When Joe Girardi went to the mound with two out in the sixth yesterday, the sellout crowd of 54,362 booed the decision to pull Joba Chamberlain.
But truth be told, after treading water at or below the .500 mark, the surging Yankees have won 12 of their last 15 largely because of their bullpen.
No reliever has been a bigger factor – or surprise – than Jose Veras, the man who replaced Chamberlain and didn’t skip a beat.
Veras (2-0) retired Tony Clark and pitched a scoreless 11/3 to get the win in a 2-1 victory over the Padres, the Yanks’ seventh straight win. And the bullpen has been stellar in all of them, allowing only four earned runs with seven walks and 30 strikeouts, pitching to a 1.77 ERA over those 201/3 innings.
“Very good, very strong. They’ve been doing the job. Everyone is contributing, giving us important innings,” said Girardi, who knew the reception wouldn’t be kind when he pulled Chamberlain, but praised the recent work of Veras. “He’s been phenomenal. He’s a three-pitch guy with good velocity. His curveball’s been real effective. He’s used his split a little bit and that’s a good pitch as well. I think you’ll see more of that. But his curveball has a great discrepancy from his fastball, almost 20 mph. He’s been outstanding.”
That’s an understatement. Just 28-30 on June 4, the Yanks have gone 12-3 since with their bullpen pitching to a 1.67 ERA, with 16 walks and 41 strikeouts.
And Veras has been even better, tossing nine scoreless innings over seven appearances in that span, allowing just four hits.
“I’m just being aggressive. I’ve just been using my fastball, that’s why everything has been coming around. In-and-out-, down, take them out with my breaking stuff,” said Veras, 27. “It’s something we’ve been talking about with bullpen coach (Mike Harkey) and Mariano (Rivera), attack the hitters with your pitch, with your strengths.”
Veras had a 5.79 ERA last year and didn’t make the team out of spring training. But he credits Rivera with getting him to attack with a fastball that sits at 93-96 mph and touches 97, making his 77- to 81-mph curve maddening. His ERA is down to 3.00. Not bad for a guy making $400,000.
“Just being aggressive, it’s important,” said Rivera, now 20-for-20 in save opportunities. “You attack hitters. The hitters will know that you’re there. Attack and a lot of good things are going to happen.”
