(follow me on Twitter @pcaldera)
When there were big outs to get in the 7th and 8th here in Minnesota tonight, Brian Bruney was still anchored to the bullpen bench. Phil Coke gives up the homer to Mauer, but strikes out Morneau. Phil Hughes gets Cuddyer on one pitch, gets 2 more outs, gives up a hit and here comes Mo for the Final Four.
"I have lost the eighth inning job,'' Bruney said before the game. "But I think the true character of a man comes out when things aren't going well. I take it as a challenge upon myself...to be the guy people expect me to be.''
Bruney was his usual calm when he spoke, but he's been disappointed how he's pitched lately. He says he's excited about yesterday's bullpen session with Eiland, when he was able to fix his mechanics - slow his delivery, gain some velocity and command of his fastball and slider.
After the game, Joe Girardi praised the job by Hughes and said of his relief role, "This might be what it is (all year).'' And why not? As for Bruney, the manager said, "he's going to get back into that mix, too. We're going to get him right.''
Bruney says he's not concerned with being the 8th inning guy when there are big outs to get in the sixth and seventh, too. "I wouldn't say losing the eighth was tough,'' he said. "Winning games is all that matters.''
The elbow feels fine, great even. But he's only thrown 6.1 innings since coming off the DL on June 17. Bruney always feels he can dominate when he gets in a game. You might not have known that lefties are just 2-for-27 vs. him this year. But you've seen his command vanish quickly, too.
So, now, Bruney waits his turn. Even David Robertson was warming in the 7th. But Bruney says he wouldn't change places with anyone. "I think that's why I'm losing so much hair,'' he said of the circumstances of being a Yankee reliever. "But I wouldn't want it any other way.
"I love playing for the Yankees and couldn't imagine myself being in a diffrent place. I look back now - I couldn't imagine myself playing in Arizona again, I just couldn't,'' Bruney said. "You get used to the 50,00 fans a night, the sold out ballparks, playing under the lights in New York City.
"It's like a drug. And I'm addicted to it.''
Poor guy. Really. You can tell from the last comment alone that he's got the prospect of 'going back there' (if not to Arizona then to some functional equivalent) on his mind.
We always hear and say that relievers are a 'fungible commodity', but maybe don't think much about what that feels like.
Posted by: cr1 | July 09, 2009 at 08:53 AM
Then you read a story like this one that chronicles the other side of the relievers' life cycle: the moment when the dream seems to be coming true...
http://www.lohud.com/article/20090709/SPORTS01/907090424/-1/SPORTS
Posted by: cr1 | July 09, 2009 at 09:27 AM
its all good right now... he'll be back in the mix soon enough.
Posted by: john v celentano | July 09, 2009 at 06:46 PM