He didn't throw many. Clemons posted a 9.95 ERA in six games and vanished from the major leagues forever.

Clemons springs to mind because last night Yankees starter Joba Chamberlain was a double play-throwing S.O.B. The thing is, Chamberlain isn't supposed to be letting batters put the ball into play very often. He's supposed to be a strikeout artist.

In his first season-plus with the Yankees, mostly as a set-up reliever for Mariano Rivera, Chamberlain averaged 11 strikeouts per nine innings. His fastball was clocked at more than 100 miles an hour.

But last night against the Red Sox every one of Chamberlain's fastballs was on the slow side of 95 mph. His fastball was ... well, ordinary. In five and one-third innings he struck out only two, both times David Ortiz.

If it hadn't been four the four double plays the Yankees turned behind Chamberlain -- not to mention two others the Yankees could have turned and didn't -- the Red Sox might have blown this game open early. Instead they needed a clutch two-out, two-run homer by Jason Bay off Yankees closer Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game 4-4 and send it into extra innings.

Kevin Youkilis won it 5-4 with a walkoff solo home run -- the second of his career -- off lefthanded reliever Damaso Marte with one out in the bottom of the 11th, providing the Red Sox with their eighth consecutive victory.

The point is that if the Yankees are expecting Chamberlain to be as dominating a starter as he was as a reliever, if last night's performance was any indication they're probably going to be sorely disappointed.

Chamberlain gave up nine hits, walked four batters, and hit another. He threw 91 pitches, and who knows how many more he didn't have to throw because of all the double plays.

And you can't expect your team to turn four double plays behind you every night, even if you make your living throwing sinkerballs.

As it was, even with all those double plays the Red Sox had a multitude of opportunities to win this game in regulation. They had baserunners in each of the first nine innings and hits in eight of them. They left a staggering 14 runners in base through the first nine.

The Yankees, frankly, weren't much more successful hitting with runners on base. While the Red Sox urned three double plays themselves-- none bigger than the home-to-first DP engineered by MVP Dustin Pedroia with the bases loaded and nobody out in the top of the ninth -- the Yankees stranded 15 through the first 11 innings.

Where the Red Sox won this game was in the bullpen, which many believe is the deepest in Baseball.

Although Hideki Okajima failed to retire any of the four batters he faced in relief of Jon Lester and was charged with two runs that put the Yankees ahead 4-2 in the seventh, Red Sox relievers got the job done. Again.

They have yet to blow a lead this season and have failed to hold only two ties, including last night.

While the Yankees had to be shocked to see Rivera, the future Hall of Famer, blow a two-run save, that the rest of the bullpen ultimately let them down could not have come as a surprise.

Relief pitching between their starters and Rivera has been a problem for years and was one the Yankees failed to address despite their wild spending spree this winter.

And taking Chamberlain out of the bullpen to make him a starter only exacerbates that problem.