New York, NY (WFAN)  -- Here’s my thing about Joba in the 8th inning. This time last year the Yankees were having problems in the 8th inning and nobody had ever heard of Joba Chamberlain. How do we know there isn’t somebody else we’ve never heard of ready to take his place in the bullpen after Joba moves into the rotation? Okay, maybe that’s a stretch, but the Yankees solved that problem last year. I know they’ve thought about other solutions to this problem.

Here’s the luck the Yankees have. After years of buying relievers that didn’t get it done, they finally did what all the other teams do. They reached into their system, identified a starter who they could turn into a reliever, and pulled out a guy to fill the hole. It just so happened he’s now the greatest setup man in the history of setup men. They went back to doing it the old fashioned way and went 1-for-1.

But you don’t think these guys are complete and total morons do you? I mean, they see exactly what we see when Joba pitches now and they STILL want to turn him into a starter! Doesn’t that tell you anything?

Starting pitching is still what separates the good teams from the average and bad teams. It will be challenging to fill Joba’s late-inning role, but this team has been starved for starting pitching for a long time now.

When it comes time to replace Joba in the pen, they won’t find anybody as good as Joba, but they may find someone good enough to fill the role. Brian Bruney has pitched better this year and is an option. Jose Veras was impressive in the spring and is pitching great at AAA. Ross Ohlendorf has been pitching decently in a lengthier role; he’s an option too.

There’s a guy at AA Trenton named David Robertson who has impressed some scouts I spoke to. They think he can move quickly through the system, perhaps as high as the majors this year. Hmmm…a guy at AA with big strikeout numbers that isn’t on the 40-man roster and wasn’t even in major league spring training. Nah, that would never work.

My point is, you don’t know how any of these guys will work out, because this time last year you didn’t think the Yankees had an answer to this problem. Let’s just stay tuned on this one.

So the awful, terrible, take him out back and shoot him he’s so bad Mike Mussina just went 7 innings and allowed 2 runs against the Chicago White Sox, who came into Wednesday’s game in first place in the AL Central and ranking second in the AL in runs scored. What’s even better is that he did it pretty much without his signature curveball. Mussina went with mostly four-seam fastballs, sinkers, and cutters with a few sliders and change-ups. His fastballs ranged anywhere from 84 to 89, his arm angles created difference in velocity and movement. It actually had very little in common with Jamie Moyer. Maybe a little more like David Cone actually.

Mike Mussina has now won 252 games in his career and that wasn’t by accident. He’s not going to win 20, but he knows how to stay in games most nights. And if the Yankee offense ever kicks into gear (which they have recently even with A-Rod out of the lineup) then his chances of winning games go up even more.

As I said earlier this year, Mussina is probably a .500 pitcher at this stage, plus or minus three depending on the breaks. That means that there will be some good games and some bad games. And whatever the last one was doesn’t mean the next 20 will be the same.

And you know something else…it may sound like a bad excuse, but his point about Manny Ramirez doing most of the damage against him is a fair one. Mussina has allowed 16 runs in 5 starts and 6 of them have been driven in by Manny.

And Hank may not have known this little nugget, but Manny Ramirez has hit 9 home runs off Mike Mussina in his career…and the only pitcher Manny has hit more HR against is Jamie Moyer (10). I’m sure Mussina would like to learn how to pitch a little more like Don Drysdale…but that’s probably not going to happen either.

Check out this article from USA Today on Nolan Ryan trying to implement a new system in Texas, trying to get the Rangers pitchers to ignore the prevailing philosophy on pitch counts that drives so many old school baseball guys nuts. He’ll have little success trying to reverse the trend all over baseball. The data on injuries to young, overworked pitchers is just too significant for teams to ignore, especially when they invest so much money in these arms.

The other thing he seems to forget is that Ryan himself is a case study in how to control innings for young pitchers. This is Ryan’s page on baseball-reference.com . Notice the slow build in Ryan’s innings until 1972. He wasn’t cut loose until he was 25 years of age. Now, I know Ryan was a physical anomaly, defying all logic, but limiting Ryan’s innings at a young age clearly paid off.

And this is exactly what the Yankees are trying to do with their young starters.

I asked one longtime baseball man about Ryan’s hope (pun intended) and he said, “The only way to increase pitch counts is to get rid of Ques Tec.” That, of course, is the computerized system that measures the umpires’ efficiency in calling strikes and has fundamentally altered the way strikes are called, taking away pitches on/off the black.

Another longtime baseball man offered me this solution: widen the plate another inch. That’s a great thought actually. But I don’t believe there has been any rule change to benefit the pitcher over the hitter in my lifetime, so let’s forget that one.

Anyway, the debates rage on about the babying of young pitchers. And we can see how the Yankees fall into this situation right before our eyes.

• Did you know the Yankees have played only five day games so far? Only the Florida Marlins have played fewer.


• Johnny Damon hasn’t looked so old lately, has he?


• Robinson Cano’s slump doesn’t bother me so much as the lazy errors we’ve seen already.


• Chien-Ming Wang got to 50 career wins faster than any pitcher since Dwight Gooden. He actually didn’t know who that was until somebody said “Doc” Gooden. True story.


• Cleveland’s next. Extra bug spray in the equipment trunk, please.

Thanks for reading. Send comments and questions to yankees@wfan.com.

Sweeny