I have to say, when I hear Yankees fans complaining about Joba Chamberlain’s progress, it brings to mind people who complain about a house with only five bedrooms, a car that only gets 50 miles to the gallon, or a Thomas’ English Muffin with an insufficient number of nooks and crannies.

Joba Chamberlain, who struggled mightily in yesterday’s 10-8 win, now has 28 starts under his belt as a major leaguer. Let’s take a look at the numbers so far: a 3.48 ERA, 150 innings, 66 walks, 148 strikeouts. In other words, roughly what you’d want from a number 2-3 starter.

Now consider that he’s done this at age 22-23, while learning how to pitch, in the toughest division in baseball, with the New York spotlight on him.

He’s still learning how to pitch, of course. His development won’t be a straight line; he’ll have starts like Sunday, and starts like he had earlier this year, where he will look dominant. As he learns to pitch, the lesser starts will fall away. Only ill health can keep this from happening.

Now, most teams don’t have the choice of letting their would-be star pitcher continue in the rotation without putting present-day games at risk. Consider Greg Maddux, who posted these numbers in his first full season as a starter: 5.54 ERA in 149 1/3 innings, 71 walks, 97 strikeouts. Randy Johnson in his first full year as a starter: 4.85 ERA in 159 2/3 innings, 96 walks, 130 strikeouts.

Even Pedro Martinez, who was far more polished as a pitcher than Joba, posted comparable numbers with Montreal in his first full year as a starter: 3.44 ERA in 144 innings, 45 walks, 141 strikeouts. Not surprisingly, that Montreal team weathered Pedro’s growing pains en route to first place in the National League East.

Likewise, the Yankees have a pitcher who will not be perfect every time out. He will struggle some. But even if he doesn’t learn another thing about pitching, he is perfectly capable of pitching at an elite level- he is doing so right now. The view from here, however, is that he will continue to grow, and the dazzling starts will quickly crowd out the disturbing ones.

Joba Chamberlain is on track to be one of the greats. Sit back, pray for good health, and enjoy the ride.

Howard Megdal is the Editor-in-Chief of The Perpetual Post. He covers baseball, basketball and soccer for Capital New York, MLBTradeRumors.com, New York Baseball Digest and has written for ESPN.com as well as numerous other publications. He is the Poet Laureate for SBNation New York. His book about Jewish baseball players, “The Baseball Talmud,” is available for purchase on Amazon.com and wherever books are sold. His next book, "Taking The Field", is available for pre-order on Amazon.com and will publish in May 2011.

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Tags: Greg Maddux, Joba Chamberlain, New York Yankees, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson