Tagged: Robertson
I Grow Tired of Victory Cake
We should change the flavor.
Yesterday at 10 the Yanks won again. Nick “The Road Warrior” Swisher backed up his nickname by jacking one out to left, Derek Jeter padded the lead with a solo shot to right field, yada yada yada. The offense did it’s thang. That’s obvious.
Now, I think the true story is what the bullpen did in relief of Surge. Our favorite sinkerballer left after 5 and a third innings with the bases loaded and 1 out. Thus, it was Robertson time.
Me likey Robertson time.
David Robertson is our strikeout guy out of the bullpen, last year and this year Robertson had more K’s than innings pitched, and this year it’s by a pretty wide margin. Robertson, as you know, has a 90-94 mph fastball with solid movement, and a curveball with a ton of drop. He struck out Josh Wilson. And then he struck out Ryan Langerhans.
As I said before, me likey Robertson time. He came in and did exactly what he needed to do, which was to strike out Wilson and get Langerhans out. A sac fly or a non-double play ground ball wouldn’t have done. Robertson is a beast.
Then it went to Coke, and Coke didn’t allow a run, either, so that’s two very nice holds for the Yankee relief pitchers Robertson and Coke. Then, Mariano Rivera, still at 40 years of age the best closing pitcher in the game of baseball, did what he does. He retired the M’s in the bottom of the 9th to seal the win and the series for the Yankees. Today at 4, the Bombers go out and face the Mariners looking for the sweep.
Boo to the yah.
I’m so tired of saying “I’m in disbelief, how good are we?” but come on man! Are we ever going to lose a series again? (Knock on wood)
Hey guys, I’m getting kinda dry with these blogs, I need your suggestions on what theme blog I should do, whether it’s a list of something, an award recap, maybe something else, but I’m a little bored of doing recaps of games.
Today is Sunday, the 3rd and final day of Breaking Benjamin weekend, and we finish with Breaking Benjamin’s really really new, really new song I Will Not Bow, their first single off their new album “Dear Agony”. I can’t wait.
Stay positive, Yankee fans.
-EJ the Kid From New York
Breaking Down the Yankees 2009 Bullpen
Okay, so we’re heading into spring training, as you all know. It’s hard not to contain your excitement. To see the new acquisitions and the long tenured guys take the field… it’s just a good feeling. Hopefully, I’ll be able to attend more than just one ballgame this season.
For those of you that do not know, I am currently doing a series of blogs in which I break down certain sections of the 09 Yankees ballclub. Today, I’m introducing a rating system for each section of the ballclub. It’s a 0-5 rating. I didn’t give ratings for the catchers and the bench… which is SO TOTALLY UNFAIR, clearly. So here they are:
Catchers: 2 out of 5
Bench: 3.5 out of 5
Okay, now time for a necessary part of the team, the bullpen. In this day in age, a good bullpen means that you’ll give your starters more wins and you won’t blow their leads when exiting a ballgame. A good bullpen gives your team a chance to win if the starting pitcher had a tough outing. Let’s take a look at the 2009 Yankee bullpen. By the way, Harold Reynolds says that the Yankees still have trouble giving the ball to Mariano at the end of the game… I somewhat agree with that, it’s not a flawless bullpen, it has made several mistakes and has blown leads. But it’s not bad. Not bad to the point of needing to put Joba in the bullpen… that’s a whole different conversation, however.
Onto the bullpen!
Long Reliever: Phil Hughes
He’s supposed to be a starter, but with his struggles and injuries the Yankees are pretty much putting him in the bullpen for a long relief spot this year. He has great potential, and I’d rather have him starting at this point, but I’ll take him in a bullpen spot.
Middle Reliever: Brian Bruney
Bruney was great in his time last year, which was at the beginning and end of the year. He missed most of the season with an injury to the Lisfranc joint of his right foot. He had a 242 ERA+ in 34.1 innings. He has great stuff; an electric fastball and a sharp slider. The 6’3″ 235 pounder had a significant weight loss prior to the 08 season, and he looks to keep up his success from the bullpen in 2008 in a larger, injury-free campaign.
LOOGY: Phil Coke
“It was only 14.2 innings”, several people say. It was, indeed, a very small sample size, and it wouldn’t be smart to put a lot of trust into this guy. However, he’s shown very good stuff; a nice fastball and a hard slider, and he could continue to be effective in a pen spot from 09. The minor league starter got called up in September of 08 and had a 0.61 ERA in the afformentioned innings out of the bullpen. He could be a very good lefty-lefty guy for us this season.
Middle Reliever: Jose Veras
Jose Enger Veras came out of the blue and was very effective for the New York Yankees in 2008. Veras is a tall Dominican righty who is known in the Yankees pen for the speed on his fastball. He can throw from 94-98 on the gun with his fastball, and can also throw an effective slow slurve-like pitch that will throw hitters off. Veras came from practically out of the blue and put up a 124 ERA+ in 57.2 innings with 63 K’s. It’d be much appreciated if he could keep that up for 09.
Also worth noting; I love this guy. I just do.
Mop-Up Reliever: David Robertson
It’s hard not to like the 23-year old Robertson. He absolutely dominated the minor leagues in relief, and so he came up to the majors. He showed a hard cutter that he throws in the low-90s, and coupled that with a hard, dropping curve. While his 5.34 ERA in 30.1 innings shows his inneffectiveness and inconsistency, he’s still a guy I want to have in my bullpen, whatever role he’ll provide.
Middle Reliever: Edwar Ramirez
When you think of skinny baseball players, this has to be the first guy that comes to mind. Edwar is 6’3″… 165 freaking pounds. That’s absurdly skinny. Despite Ramirez’s lankiness, he’s still a very effective reliever, with a 90-mph fast ball and an incredible, hard circle changeup. He had a 114 ERA+ in 55.1 innings pitched. The 27-year old right hander joins a select group of relievers in the Yankee bullpen– The Dominican Demons, as I like to call them– who are effective for the Yankees out of the bullpen, and hail from the Dominican Republic. There are 3 members of the DDs, Ramirez, Veras, and Damaso Marte…
Set-Up Reliever: Damaso Marte
Marte, one of the Dominican Demons, has great stuff: a hard fastball and slider. The lefty really struggled in his short tenure as a Yankee last year, but this year he looks to go back to his previous form as a Pirate. He can truly be dominant at times, and we expect him to be more like his old dominating self, rather than his post-Nady/Ohlendorf/Karstens form with the Yanks. He should be a fantastic set up relief pitcher.
Aaand last but not certainly not least, the very important closer’s spot, possibly the most notable position in the bullpen…
Just kidding.
Closer: Mariano Rivera
Do I really have to say anything about Mo? He’s the best closer of all time. He’s incredible. His ERA+ last year was 317. I rest my case. I didn’t even have to bring up my case in the first place…
Overall Bullpen Rating: 4.2 out of 5
The Yankee bullpen looks to be great: we have the Dominican Demons, of course, along with a guy who had a 1 ERA last year not named Mariano Rivera(granted, he didn’t pitch that much, but still). Oh, Mariano Rivera? We have him too.
Well that’s it for the blog; stay positive, Yankee fans, of course…
-EJ the Kid From New York
Yanks Take Series Lead and some Trade Talk
The Bronx is Chillin’: Yanks Take Series
The Bronx is, indeed, Chillin’. The Bombers are seven games over the .500 mark. Why? Good pitching, particularly by veteran left-hander Andrew Eugene Pettitte. In his last 4 starts, Andy hasn’t surrendered more than two runs in at least 6 innings. He hasn’t walked more than 3 hitters, and he’s gotten a win in all 4 of them. In fact, Pettitte was decent in his last few starts, other than 3 bad ones. In his last 10 starts, Andy’s 6 and 2 with a 4.12 ERA. Pettitte, along with Mussina, has been very good this season.
But that isn’t all. Robinson Cano, our slumping second baseman, has picked it up of late. He has a 5-game hitting streak. Yesterday against the Mets, Cano had 2 knocks, including an RBI single. Perhaps the Dominican Wonder is going on that tear that everybody was waiting for? He has a .342 average in his last 10 games. One thing’s for sure, if Cano starts tearing the cover off the ball for a few consecutive weeks like he usually does, we’d really benefit from it.
Right now we’re losing 2-0 to the Mets… doesn’t matter all that much, we’ve already won the series.
Trade Talk
I had to talk about it eventually. I’ve noticed that a lot of bloggers are talking about trades, and there have been a lot of MLBlogs Quotes of the Day about trades. Obviously I want MLBlogs Quote of the Day, so I’m gonna start talking about possible trades.
