Dave Robertson Is Dirty

There's no other way to describe it.  He was the best setup man in baseball last season, one of the best relief pitchers in baseball period, and he's been even better this year.  After last night, D-Rob has thrown 12 innings this season.  In those 12 innings he has allowed just 10 total baserunners, no runs, and has struck out 21.

If you trace things back to when D-Rob first really started to become a lockdown reliever, the summer of 2010, the numbers are just astounding.  From June 2010 to today, here's D-Rob's stat line:

- 124 IP, 1.52 ERA, 2.22 FIP, 6.02 H/9, 12.56 K/9

That's just downright unfair.  It's sickening.  Sure, he has walked 62 batters in that period of time, but only 3 of them so far this year, and he's only given up 3 HR in those 124 innings.  His command has improved and his walk rate is trending in the right direction without any kind of decrease in strikeouts, and batters just can't make good contact off of him.  D-Rob isn't just nasty, he's filthy, grimy, dirty.  And the scary thing is, he's getting dirtier.

#newcloser

Now somebody hit the music!

Game 26 Wrap-Up: NYY 6 KC 2

(The offense.  Courtesy of The AP)

The devastation of the Mo injury before the previous game was wiped away when he announced he was planning on coming back a few hours before last night's game.  The Yankees hit the field with clear heads and their ace on the mound, and got a win they really needed after a recent rough stretch of games.

Game Notes:

- Each pitcher started off with a rough 1st inning, Bruce Chen allowing 2 runs on a single to Jeter and a HR by Teix and CC allowing 2 on a single-double-double combination, and it was 2-2 after 1.

- After the 1st, though, suddenly the game turned into Shutdown City and CC and Chen matched 0s through 6 innings.  CC was very clearly the sharper of the 2, as he allowed only 2 more hits and did not walk a batter through the 6th.  Chen worked harder to get through his first 6 and hit the wall in the 7th.

- And when he hit it, he hit it HARD.  After a Robinson Cano single to lead off the 7th, Chen got the next 2 batters out and appeared to be in good shape.  A triple from Eduardo Nunez and a single by Chris Stewart and it was 4-2 Yankees with 2 outs, and a home run from Derek Jeter later in the inning made it 6-2.  A single 2-out run-scoring hit had been hard to come by lately.  3 in a row was practically unheard of.

- Fun Fact- Derek Jeter now has 5 HR on the season.  He had 6 all of last season.

- While Chen ran out of gas, CC kept chugging along and finished up with 2 more scoreless innings.  He exhibited great command again, keeping the ball down in the zone and generating a lot of groundballs, and this game marked the 4th straight that he's pitched into the 8th inning.

- If Joe is planning on having some sort of audition for the closer role with Mo out, I think it's safe to say D-Rob has the advantage.  Rafael Soriano was warming in the 'pen in the 8th as backup for CC in case he got into trouble.  After CC went 8 strong, it was Robertson who came in and sat down the Royals' 4-5-6 hitters in order, all via strikeout.