No Shortage of Relief Options for Yanks

NEW YORK -- Joe Girardi must feel like a kid on Christmas morning. He has been given a bunch of the latest and greatest toys, and he's going to use them all.

The Yankees -- who open the ALCS on Friday at home against the Angels -- have assembled their most reliable (albeit youngest) bullpen in a while, and Girardi showed in the American League Division Series he will utilize it.

"It's turned out all right," Chamberlain told FanHouse. "You've got a couple right-handers, a couple left-handers, and the other guys pretty much do everything."

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While his starters allowed just four runs in 19 innings, Girardi did give his relievers 10 innings of work over three games.

As general manager Brian Cashman said, Girardi can "really turn down there and have the full array of choices."

Other than remarkable closer Mariano Rivera, the unit isn't the one the Yankees opened the year with. On Opening Day, Brian Bruney, Jose Veras and lefty Damaso Marte were sharing set-up duty.

What a Relief
Since last winning the World Series in 2000, the Yankees have been looking for reliable relievers to get them to closer Mariano Rivera in the postseason:
Year	Rivera's Playoff ERA	Other Relievers
2001	1.13	4.95
2002	0.00	6.32
2003	0.56	3.58
2004	0.71	5.45
2005	3.00	4.02
2006	0.00	4.91
2007	0.00	4.58
2009	0.00	2.84
Source: STATS LLC

Now those roles fall to Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain (assuming the Yankees either use a three-man rotation in the ALCS or choose Chad Gaudin as the fourth starter) and lefty Phil Coke. All three were born during Ken Griffey Sr.'s time with the Yankees (1982-86).

Coke began the season as the second lefty in the bullpen, but Marte got hurt. Hughes opened the year in Triple-A, came up to start when Chien-Ming Wang struggled and went to the bullpen when Wang returned. By the time a rotation spot opened up again with Wang on the disabled list, Hughes had almost accidentally established himself as the eighth-inning alternative.

Alfredo Aceves and Dave Robertson, who also began the year in the minors, are multi-purpose relievers. Aceves can go long or work an inning; Robertson can go for a strikeout or work multiple innings.

"We have a lot of young guys that haven't been [here before]," Rivera said, "but they're doing the job, that's the most important thing."

Chamberlain was in the rotation all year, but a team-imposed innings limit forced the Yankees to scale back his outings down the stretch, and since he wasn't needed as a starter in the Division Series, he went to relief -- probably for the remainder of the postseason.

Hughes and Chamberlain "are a great combination together," Girardi said.

Chamberlain has come out firing 95 mph fastballs right away -- something he wasn't able to do in the first inning as a starter.


"It's different, but it's good," he said. "It's just getting back used to it."

If Chamberlain returns to his 2007 bullpen form, and Hughes continues what he did in the regular season (1.40 ERA, .173 average allowed in relief), then the Angels will need to get a lead before the seventh.

But while the Yankees bullpen allowed just two earned runs in the three games against the Twins, both by Hughes in Game 2, it wasn't untouchable. Chamberlain, Hughes and Rivera gave up 11 hits in 7 1/3 innings against Minnesota. And Los Angeles has a much better offense.

Most interesting was the way Girardi used his bullpen: often. None of the starters -- CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte -- finished the seventh inning. Sabathia threw 113 pitches, but Burnett was pulled after 95 and Pettitte just 81 in Game 3.

"We just thought it was time to go to Joba," Girardi said, citing Delmon Young's past success against Pettitte.

In all, Girardi made 14 pitching changes in three games, with each reliever working an average of about two-thirds of an inning. An off day before each game made that easier to do, but Girardi seems determined to manage to the matchups.

"I didn't want to come out, that's for sure," Pettitte said. "I felt really good, but Joe is the manager, he gets paid the big bucks to make those decisions, and I am just happy that we were able to hold on to it. But he knows I wasn't happy, and I just want to win the game, and I felt like I had been in that situation plenty of times on the road.

"Joba came in and did a great job. I was fired up to see him come in, in that situation, and the bullpen did a great job."