It’s a hard time to think of positive things to talk about with respect to the second-half Yankees, but one thing that fans can all take comfort in is the bullpen. Once again a top-five unit in the game, it’s seen rebounds from Jonathan Loáisiga and Clay Holmes. Combine them with the emergence of rookie Ron Marinaccio as a real weapon in high leverage spots, and the ‘pen can be counted on to keep the game close, even as the offense struggled to find its footing.
This is going to become more important in the next couple weeks, as the Yankees grapple with how to balance their starters’ inning counts with the need to actually lock up the division and prepare for the postseason.