The story of Joba Chamberlain

If it's your policy to tune out everything Yankee, you've been missing the intriguing Saga of Joba, one of the best prospects in baseball. Never mind the Joba Rules, or the "relaxing" of them, which may result in the Royals getting a second helping of the kid on Sunday: in 11 appearances -- 14 1/3 innings -- Chamberlain has absolutely dominated, treating seasoned Major Leaguers like string puppets, baffling them with an electric fastball, a nasty breaking ball and control beyond his years. He's struck out 18 while allowing just seven hits and four walks. Billy Butler last night came about as close as anyone to driving in a run off Joba when he jerked a pitch to the left-center warning track. That's right, Joba's yet to allow a run.

If that's not enough, there's the story of his father, Harlan, who grew up on an Indian reservation but spent a good part of his childhood -- six years, five months and 11 days -- in the hospital battling polio. He and Joba, in Lincoln, Nebraska -- before Joba went off to college at Nebraska and teamed with Alex Gordon to lead the Cornhuskers to the College World Series -- often played catch, one while confined to a scooter, the other throwing as hard as he could until the the receiver could stand it no longer, his hand stung so much. "If it wasn't blowin' or a million degrees below zero, we were out there," Harlan Chamberlain says in this nicely done NY Daily News feature.

Harlan drove up from Lincoln with family and friends to watch his son's team last night, and when Joba entered the game, tears streamed freely down his face. He didn't wipe them. We can only imagine what the son was thinking on the mound, what anxieties. Did he know there was anyone else in the stadium? Did he hear any of the 27,000-plus when the most important person was the one who was silent, quietly weeping somewhere on the edge of the lower concourse?

Gary Smith of Sports Illustrated is writing a feature about the Chamberlains, this I found out one day when Michael Kay of the YES Network said off-handedly that Smith has been hanging around the Yankees dugout a lot recently. Writes Aaron McFarling of the Roanoke Times blog: "If Smith -- one of the most talented feature writers in the business -- profiles you, you've either killed yourself, killed someone else or killed your competition. With Joba, I'm guessing it's the latter."

I can't wait to read it. And when the story does come out -- I imagine among people in the know in New York, this is one of Smith's more anticipated pieces -- if you don't already, you will know.

POSTSCRIPT: From MLB.com:

"Everyone knows that he is a special kid and he is going to do a lot of things here in the future," Chamberlain said of Gordon. "Hopefully in the seventh or eighth, it gets close and I get to face [him]."

"I called him last night and told him that if he faces me, he has to throw me a first-pitch fastball," Gordon said with a smile. "I was the older guy at Nebraska, so he has to follow my rules."

Alex Gordon did face Joba in the bottom of the 8th. He singled cleanly to left.

POSTSCRIPT 2: On a lighter note, Harlan Chamberlain kind of looks like a cross between two Office Space characters: Tom Smykowski, the guy who tries committing suicide in his garage, and Milton Waddems, who was infatuated with a red stapler. Check the Daily News feature for a photo. Am I right?

Ankiel, Glaus, HGH, coin flips and two Idaho Falls rookies

These days, you don't appear out of corn in the middle of August, belt nine home runs in 81 at-bats, hit .358, slug .765 and spark an improbable resurgence out of a team left for dead just a month earlier without raising suspicion. It was baseball's version of the public secret for weeks before the New York Daily News brought it into the open yesterday, reporting that Ankiel apparently received shipments of HGH. Troy Glaus was also implicated.

I'll reserve my comments for a later time, except to say that I wonder how Tony La Russa's enjoyed this season.

***

Is this really necessary?

***

Mike Moustakas finished his brief season at Idaho Falls with a .314 batting average and nine RBIs in 35 at-bats. KC's No. 5 pick, Adrian Ortiz, batted .324. With so many failed prospects in the past, maybe the Royals scored (at least) two winners in this year's draft. We can always hope.

***

Royals-Yankees... NOW.

UPDATE, 9/8: Ankiel: "I've been through a lot emotionally and physically. There are doctor-patient privileges, and I hope you guys respect those privileges."

