CLEVELAND — A decade has passed since Joba Chamberlain arrived in the big leagues — armed with a fastball that approached triple digits, a leg-buckling breaking ball and a personality the size of his native Nebraska.
Ten years ago Monday, Chamberlain worked his first major league game in Toronto, and when he was done with a two-inning stint against the Blue Jays, crusty Yankees veterans were blown away.
“He was electric,’’ Jason Giambi recalled of the 21-year-old Chamberlain’s debut — in which he worked two innings, allowed one hit, walked two and struck out two. “I think everybody thought after that night he was the heir to Mariano [Rivera].