One big fly beats Joba this time

Yankee fans will tell you it was not the Indians but rather thousands of Lake Erie midges who beat Joba Chamberlain in the ALDS last season.

Tonight all it took was one fly.

One big fly - by David Dellucci.

Dellucci's three-run homer off The Great Joba in the eighth inning put the Tribe ahead to stay in their 5-3 win over the Yankees in the first game of the Tribe's final regular season series at Yankee Stadium.

It marked the first time The Great Joba has allowed a run (or three) this year at Yankee Stadium.

It was only the second home run Chamberlain has given up in the regular season in his career.

Perhaps most incredibly, it is the first time The Great Joba has blown a lead in his major league career covering 30 appearances dating back to last August when he made his MLB debut.

He did, however, give up the winning run in a tie game against the White Sox on April 24 for his other loss of this season so far.

Although it was a high fastball that Dellucci launched into a not-too-distant right field porch, Chamberlain seemed - for whatever reason - to be throwing a lot of curveballs tonight.

The curveball is the third-best of three very good pitches in Joba's bag of tricks.

He seemed a little off balance all inning and walked two to get himself into trouble.

Whatever the case, the Tribe got to The Great Joba for three runs and a win.

Now it's on to tomorrow. Just a few reflections before we go.

Ben Francisco had a worm-killing single for his only hit tonight, as he returned from Buffalo to - hopefully - get some regular playing time in LF.

Travis Hafner still looked awful at the plate. That single you'll see in the box score tomorrow was of the broken-bat dunker variety.

With Dellucci hitting, maybe it's time to give Hafner a few days off to get his head together.

And finally, it was nice to see Andy Marte in the lineup tonight, mostly because it meant Casey Blake was not in the lineup.

With the offense struggling so mightily, it might be time to let Marte play. I'm not a believer and I don't actually think it will set Marte right. But we know what Blake gives us and it's not enough.

Might as well roll the dice with Marte for a couple of weeks and see what he can do.