The Closer Report: April 23, 2010

CLOSER NEWS:

SAVES:

Brian Wilson (3) Wilson finally recorded a save.  It was his first save since April 6, and he went out there with a vengeance.  Besides a simple single, Wilson struck out the side for his third save of the season.  His ERA remains at 0.00.

Jonathan Papelbon (4) - Paps had another tough outing.  He did get the save, but in the process looked wild walking two batters and giving up a hit.  To put a positive spin on the save, he did intentionally walk Wiggington and he struck out Lugo to end the game.  That is how expereinced closers do it.

Francisco Rodriguez (2) - Recorded his second save in as many days.  He is still lacking his trademark sharpness that we haven't sen in awhile.  He needed 22 pitches to close he game and gave up a hit and a walk, while striking out two. His WHIP rose to 1.27, but his ERA lowered to an impressive 1.04.

Kevin Gregg (5) - Gregg was needed for 1.1 innings, but got a clean save. He looked great giving up a hit and striking out two.

Matt Lindstrom (5) - Another 12 pitch save for Lindstrom.  No hits and a strikeout.  Lindstrom has clearly found his closer niche.

Briean Fuentes (2) - Fuentes was back in the closer role and frankly it was a shocker.  When I saw Fernando Rodney coming into the eighth inning I was thinking someone got screwed.  I did assume that since the Yankee lineup is loaded with lefties and switch hitters that maybe Scioscia went with his lefty.  Thames did pitch hit for Johnson and Fuentes turned Teixeira around.  Will see what he does next.

Chad Qualls (3) - Qualls had a hefty three run lead to work with and he didn't even need it.  Why?  He only needed one out.  It was 7-3 going into the ninth and after Heilman gave up a run, Qualls entered the game with two outs and a runner on second.  He dispatched of Polanco on five pitches.


BLOWN SAVES:

Neftali Feliz (1-0 BS1) - Feliz got rocked tonight and badly.  Well, maybe not that badly, but he gave up three hits, including a wacky shallow double to Johnny Damon.  He couldn't close the deal on Magglio Ordonez who with two outs got the big hit to tie the game at 4-4 and blow the game for Feliz.  He did manage to get the win, so it wasn't all bad.

APPEARANCES:

Carlos Marmol - Pitched 1.1 innings for some odd reason in a blowout.  Still, he struck out three out of the four batters he retured.

Jim Johnson - Gave up a hit in 1/3 of an inning against the Red Sox.

Rafeal Soriano - Got some work in against the Blue Jays.  Struck out two in an inning of work. His WHIP has gone down to 1.14 and his ERA is loking much better at 2.57.

The Closer Report: April 21, 2010

SAVES:

Matt Lindstrom (4) - Lindstrom threw a near perfect 12 pitch inning giving up a lone hit.  His WHIP (1.14) and ERA (3.86) are still a bit high, but both are coming down.

Mariano Rivera (6) - Rivera is absolutely unhittable.  He recorded his sixth straight save, but showed a chink in his armor.  He gave up a hit and needed 26 pitches to close out the game.  His season ERA is still 0.00.

Jose Valverde (4) - Valverde made quick work of Angel hitters needing only 10 pitches to get his fourth save.   He got one strikeout and lowered his WHIP to 1.00.

Joakim Soria (4) - SOria got back on track with his fourth save of the season beating the Blue Jays 4-3.  He had a quite 1-2-3 inning and struckout one closing out the game.

Matt Capps (7) - Capps recorded his league leading seventh save of the season and did it in wow fashion.  Capps struckout the side, raising his strikeout total from 5 to 8 in one appearnce.  He did give up a hit and a walk, but an overall very impressive outing for Capps.

BLOWN SAVE:

Brian Fuentes (BS1) - Fuentes made his first appearance since coming off the DL and he entered the game in the eighth inning as expected and blew the lead.  Before his work was done, he gave up two runs on two hits and two walks.  The big blast was a solo homerun to Miguel Cabrera.  He also took the loss 4-3.

APPEARANCES:

Brain Wilson - Pitched a quite inning in a losing cause.  He only threw 10 pitches, so he should be fine for tomorrow.

Jonathan Papelbon - Pitched a strong two innings in a 7-7 game with Texas.  He gave up one hit and struckout one.  There is no chance he will pitch tomorrow.  Since Bard also went two innings, I'm not sure who will get the call to close if the Red Sox lead going into the ninth inning.

Carlos Marmol - Worked one inning in a 9-3 blow out.  Walked one and struck out one. 

Neftali Feliz - Another impressive outing for Feliz.  He pitched two innings for the Rangers in an extra inning game.  He threw 23 pitches and struck out three batters, while giving up no hits or walks.  His WHIP is now at a microscopic 0.75.

Marmol records a rainy day save

Marmol got the save because the game was called in the 8th inning due to some nasty weather. Gregg would have came in the 9th inning for the save.

Marmol gave up 2 hits and 2 walks along with an ER. He got the save, but he also earned a 4.00 WHIP and 9.00 ERA. No strikeouts.

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Marmol Notches 2nd Save

Carlos Marmol notched his second save of the season Friday night, but didn't do it smoothly. He opened the inning with a walk and hit batter before retiring the next three with one strikeout.

Clearly Pinella could have gone with Kevin Gregg, but his dependability with his gimpy knee could spell doom for the closer. If his knee stiffens he can't pitch and that might be causing him problems right now.

They were warming up Marmol before Soriano belted a home run off of Chris Perez in the 8th and he decided to stick with him. Either way, we told you that Marmol would get at minimum 20 saves this year and he now has 2.

Gregg is still the closer, but watch the reports on his knee and do not bench or trade Marmol. However, if you can acquire him via trade, now is the time.