AP Photo/John Bazemore

Yunel Escobar was one of three players to belt 3-0 pitches for homers on Monday.

GREEN LIGHT

By Mark Simon, ESPN Research

Most pitchers will throw a pitch right down the middle on a 3-0 count because they know the hitter will be taking, and they're desperate to throw a strike. On Monday, that wasn't a smart strategy; home runs on 3-0 counts were pivotal in three games:

• Chase Utley continued his assault on major league pitching by homering in his fifth straight game (second such streak this season), helping the Phillies edge the Reds.

• Casey Blake broke from a season-long funk with a huge game, bashing two home runs as part of a seven-RBI day in a slugfest triumph over the Indians. The second one came on a 3-0 offering.

• Yunel Escobar, who had never hit a game-ending home run, delivered one Monday on a 3-0 pitch to bail out John Smoltz, who blew a save in his return.

They often call the 3-0 pitch an "automatic strike" -- and it was just that Monday. Only in this case, it was a strike offenses could rip at. Before Utley, Blake and Escobar went deep Monday, only five homers had been hit all season on 3-0 pitches.

Monday's key homers on 3-0 counts
	Result	Noteworthy
Chase Utley, Phillies	5-4 win	Of six hits on changeups, four are HRs
Casey Blake, Indians	13-9 win	Second career game with 2+ HRs, 7+ RBIs
Yunel Escobar, Braves	7-5 win	First career walk-off home run

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JOBA'S TRICKY TRANSITION STARTS

By Orel Hershiser, ESPN

First, the mind-set for Joba Chamberlain, who makes his first start tonight against Toronto, is the strikeout isn't as important in terms of getting hitters out because it takes more pitches. With a pitch count somewhere between 65 and 70, he should look to get first- and second-pitch outs. He needs to be very efficient, get ahead of hitters and not use as many set-up pitches.

The second thing to watch for is easier said than done. The Yankees want Chamberlain to bring along his curveball and changeup, but working on secondary pitches makes you throw more pitches -- so it's tough to develop pitches and be efficient at the same time, especially on a pitch count.

Third, he will need to back off the intensity a little bit. Chamberlain is animated as a reliever, but carrying that kind of energy for a long period of time can wear you down. There's a different mentality and pacing as a starter compared to hitting the microwave button and being ready to go from the bullpen.

I'd tell him he needs to be himself, use his fastball and slider and build his endurance and arm strength. Once he gets to where he can throw 100 pitches, then he can develop and bring along other pitches; you don't want to try and accomplish too many goals in the first outing, and the Yankees have outlined a lot of goals -- build endurance, develop the curve and changeup. You just can't do all of that in one outing. Chamberlain needs to be efficient, get ahead of hitters and not grind on having to establish his curve and changeup.

And at least for this outing, he is going to put a strain on the bullpen since he's on a pitch count and manager Joe Girardi is likely going to have to go to a bullpen that no longer includes Chamberlain.

If he tires the second or third time through the lineup, then that will be something new for Chamberlain because he's going to have to learn how to get hitters out when he's fatigued. Still, he's done an exceptional job dealing with all the chaos surrounding whether he should start or set up Mariano Rivera. More importantly, he has exceptional stuff, has had a great deal of success in his brief time in the big leagues and pitches with such poise. And great ability brings great poise.

FORWARD THINKING: TUESDAY

•  Blue Jays at Yankees, 7:05 p.m. ET: Joba Chamberlain (1-2, 2.28 ERA) makes his much-anticipated debut as a starter. Instead of having a nice, easy opponent, Chamberlain will go head-to-head with four-time All-Star and Cy Young award winner Roy Halladay (6-5, 2.93 ERA). Halladay is 3-0 over his past four starts, and is coming off a pair of games in which he permitted just one run each time out.

•  Mets at Giants, 10:15 p.m. ET: If not for Chamberlain, this would be the big news in New York. Pedro Martinez (0-0, 10.80 ERA), who has been out since April 1 with a strained left hamstring, makes his return. Adding to the intrigue, Martinez squares off against Barry Zito (1-8, 5.53 ERA), who has pieced together two respectable starts after opening the year 0-8.

• Tigers at A's, 10:10 p.m. ET: Jim Leyland made the decision to insert Dontrelle Willis (0-0, 7.50 ERA) back into the rotation in place of Armando Galarraga, who has been Detroit's most reliable starter so far this season. Dana Eveland (4-4, 3.66 ERA) followed up a great outing two starts ago with a messy 4 1/3-inning performance the last time out.

• Complete list of pitching probables for Tuesday's games