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Apparently the Yankees will spurn my advice to get Joba Chamberlain out of the rotation, and Phil Hughes in. As it happens, though, they might not even need a No. 4 starter until the League Championship Series. Tyler Kepner's got the details (and a question):

The team with the best record in the American League decides which division series schedule it wants. One series includes a day off between Games 1 and 2, the other does not.

"There are two different division series,” Joe Girardi explained. "In one, you need three starters, and in one you need four. I'll just leave it at that.”

--snip--

If you were Girardi and you had the choice, would you like Chamberlain to start in the playoffs? Or would you pick the series that requires just three starters, and use Chamberlain in relief?

Is that a rhetorical question? You would only pick the four-starter series if you thought your fourth starter was better than the other team's or your No. 2 starter wasn't as good as the other team's. Or, more likely, if you thought both things.

Hmmm, maybe it's more than a rhetorical question after all. The Yankees are going to play the Tigers or the Rangers in their Division Series. As shaky as Chamberlain's been lately, he's probably no worse than the Tigers' No. 4 guy (Armando Galarraga or Jarrod Washburn) or the Rangers' (Derek Hunter or Brandon McCarthy).

And both clubs can roughly match the Yankees' No. 2 (whether it's A.J. Burnett or Andy Pettitte), with the Tigers (Edwin Jackson) probably holding a slight edge.

I assumed that Girardi's choice would be easy, and if Chamberlain doesn't mix in a couple of good starts before October, it will be. But if he does show something down the stretch, it might actually make some sense to give him a Division Series start. That would take some real guts, though.