Wow. "Doctor-patient privileges," therefore I will not answer your question (paraphrased from Pedro Gomez), "So, just to be clear, you took HGH, right?"

Doctor-patient privileges. I can't believe athletes haven't used this defense sooner.

Why can't the Kansas City Royals own A-Rod?

It's a rhetorical question. If I were a Yankees blogger, here's what I would write:

Sometimes we wonder how the other half lives. Imagine you're a Kansan, settling in on Granma Ruth's bequeathed rocking chair in front of your dustless RCA CTC-5 after an honest day's work, rubbing the burn out of your wheat-stained hands and feeling conspicuously aware of a life passing by, when the man on the tube snaps you into a different reality -- his reality, which he creates with singularities so heavy they pull the whole of people in alternate realites into it, sucking first their breaths and then their senses, leaving them as Derek Jeter was on the top dugout step, staring aghast at the man for whom this world's reality holds no dominion, rendering else null and void. And then you, citizen of the Earth, Kansan by birth, would look upon your hands and not see the passing of your humble life but the potential contained within every hand and possibly wonder, Are these the hands of God? Are these the hands that lift New York upon empyreal shoulders? Why can't the Kansas City Royals own A-Rod? Can any entity, any earth?

He hit two home runs in the 7th inning yesterday. He and the Yankees come to town tomorrow for a three-game set.

POSTSCRIPT: Absolutely ridiculous comeback -- six runs in two innings, including three in the 9th after two were out -- that featured three bloop singles to the outfield, what can only be described as a "bloop hit" in the infield, a chopper high off home plate with two outs in the 9th, then a Sid Beam-like moment for the win. Find the highlights on ESPN.com if you can. There's a Philadelphia Inquirer column titled, "This one never should have gotten away." Personally, I think, "WHAT THE &$%#???" would have worked better. Maybe this is why I'm not an editor.

Three notable stories from MLB.com

BANNISTER WINS ROOKIE OF MONTH HONOR, by Leslie Parker

Lead: For the third month in a row, the Royals continued their dominance of the American League Rookie of the Month award with Brian Bannister picking up the award for the second time this season.

Quotable: "He's somewhat of a rookie," manager Buddy Bell said, "but since I've been managing, he's the best pitcher I've been around."

Notable: The 26-year-old compiled a 2.90 ERA over 40 1/3 innings. He struck out 16 and walked nine.

On Aug. 17 against the A's, Bannister pitched a two-run, four-hit complete game, fueling the talk of a possible AL Rookie of the Year Award.

TALE OF TWO CALLUPS, by Conor Nicholl

Lead: Luke Hochevar's and Craig Brazell's lockers stood on one side of the visitors' clubhouse at Rangers Ballpark, near a big-screen TV. The two players, each with different expectations entering the season, were both smiling.

Quotable: "There wasn't that much I could do except get that [40th] home run. I guess throw a couple more walks in there and maybe a few more RBIs," [Brazell] said. "I think it's just the matter of me getting the opportunity for me getting a chance to play every day again. In '05, I didn't get to play every day and in '06, I didn't get a chance to play the first month and a half every day. Throughout the season, it was off and on.

Notable: For Hochevar, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft and one of the best prospects in baseball, Tuesday marked his first time in the Major Leagues after a season of constant changes.

"I have been dreaming about this ever since I was a little kid," he said.

For Brazell, the call up was the culmination of the greatest season "by far" in his career. For the first time in several years, Brazell saw consistent playing time.

He responded with a .308/.339/.612 (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) line at Triple-A Omaha and hit a Minor League-leading 39 homers at two levels.

SWEENEY HAS IMPACT ON LIFE IN KC, by Conor Nicholl

Lead: Royals captain Mike Sweeney and his wife, Shara, have helped thousands of people throughout the past 10 years. This year, they presented a new award and most importantly, helped save a life.

Quotable: "[The award] has a heartbeat." --Sweeney, Royals' nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award

POSTSCRIPT: Our hero's chat.

