The Closer Report: July 20, 2009

Saves: 7

Save Opportunities: 7

CJ Wilson fills in for Francisco, while Broxton gets 3rd save in as many days

By Todd Farino, www.thecloserreport.com

This was a strange night for saves. The day opened with the news of Frank Francisco hitting the DL again, but this time it was for pneumonia. It is retroactive to July 11, so you will likely see him back before the end of the month. On his first day as closer, CJ Wilson nailed the save against the Red Sox in 1-2-3 fashion and recorded two strikeouts along the way.

Jonathan Broxton got his 3rd save in as many days with a big win over Cincinnati 7-5. He saved Jason Schmidt's first win in a very long time and with the help of Ramon Troncoso stopped Cincinnati's momentum.

Bobby Jenks had another tough outing, but came out with his 22nd save and no earned runs. After getting the first two outs of the inning, Jenks went on to walk two batters and gave up a hit, before striking out Jason Bartlett. He did strikeout the side, but he is clearly a struggling closer who needed 28 pitches for the save. He needs to get his consistency under control.

Jose Valverde finally got into double digits with his tenth save of the season. He beat a tough St. Louis team 3-2 with a easy inning. He struck out one, but the key here is Valverde looked great. He had no problems, great control, and needed only 11 pitches to record the save.

Alfredo Aceves has clearly taken the job as setup man for Mariano Rivera. Tonight he got the win coming into a tie game an d benefiting from an Matsui walk-off home run. Aceves has been pitching extremely well, and should be on your roster in any league. It was his sixth win of the season.

Other Appearances:
Leo Nunez (5) - Finally got on the board with a save. It was his first save since July 1. He threw 18 pitches, but overall looked sharp.

Michael Wuertz (3) - Got the save on a day that Bailey was getting off. It was strange the Ziegler was called on to setup the save and not for the save itself

Chad Durbin (1) - Got the three inning save in a 10-1 blowout.

Francisco Rodriguez - Pitched the ninth inning in a non-save situation. He was perfect.