some facial hair, maybe" - Chamberlain sported a small "soul patch" under his bottom lip Monday- "and this guy comes up to me. It's great.
"I could be behind a desk and no one would care what I did. It's definitely fun."
Chamberlain's trip to Puerto Rico was for Jorge Posada's charity bowling event. "I did win that, by the way," he joked. His score? An unboastworthy 164. "We're amateurs," he added.
The 22-year-old Chamberlain has embraced the changes in his life and he's taking an identical approach to his somewhat-confusing status on the Yanks' pitching staff this spring. He likely will begin camp as a starter, but he might open the season as a reliever. That's because the team has innings limits for its young pitchers and would keep Chamberlain below the unspecified number of innings no matter what kind of success he enjoys.
"It's going to be something I have to deal with and I understand it," Chamberlain said. "There's inning limits and I know that. But whatever I can do to get No. 27 under our belt is what I want to do ... My main goal is to get No. 27, not how many innings I throw."
Chamberlain referred to No. 27 - meaning the elusive 27th Yankee World Series title - several times. He also said a few times that he would understand if the Yankees shifted him from the rotation to the bullpen to keep him fresh, even though he also admitted he was frustrated at times by last year's "Joba Rules" that governed how much Joe Torre could use him.
"I'll understand," he said. "You have to. You can ask questions and see what they're doing this for. You've got to be active. You let them know how you feel. The communication level has to be great. They've been forward with me, up front, so I'm excited to show them what I can do."
When someone brought up Paul Wilson, Jason Isringhausen and Bill Pulsipher, the highly touted mid-'90s Mets trio that fizzled, Chamberlain chuckled. He knows of the comparisons to the Yankee troika of himself, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy.
"I know they were all big guys, power guys and Isringhausen is the only one who came back (from injury)," Chamberlain said. "Being 22, you're young enough to know you can do it, but mature enough to know you'd rather have 10-15 great years than one or two."