A developing game situation...

Rangers manager Ron Washington is racked by indecision. Racked. It's literally making his face muscles twitch and skin creep.

The situation: His starter, Kevin Millwood, handed a 6-1 lead, gave up five unanswered runs in the 4th and 5th and was pulled. Then his team regained the lead, 8-6, but reliever Frank Francisco has allowed two runners on in the 8th while recording just one out (David DeJesus earned his Major League-leading 18th HBP).

Washington is currenly squirming over whether to bring in lefty Bill White, who has never made a Major League appearance after eight years in the minors. He's 28 and has waited eight years for this...

What's Washington going to do?
White, who the FSN Southwest announcers have compared to Jimmy Morris, Dennis Quaid's character in The Rookie, is loose in the pen and ready, but Washington just handed the ball to Joakim Benoit. This is a mistake. I know the game's close, but White has waited eight years for his debut, and his parents drove up to Arlington to see this game -- God forbid any of you have to drive to Arlington to watch the Rangers, especially on a rainy day with about a 900-person crowd dwindling to three dozen throughout the night -- and you think he's, what, nervous? I think he's ready...
Ross Gload: holy crap!

Lunging for first, his foot slipped off the bag and you can probably guessed what happened next. Scary stuff.Hoping for extra innings. We want Bill White!
11:42 p.m.: Well, no Bill White, but the Royals made another rally in the 9th, coming one run short when Tony Pena Jr. grounded into a fielder's choice to second with the tying run in scoring position.

Now, about why Tony Pena Jr. was at the plate and not, say, 39-HR-man Craig Brazell...

The Zack Greinke Scoreless Innings Streak Watch

The FSN Southwest announcer dropped Brandon Webb's name when discussing Zack Greinke yesterday, as did Rangers Fan a few hours later. And why not? Greinke hasn't given up a run since July 24 against the Yankees and has tossed 19 straight scoreless innings. He was very good in Texas last night, and if you need proof, Royals Authority's got you covered.

23 more innings to match Webb's streak! It's not like Webb's still working on it, so Greinke's really only competing against himself. And his opponent. (Next up: the Yankees.)

Things Brian Bannister is really good at (pt. 2): photography

Brian Bannister took those photos, we think/are pretty sure, because they can be found on his website, Beauty and Sport, in which the bio states matter-of-factly: "Photographer Brian Bannister was born in Scottsdale, Arizona and introduced to the world of professional sports at an early age. Traveling with his father Floyd, a Major League Baseball player for 15 years, Brian experienced the world through the life of a professional athlete." It makes no mention that "Brian" is now immersed in the world of professional athletes, that he is, in no uncertain terms, somewhat of a skilled professional athlete himself.

The website, rather mundanely, feeds into the site of a photography studio Bannister opened called Loft 19. A New York Times article from February 2006, when Bannister was still a Met, explains how the Royals pitcher came to his second vocation:

At 24, Bannister, one of the Mets' top pitching prospects, owns more cameras (six) than pitches (four). He invested his $100,000 signing bonus in opening a 9,000-square-foot studio in Phoenix called Loft 19 and said he spent most of his free time during the season retouching photographs or scouring Internet forums about photography.

He grew up in Phoenix and chose to attend the University of Southern California because of its fine-arts program, then walked on to the baseball team. He has taught himself Web-site coding and a cut fastball, Adobe Photoshop and a changeup, and in 2003 assisted the Mets' team photographer, Marc Levine, in the Shea Stadium photo pit. After Friday's workouts here, Bannister spotted Carlos Serrao, a prominent photographer he knows from shoots at Loft 19, and they chatted for a few hours.

On Bannister's Web site, beautyandsport.com, there is no mention of his day job in his 366-word biography. The closest he gets to revealing any association with baseball is in the second sentence, when he allows that he is the son of Floyd Bannister, a former All-Star pitcher who won 134 games over 15 major league seasons.

"I don't want to have an edge because of anything I've done in baseball," Bannister said. "I want to be compared with any other photographer out there on the merit of my work."

