The Prospectus knows a folk hero when it sees one...
Joba Chamberlain and Popular Madness
by Joe Sheehan
“Joba! Joba! Joba!”
Five major league appearances.
“Joba! Joba! Joba!”
Twenty-four major-league batters faced.
“Joba! Joba! Joba!”
Eighty-seven career pitches.
Joba Chamberlain has fewer career strikeouts (11) than Johan Santana had just on Sunday afternoon (17), but he’s already a folk hero in New York. At Yankee Stadium yesterday, the crowd reacted to him before he even entered the game, buzzing as he warmed up in the bullpen, and cheering wildly as he trotted in to start the seventh inning. The chants of “Joba!” grew throughout his nine-pitch, two-strikeout evisceration of the heart of the Detroit Tigers’ order, and culminated in a standing ovation for the second-year pro as he walked off the mound after whiffing Carlos Guillen.
Joba Chamberlain is the Monster who will slay the Lord Viper Juggernaut.
(Next year.)
I’m not sure even the opening chords of “Enter Sandman” inspire what I heard yesterday. Joba Chamberlain has been in the major leagues for two weeks, and he already has heard 50,000 people chant his name on the game’s greatest stage. The energy that ripped through the ballpark during his appearance, the way the crowd embraced and enhanced the moment, the way Chamberlain rose to the occasion with his powerful right arm… a baseball season creates memories along the way, and this is one that I’ll replay for years to come.
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2 comments:
Well, he's also a Monk, so he'll be slaying the Crab Queens, too.
There will be no regicide.
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