Joba released from hospital in a special cast

A somber looking Joba Chamberlain was wheeled out of Tampa's St. Joseph's Hospital in a wheelchair with his right ankle in a special cast.

Wearing glasses and an Adidas cap covering his grim and stubbled face, the Yankees reliever didn't answer questions except if he was feeling better after the gruesome injury to his right ankle.

"Yeah," was his reply.

The one thing everyone wanted to know what were those tubes sticking out of the cast on his right foot?

According to Dr. Peter Salob, a sports medicine specialist and orthopedic surgeon in Englewood, N.J., they are most likely tubes used to pump cool water around the pitcher's ankle.

"It's definitely a more aggressive measure to treat it, but with pro sports teams, any type of injury they have , usually they will use some type of ice machine," said Salob.  "This is really critical.  With the type of injury he had, often there's a significant amount of swelling  around the ankle and that's one way to reduce the swelling."

The news that Chamberlain was leaving the hospital and was feeling better was good news for the Yankees.  After Thursday's accident while jumping on a trampoline, there was talk that the severe break was career-ending and even life-threatening.

"It's good to see him out, that he's doing well," said manager Joe Girardi.  "Obviously, the wound has to close up to get through that.  But I am optimistic that he is going to pitch for us this year, I am. And we're going to be there for him the whole  way."

The frustrated Chamberlain— who is already recovering from Tommy John surgery last year— vowed to be back on the mound by this July.

Joba tells Yankees: I'll be back on mound by July

Joba Chamberlain— two days after his ugly, life-threatening trampoline injury— told New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman he expects to be back on the mound by July.

The reliever— who suffered a gruesome injury to his right ankle during a freak accident while bouncing on a trampoline Thursday—was told that the open dislocation could end his career, but sounds positive about returning in 2012.

"He was saying he could be back on the mound by July, that's what the doctors are telling him," said Cashman, who visited Chamberlain at the hospital on Friday.  "That's the optimistic side."

Cashman, who was visibly shaken while addressing the media after the accident, cautioned that there was no guarantee that he will ever pitch again.

"As any orthopedic will tell you, you have to go through the whole process," he said.

The injury— which he suffered while jumping on a trampoline with his 5-year-old son Karter— was bleeding so severely, that eyewitnesses feared for his life before paramedics arrived at the recreation center.

His son watched in horror as blood poured from a gash where Chamberlain's broken bone tore through his skin.

The injured ankle runs the risk of infection but doctors already said the pitcher can be optimistic but realistic. If he does not have any neuro or vascular damage and the surgery is successful, he should be healthy by next season, they told The Post.

The doctors said he won't be able to do any weight-bearing activities from anywhere from six weeks to three months.  Combine this set-back with recovery from Tommy John surgery last year and the odds of returning to the mound in Yankee Stadium this summer look pretty slim.

"The way I work this stuff, my mindset is, until they're close to knocking on the door, [I don't think about it]," Cashman said.  "Obviously, in Joba's case it's still a question of when he comes back.  I just hope we're in a position where he can come back."

Cashman said he wasn't mad about the fluke injury, as he has been about other off-field injuries.

"I'm sad about it," he said.  "It's just a tragic, freak accident."

Cashman was objective and said," He was just being a father."

Will the risk-taking GM— Cashman has rappelled down a Connecticut skyscraper— forbid his players from participating in activities as dangerous as hopping on a trampoline or skiing with their kids in the future?

"It's hard to say," Cashman said.  "It's hard to tell a group of people not to be a father."