We wish we could say something here about the similarities between baseball and photography, perhaps drop a lesson on electromagnetic energy and particle physics as it relates to the finer points of ERA-plus, but as the man said so himself, the two worlds are best kept separate. So instead, we'll leave you with Bannister's profile words, with highlighted descriptors that apply to his budding baseball career:

Constantly evolving, Brian's work is a combination of his background in art and sports. His clean, vibrant style, trademarked by a cinematic use of light and a dynamic energy, strives to reveal the two themes that are his passion: classic beauty and pure sport. His perspective and technique remain perpetually fresh through the influence of the many great photographers that make Loft 19 Studios their temporary home.

Things Brian Bannister is really good at (pt. 1): pitching

The stopper took a shutout into the 8th before losing it on a sac fly, but he still lowered his ERA to 3.16. Consider the list of American League starting pitchers whose season ERAs are higher:

John Lackey
Josh Beckett
Fausto Carmona
C.C. Sabathia
Mark Buehrle
Jeremy Guthrie
Justin Verlander
Andy Pettitte
Scott Kazmir
...everyone else

And now, the complete list of starting pitchers whose ERAs are better:

Dan Haren
Kelvim Escobar
Johan Santana
Erik Bedard (tied)

That's it. Four names. You'll notice that Daisuke Matsuzaka is not on this second list. Keep that in mind before we revisit this topic.

Brian Bannister doesn't just win, he wins when the Royals absolutely need him to. According to the AP's Twins-Royals game recap, Bannister's 8-3 in 13 starts following a Royals loss. Remember when he won the AL Rookie of the Month award in June? He might win it again in August* -- he's 7-1 in his last nine starts, with a 2.17 ERA (!) -- which would be nice, since Billy Butler won it in July. He's great at home, dominant on the road: 2.15 ERA and four wins in his last five away from Kauffman. We can sing his praises here all night, but others can do it better:

Catcher John Buck (from the AP story linked above): "Every time we go out it's like I learn something about him and he learns something about himself and the other guys," he said, comparing Bannister to pitchers like Greg Maddux and John Smoltz. "He has a lot of that makeup. He has an idea of what he wants to do, executes it and makes us look smart."

Royals manager Buddy Bell, in the KC Star: "Since I’ve been managing," Bell said, fighting the smile, "he’s the best pitcher I've been around. (Pause) But you need to check that out …"

Brian Bannister, from Baseball Prospectus interview: "Every publication that’s ever tried to project me has been wrong. I think that’s because they use my current repertoire of pitches, and I’m unique as a player in that I continue to grow and evolve, always trying to refine and add new ways to help me get hitters out. That’s why I think I’ll always continue to surpass my projections. At the same time, I always use statistics--non-standard statistics that you’ll find outside of a box score--as a way to improve myself as a player. I know my weaknesses. I know that I have a tendency to give up more fly balls than ground balls. I’m also very aware of my WHIP, my on-base percentage against, my slugging percentage against, my home runs per nine innings, my strikeouts to walks ratio. I look at those things to see how I compare to other players in the league, and also to try to make myself a better pitcher. Like I said, I consider myself a student of the game. Numbers are important."

Internet forums are already debating the merits of "Dice-K vs. Banny" for AL Rookie of the Year, and already -- while they cede Bannister's having a good year -- they are saying, "There's no doubt that Dice K is going to be the better pitcher." No doubt? Really? Why exactly is there no doubt? Because one has been on an SI cover and the other quietly goes about throwing his four pitches at varying speeds in a small market? Because one throws a fictitious pitch that'd make Sidd Finch proud (a pitch which is very fictitious) while the other doesn't need to? Has anyone who's watched Dice-K and Bannister this year actually seen anything to suggest one would have the better career over the other? That the former would no doubt have the better career?

