Yes, but only in game two. The other games won by Cleveland involved their offense outscoring the Yankees by a large margin in the early going. Cleveland certainly has a fine bullpen, but their offense was the reason they won that series.

I understand the starting pitcher argument, but it's worth noting that the Yankees have been looking for an 8th inning pitcher since Nelson and Stanton were last effective 7 or 8 years ago. Decent relievers like the Viz are a dime a dozen. Excellent relievers like Joba don't come along very often.  Maybe Joba will become Verlander and someone else on the farm can become Zumaya, but right now the Yanks have a more glaring need for an 8th inning pitcher than a starting pitcher (if Pettitte returns, which I think he will).

And while the Yankees have been looking for that 8th inning reliever, they've been winning their division each year (save 2007) due to excellent offensive production and decent starting pitching. You can't tell me that the bullpen is more important than starting pitching and offense in the face of that evidence.

The reason Joba was excellent in the relief role is because he's not a relief pitcher; he's a starting pitcher. The bullpen is historically where failed starters (such as Mo) go to resurect their careers. Lets not end Joba's career before it gets started.

Wouldn't the Yankees, with their offense (if Arod comes back), win more often with Joba appearing in 70 games instead of 35?

No, because in those 70 games he'd only pitch about 80 innings, whereas with 35 starts he'd likely pitch over 200 innings. The more innings Joba pitches, the more runs he prevents. And trust me, a bad starter does more damage to his team than a bad reliever does.

Wouldn't a decent starter be able to get a lead to the 6th or 7th inning, at which point Joba and Mo could put it in the books?  Wasn't it nice to relax when the 7th inning rolled around and Chamberlain was available?

I imagine it depends on your definition of "decent" and how often you'd like that "decent" pitcher to have a lead going into the 6th or 7th inning.

It sure was nice to be able to rely on Chamberlain in the late innings, but it definitely was not nice having to rely on Mike Mussina, Kei Igawa, Matt Desalvo, Ty Clippard, Darrel Rasner, and Jeff Karstens at the outset of each game they started. Again, I'd much rather have to rely on a shaky reliever than a shaky starter.

I know the stats go against the move, but my eyes see the kind of team Boston was this year with Papelbon and Okijima, and the Angels a few years ago with Shields and K Rod, and the Yanks with Mo and Wetteland, etc. etc. etc... and those teams always end up going places. And the Yanks end up going home.

And how often did the Yanks go home because of a bad bullpen over the last 3 years? By my count of every postseason game the Yanks lost over the past 3 years, only 1 was lost in the late innings: Game 2 of the 2007 ALDS. Every other game was lost due to shoddy starting pitching, poor offensive output, or a combination of those two. Joba can't do much about the offense, but he can affect the starting pitching from here on out.

Chamberlain should be played as a starter unless and until he shows that he can't hack being a starter.