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It began with a curious two-inning, 40-pitch outing against the Seattle Mariners. That was only five pitches more than Chamberlain threw in his previous appearance three days earlier, suggesting a hedge on Joe Girardi's commitment to Joba as an untested, inexperienced, unproven starter vis-à-vis a lock down eighth inning guy.

The long-range goal is obvious: have Chamberlain pitch at the start of a game and let him become a big game pitcher, the Yankees' answer to Boston's Josh Beckett.

But when?

If Joba continues to stretch out in five-pitch increments every three days or so, he won't be ready to give the Yankees the 80-100 pitches required for a starter until sometime in July.

But Girardi may be figuring he can have his cake and eat it, too. By slowly easing Chamberlain into his inevitable starter's role, the manager can also continue to have Joba available in those close games when he needs someone to get the ball to Mariano Rivera.

Let the record show that this corner, an admitted admirer of Chamberlain's stuff, his competitiveness and his mound presence, never did agree with the Yankees' insistence on making Joba a starter, and still doesn't. While the Yankees are hell-bent on protecting Chamberlain's young arm and probably will limit him to 100 pitches as a starter, the idea also is to win games and the best way to do that is to shorten the game and find someone to be the bridge to Rivera.

Instead of building bridges, however, the Yankees may find themselves tilting at windmills. Chamberlain has proved he is the one best suited to get the game to Mariano. As a starter, the only way he can do that would be to pitch eight innings. If the Yankees allow that to happen, they endanger the physical welfare of their prize prospect and they also run the risk of having Chamberlain reach his prearranged season limit of 150 innings too early to allow him to be their Beckett for the stretch run and beyond.

The problem is that Joba may be too good for his (and the Yankees') own good. He's a strikeout pitcher who is likely to use up his game quota of 100 pitches by the fifth or sixth inning. Then, who pitches the seventh and eighth innings? Do you really want to trust Latroy Hawkins, Ross Ohlendorf, Edwar Ramirez or Kyle Farnsworth to be the eighth inning guy?

General Manager Brian Cashman's master plan for the long run is to stockpile young power arms and he has done a wonderful job in doing so. But let's not lose sight of the fact that the Yankees' most important player over the past dozen years, their MVP through six pennants and four World Series titles, has been Rivera.

And here's a flash: Rivera is not going to be around forever. Sooner or later, he's going to have to be replaced by someone with a chance to be as dominant as Mo has been. Only one pitcher has that potential, but the Yankees want him to be a starter.