I'm going to propose something, and I want everyone reading who hasn't actually seen Bannister pitch this year to kindly preclude themselves from saying something idiotic and ignorant:

Brian Bannister may have a better career than Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Now, may hardly means will, in any sense, definition or context. But how can anyone who's watched Bannister more or less dominant this year (so far... I understand there's a month left to be played) not feel there's certainly a chance he could be really, really great, and that he has, at times, been nothing short of Maddux-esque? There are doubters out there, of course, and revisionists surely, hordes of them growing by the day, and apologists too (mostly Mets fans who say the Bannister-for-Burgos deal was "good at the time"). I encourage them to make themselves heard.

But first, just for fun, let's compare some stats:

CATEGORIES THAT MATSUZAKA WINS

Strikeouts
Matsuzaka: 174
Bannister: 72

H/9
Matsuzaka: 8.12
Bannister: 8.19

K/BB
Matsuzaka: 2.64
Bannister: 2.00

Opp. BA
Matsuzaka: .240
Bannister: .242

CATEGORIES THAT BANNISTER WINS:

ERA
Bannister: 3.16
Matsuzaka: 3.88

ERA+
Bannister: 145
Matsuzaka: 117

WHIP
Bannister: 1.15
Matsuzaka: 1.28

HR allowed
Bannister: 9
Matsuzaka: 20

BB/9
Bannister: 2.18
Matsuzaka: 3.37

Rookie of the Month awards
Bannister: 1
Matsuzaka: 0

TIE:

Complete games
Bannister: 1
Matsuzaka: 1

And yet, baseball writers will stuff Rookie of the Year ballot boxes with Dice-K's name because every time he pitches against their team, they glimpse firsthand the hype and the Japanese media miasma and the spectacle that is Daisuke the Monster, and the lasting impression they come away with is, "Now that's what an award-winner should look like." And then Brian Bannister shuts out their team for nearly eight innings and their manager only manages to say, "He just kind of shut us down. You get behind like that, and it takes the air out of you early," and they nod their heads and write their stories and forget all about Banny until it's time to send in their ballots, and because they're new-age baseball writers, hot damn, they bother to look at a stat sheet, and they see this Bannister name, and they think... Hey, didn't he get lucky that one time against us and shut us down for eight innings? Maybe I'll vote him into third place. Nice kid, that Bannister...

Well, I won't have it, and I'm going to type in all-caps so you know that I will NOT stand idly as a less deserving pitcher steals away with what's rightfully someone else's: BRIAN BANNISTER IS THE 2007 AMERICAN LEAGUE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR.

Pass it on. Spread this truth.

POSTSCRIPT: Perhaps we'd be okay with Dustin Pedroia, all things considered.

UPDATE, 9/4: Whaddaya know, he did win the AL Rookie of the Month award again, which was just announced. Well deserved.

Clay Buchholz: Big Bully, Computer Bandit

Clay Buchholz just wrapped up the first no-hitter tossed by a rookie in Red Sox history when this IM came through to Kalan's computer:

[22:19] d---000: NO WAY
[22:19] d---000: go to the bitchers [sic] wiki
[22:19] d---000: NOW
[22:19] d---000: pitchers
[22:20] d---000: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_Buchholz
[22:20] d---000: aww its gone!!
[22:20] d---000: "He also threw a no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles on September 1, 2007, in only his second Major League start, proving that being a good athlete makes people forgot that you're a douchebag who steals computers from little kids."
[22:20] d---000: thats what it said

That's not the first mention on Wikipedia of Buchholz's laptop banditry. Via a Yankees forum:

mcmagic:
From his Wiki

Growing up in Lumberton, Texas, Buchholz played baseball for the local youth baseball leagues until High School. After High School, Clay attended McNeese State University for a short period before transferring to Angelina College. He was drafted, at age 20, by the Boston Red Sox in the supplemental first round (42nd pick) of the 2005 draft. Other teams passed on him because Buchholz had been arrested for stealing 29 laptops from his high school and selling them. Buchholz started his first spring training game in 2007 against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He pitched 4.2 innings, gave up 7 hits and 3 runs, while recording 3 strikeouts.

