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Blue Jays spoil Chamberlain's first start

Jun 4, 2008 - 4:57 AM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- The hype and fanfare went to Joba Chamberlain's first major league start. The actual pitching aspect of the night was reserved for Toronto Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay.

Halladay allowed two runs on six hits in six innings to lead the Blue Jays to a 9-3 victory over the New York Yankees Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series.

Rod Barajas drove in a pair of runs and David Eckstein had three RBI for Toronto, which won for the eighth time in 11 games.

The latest victory came on a night that was devoted to hyping Chamberlain's first start as a member of New York's rotation. It is the role that the Yankees had always intended for the 41st overall pick in the 2006 draft but was accelerated due to ineffectiveness and injuries to fellow rookies Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy.

Limited to roughly 65 pitches, Chamberlain threw 38 in the opening inning. He lasted 2 1/3 innings and gave up two runs - one earned - on just one hit while walking four in a 62-pitch outing that saw him reach a full count on six of the 12 hitters he faced.

"I was mad at myself," Chamberlain said. "You know you got so many pitches and I didn't a very good job conserving those pitches."

"Obviously he had a tough first inning," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "After getting ahead of (Shannon) Stewart, he ends up walking him and they end up scoring without a base hit. I thought he threw the ball pretty decent. The first inning hurt him in the sense of pitch count."

Chamberlain was unsure of why the outing transpired the way that it did.

"I felt great. My body felt great," Chamberlain said. "My arm felt great and I just tried to get too fine. They're an older club, a veteran club. They had a plan and they knew what I had going."

Lost in the dramatics of Chamberlain's night was another strong showing by Halladay (7-5), who allowed both runs in the first and three of his six hits in that frame. The righthander won his third consecutive start and has allowed a total of four runs and 18 hits in 23 innings during that span.

"You notice (it)," Halladay said of the Chamberlain hype. "Obviously there was a lot of excitement for him. As far as my part was, it's pretty much normal. It was definitely I think a lot of excitement around (the Yankees)."

After allowing consecutive two-out RBI singles to Hideki Matsui and Jason Giambi in the first, Halladay retired 15 of the final 20 hitters he faced. He struck out three, walked one and threw 102 pitches.

Not including a 2 1/3 inning start in Philadelphia due to rain delays on May 18, it was just the second time Halladay failed to make it to the seventh. He compensated by getting key outs all night, including an inning-ending double play in the sixth.

"It felt like for the most part, I pitched out of the stretch for the entire game," Halladay said. "It always seems to be that way here. They work the count, you end up throwing a lot of pitches and you're always battling. You're always fighting."

"I thought Halladay was good," Toronto manager John Gibbons added. "They made him work and he held them to two runs but it wasn't easy."

The Blue Jays held a 3-2 lead for most of the night on RBI groundouts by Alex Rios and Scott Rolen, and Eckstein's sacrifice fly. They turned the game into a rout with a six-run seventh off the trio of Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez and LaTroy Hawkins.

Lyle Overbay drew a four-pitch bases-loaded walk off Ramirez, and Barajas followed with a two-run double to left. Eckstein had a two-run double to right off Hawkins and Marco Scutaro capped the frame with a sacrifice fly.

Chamberlain took the mound to a standing ovation from the crowd and issued three of his walks in the first. Toronto took a 1-0 lead just three batters in as Stewart walked, took second on a balk and third on a passed ball by catcher Jose Molina before scoring on Rios' groundout.

"I think we just did a good job of trying to put together good at-bats and make him throw a lot of pitches," Eckstein said. "It's tough going out there on a pitch count, knowing that you have (a limit)."

After the Yankees scored their only runs off Halladay, Toronto chased Chamberlain when Rios walked with one out in the third.

After Dan Giese (0-1) replaced Chamberlain, Rios stole second and advanced to third on Molina's throwing error before coming home on Rolen's groundout.

The Blue Jays went ahead for good when Eckstein lifted a sacrifice fly in the fourth.