C.C. Sabathia to the Yankees? Possible, but we’ve heard it too often; the Yankees are reluctant to to trade their young prospects, no matter who the trade is for. If the Yankees won’t trade for Johan Santana, then why would they trade for C.C. Sabathia? No offense to C.C., he’s an awesome pitcher and all, but he’s not the best pitcher in baseball. In other words, he’s not Johan Santana. If Sabathia gets traded, which is likely from what I’m hearing, I’m not so sure he’ll end up in the Bronx. I like Sabathia in a Phillies uniform. He could be just what they need to end up with that NL East crown. Brett Myers sure isn’t going anywhere right now.
Brian Fuentes to the Yankees? I kind of like this deal, but it really depends on the asking price. Since it appears Colorado needs a second baseman, they could ask for Reegie Corona, a speedy young AA second baseman, along with a starter such Jeff Marquez and maybe a lefty specialist like Heath Phillips. I would ask for an insurance 1st baseman, too. Joe Koshansky is destroying the ball down at AAA Colorado Springs. If the Rockies gave me Koshansky and Fuentes for Corona, Marquez and Phillips, I would certainly do that deal. Could it be done? Possibly. ARE YOU READING, MR. CASHMAN?
Final Thoughts
Yankees are getting dominated by lefty Oliver Perez, but it looks like we’re breaking through, and if we can score a run or two and work the count on him, we could see some bullpen action. Everybody knows the Mets don’t have a very good bullpen. (Brian Fuentes to the Mets? Where will the Mets get the prospects?) We still have a legitimate shot at winning this game.
David Robertson is pitching for the Yankees right now! I’m excited. He’s got great stuff, and I’m really excited to watch him pitch. He’s got a good fastball with cutting action, and he also has outstanding breaking stuff. Take a good look at him.
First big league K for Robertson
-EJ/Kid From New York
Yankees + Mets = Fun!
Yankees + Mets = Fun!
I think you’d know what this article is about just by reading the title. It’s a simple equation, and you don’t need any teachers or professors to learn it. Yankees + Mets = Fun!
Everybody knows that Subway series games are more fun than the regular games because everything is taken up a notch. If Jeter hits a home run, you can bet it’s gonna be way more dramatic against the Mets, and there’s a reason for it, too.
It’s all about proving those stinking Mets fans wrong. It’s all about making the Mets feel uncomfortable about their team, as they should be. If the Mets get swept by the Bombers, it is like, the ultimate disgrace, and vice versa. It’s that simple. We all know it, we’re all aware of it. These games are as close to crucial as any regular season game as you can get.
Let’s Play Two! Game 1
Although it doesn’t count, on 6/27/08 the Yankees and Mets played two games; a day game at Yankee Stadium, and a night game at Shea Stadium.
The first game, at Yankee Stadium, was quite disgusting for Yankee fans. It was not a very fun game at all for me to witness. I did not enjoy Giese’s terrible start. After Edwar’s horrific relief appearance, I had hoped to the Lord that that was as bad as it gets.
Boy, was I let down. We lost 15-6, thanks to the horrific outing of a certain:
Ross Ohlendorf
Ross Ohlendorf. Ross Ohlendorf. Ross Ohlendorf! What is this man doing?
If you wanted one guy who completely represented disappointment and inconsistency, you would think of Ohlendorf almost instantly. This guy, one day, will completely shut down an offense. He’ll make hitters look silly! He’ll make batters wish they were never born!
And then, he comes in the next day, and will be completely awful! It’s frustrating! Thank God we sent him down.
Let’s Play Two! Game 2
So after the atrocity that is Game 1, there was, of course, Game 2. Sidney Ponson would be taking the mound. Now, Sidney Ponson was having a good season with the Texas Rangers previous to being released, but as a Yankee fan, it’s hard not to be skeptical with this guy. He was absolutely awful in a short stint with the Yankees in ’06. But in Game 2 against the Mets, Ponson was great!
He worked out of two bases loaded jams, and although his pitch count was a little up, he managed to shut out the Mets over 6 innings to get the win. The offense was great, scoring 9 runs, and Kei Igawa actually got the final 3 outs of the ballgame to secure a 9-0 victory.
Now isn’t that something?
Notes
Kei Igawa was sent down today. Guess who was called up? I talked about him in the Minor Leagues section in my last post. David Robertson was called up. He posted unbelieveable numbers in the minor leagues, with an ERA of 1.40 or so and well over a strikeout per inning. I’m excited to see this guy, I can’t wait to watch him actually pitch for the first time.
Yankees are leading 3-2 in the top of the ninth inning as I type this.
Final Thoughts
Remember, never lose faith in your Yankees! We still have a legitimate shot at winning the World Series.
-EJ/Kid from New York
The Squad 