Wrong Pitch For The Joba: Chamberlain's Pitch Selection Leads to 7-6 Sox Win

White Sox Good/Bad/Indifferent is taking the day off, as I missed most of this game from the second rain delay to the bottom of the eigth. However, I caught the bottom of the ninth, and noticed something that really caught my attention. 

The White Sox were not going to lose last night against the Yankees.

No, it wasn't because Joe Crede was guaranteed and at-bat in the ninth, although that helped. 

It was because Joba Chamberlain kept on throwing his curveball.

To Chamberlain's credit, he has an excellent curveball. It's a great out pitch—when it's working.

Last night, it wasn't.

AJ Pierznyski led off the bottom of the ninth and flew out to the centerfield warning track. Throughout the at-bat, it started to become apparent that Chamberlain didn't have a great feel for the release point on his curveball.

His fastball was still powering through the strike zone and, if you ask me, was not going to be hit by Pierzynski, Carlos Quentin, or Joe Crede. Chamberlain has the definition of a power fastball: you know it's coming, but you aren't going to hit it.

However, after Carlos Quentin worked the count to 2-2, Chamberlain tried to get Quentin off balance by dropping a curveball in there.

The pitch stayed up in the zone, and Quentin smashed it off the left field wall for a double.

That brought Crede up to the plate, who is one of, if not the, best clutch hitter in the game today. Chamberlain quickly got ahead 1-2 on three fastballs, but then threw a curveball.

See where this is going? He left it up in the zone, and Crede laced it into left-center for a walkoff single.

I don't know who's calling the pitches for the Yankees—Jorge Posada, Joe Girardi, Dave Eiland, or someone else—but you'd think somebody would have noticed that Chamberlain was leaving his curveball up.

If he kept throwing his fastball, he likely would have had a much better chance of getting Crede out and sending the game to extra innings.