This is a Yankees forum, you're thinking -- lies, damned lies with anything Red Sox related. But wait, there's a second source: "JD" posted on an MLB Trade Rumors entry, "oh LOL Clay Buchholz was arrested in high school for stealing a few dozen laptops from his school.... dee dee dee!"

Perhaps his source was Wikipedia. Perhaps it was the Yankees forum. Perhaps -- as the cryptic and sort of deranged "dee dee dee" makes it possible to believe -- he was the non compos mentis progenitor of the rumor. But let's assume for a second that the rumor is true, that Buchholz snatched some computers when he was green and easy under Texas boughs... so what? The guy just became the first Red Sox rookie to throw a no-hitter. Ever. We kinda wish he did steal from little kids -- what have they ever done but cry their crocodile tears and hoard candy?

In short... Buchholz threw a no-hitter in his second career Major League start in the holy holy Fenway Park, and all sins have been absolved.

POSTSCRIPT: The best part of the no-hitter came during the celebratory huddle, when Josh Beckett shouted too loudly with a camera in his face, "Lot better than Curt Schilling! Lot better than Curt Schilling!"

POSTSCRIPT 2: Jason Veritek just plopped himself in the Red Sox press room wearing a white, baggy frock, unadorned and spotless except for a small Nike swoosh across the chest. What the hell?

UPDATE, 9/3: Buchholz's Wikipedia entry has been amended to include this sentence: "Some clubs passed on him in the draft because he was arrested in April 2004 and charged with stealing laptop computers from a middle school, but the Red Sox said it was a one-time incident and that they weren't worried about his makeup."

Scott Baker's near-perfect game, as reported by Kinsella

Kinsella and friends were in the Metrodome last night and nearly witnessed history. As he tells it...

giancarlo izzi walks into the metrodome on a clear, sunny friday night. though once he entered the doors, it could've been 25 and blizzarding out in the minneapolis night. the sterile hubert h humphrey metrodome keeps baseball on and the weather out, but this was a night for outdoor baseball. in two years, minnesota fans will have this luxury. regardless, they saw something magical.

"i'd go for a perfect game tonight," GC said to cohort Kyle Peter as they found their seats in the left field upper deck. for a grand total of 28 dollars (less than a movie!), GC, Kyle, Mike Kinsella, and Matt Archibald were able to almost witness history.

scott baker was awesome. he did not go to 2 balls on anyone until the 9th inning, i don't think. i had to piss since the 3rd, but did not go because the game did not yield a hit yet. as a impartial viewer, you always root for good baseball, and this was it. last twins game I went to, i saw joe mauer hit an inside-the-park home run against the angels, and this was better.

baker started out by striking out five in the first two innings. at the bottom of the eighth, when baker recorded his 24th consecutive out, the place was electric. we stood up and looked at each other, house holding his brewers hat, me my cubs hat, in our hands in disbelief like we just won the lottery. we were on the verge of history. the twins at the time were up 3-0 and cruising. they scored two runs in the top of the ninth, but about 7 twins came up to bat. too long for baker to sit on the bench, we thought. someone just ground into a fucking double play so this kid can complete his destiny. finally, the twins go down, and we go to the bottom of the ninth, 5-0 twins, with scott baker on the cusp of history.

joe buck, the effing 7th hitter in the royals lineup, leads off. the 25k at the met are on their feet. ball 1. hmmm... they are screaming "scotty!!" ball 2. FUCK. the crowd boos. ball 3. NO WAY! YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BLOW THIS. 3-0 meatball and buck is taking all the way. strike. crowd goes wild. now i'm up in left field so i have no idea how this is going. ball four. mixture of disappointment, then cheering, then realizing that the no-no is still intact. german i think is up. he grounds to 2nd for a fielder's choice. german on 1st, mike sweeney comes up and breaks the hearts of baseball fans across the country. single to shallow left. a legitimate hit, no bloop. he hit it solid, right between white and torii. baker struggles, joe nathan is getting up in the bullpen, but scotty too hotty gets it together to finish off the one hit shutout.

great game, great night.