NEW YORK -- Three lockers separated the cubbyholes that belong to Joba Chamberlain and Edwar Ramirez. The two relievers stood upright, the lines on their faces shifting as they listened, spoke and grinned.
Packs of reporters, print and broadcast, encircled the pair of pitchers. They had just dazzled a Sunday crowd of 55,071 at Yankee Stadium, combining to help seal a 9-3 win over the Tigers.
Chamberlain stood with a massive sling of ice wrapped over his arm and around his stomach, coloring his skin a shade of red where it touched him and adding to the already thoroughbred look branded from head to toe on his 6-foot-2, 230-pound frame.
Fifteen feet away stood Ramirez, the man manager Joe Torre labeled a thermometer earlier this season, playing off the slenderness of the 26-year-old rookie, who stands 6-foot-3 but rarely pushes a scale's needle past 150.
The two relievers are not related, but Chamberlain and Ramirez share a common trait: They throw nasty pitches -- so deceptive and biting, in fact, that left fielder Johnny Damon took a stab at describing what kind of pitcher the two of them would combine to make.
"Umm... Cy Young?" Damon postulated.
Quite a compliment, that, but the Yankees are more interested in how Chamberlain and Ramirez perform individually and in tandem. For the big fellow, the one who received chants of "Joba! Joba!" in the scoreless seventh inning he pitched, it's all about a fastball that reaches 100 mph.
Chamberlain's slingshot of a right arm explodes the ball from the tips of his fingers, so much so that catcher Jorge Posada said he couldn't compare it with that of any pitcher who has fired heaters into his mitt.
For the afternoon, the 21-year-old Chamberlain got Gary Sheffield to strike out, and then he struck out American League MVP candidate Magglio Ordonez on three pitches.
The next batter Chamberlain faced, Carlos Guillen, a .304 hitter, stayed alive at the plate for just a few more seconds than Ordonez, striking out on four pitches.
Ramirez helped explain what the oomph of the Tigers lineup was up against: "[A] very, very, very, very good fastball. And a good breaking pitch."
Detroit had to be happy to see Chamberlain exit. Tigers manager Jim Leyland said Chamberlain's fastball got his hitters so geared up for the heater that they had no chance against the rookie's slider.
Despite some frustration fuming over the Tigers' lack of hitting with runners on base, Leyland spoke some words that seem to already be spreading across the Bronx faster than the subways.
"He's one of those special guys."
Leyland's comment came across clear, but he easily could have been referring to Ramirez -- at least judging from the performance the right-hander turned in after relieving Chamberlain.
Ramirez came on in the eighth and used just 15 pitches to strike out the side. The fastball, which he throws between 89-92 mph, worked well as a setup pitch, skimming the corners for quick strikes.
But Ramirez broke out his secret weapon when he got ahead in the count. It was the pitch he featured in his Major League debut, when he also started an inning by fanning three in a row.
It's the changeup which Torre has studied well.
"That pitch is one of those power changeups," said Torre, who tied Casey Stengel for second place in franchise history with 1,149 wins as a Yankees manager. "It's one of those that, even if you look for it, it's tough to hit it, anyway."
Torre said he and Yankees management are working to take care of the two rookies, most notably Chamberlain, who, at least to this point in the season, is ordered one day of rest for every inning he pitches.
The two relievers don't care so much about the plans, however. They're having fun. They're pitching. They're doing well, and, as Chamberlain said, they may help even each other become better and prove Damon right.
"Hopefully, maybe I can learn [Ramirez's] changeup one day," Chamberlain said, "and I can give him some tips on the slider."
Damon, freshly showered and standing at his locker -- one spot over from Chien-Ming Wang, who started the game and picked up his 14th win -- said the two young guns could surprise teams during the Yankees' run at a pennant.
It all starts on Monday against Los Angeles at Angel Stadium. The Halos will be the first team, assuming they saw Chamberlain and Ramirez dominate the Tigers on Sunday, to make their scouting reports just a little bit thicker.
Either way, Damon, who launched a go-ahead solo home run off Tigers starter Jeremy Bonderman, said the Yankees are as solid as they've been all season, and now they have these two guys at the other end of the locker room standing under blue name plates reading "Chamberlain" and "Ramirez."
"They're throwing the ball well and nobody knows too much about them yet," Damon said. "We have a lot of good things going on."
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