The last thing Yankees needed was for another starting pitcher to go down.  Already missing ace Chien-Ming Wang and young gun Phil Hughes, the Yankees received a real scare last night when Joba Chamberlain was taken out in the 5th inning of the August 4 game against the Texas Rangers with a stiff right shoulder.

Chamberlain is being sent back to New York to have tests run on his arm to determine the cause of the pain and how long he will be out for.  Manager Joe Girardi has already said that he expects Chamberlain to miss his next start.

Losing Chamberlain for any more time would be a devastating blow to the Yankees.  With Wang out likely for the rest of the season, Chamberlain has stepped up and has become the team’s ace and really one of the best pitchers in the American League in the last two months.

Chamberlain pitched the worst game of his career last night surrendering 8 hits, 2 home runs, and 5 earned runs in only 4.2 innings.  Other than that, he has been nothing but solid.  In his 11 starts since he became a starting pitcher on June 8, Chamberlain is 3-1 with a 2.71 ERA and averages 6.45 strikeouts per game.

Ian Kennedy, who had been sent down to the minors, was rumored to be replacing struggling starter Darrell Rasner.  Now that it appears Chamberlain will be missing his next start, Kennedy would be the likely option to pitch in place of Chamberlain and Rasner would have to be kept in the rotation.

The Yankees are only 5.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the AL East and only 2.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox for the AL wild card lead.  It is no doubt that the amount of time Chamberlain will miss and how well the other pitchers could step up in place of his absence will play a significant role in the formation of the playoff picture.