Joe Blanton got his first career save on Sunday. He touched 93 and generated three whiffs with his twelve pitches. Even with this dominant outing, there will be no changes to the Royals grid. This was simply a chance for Ned Yost to rest his entire pen as the Royals are facing a tough slate coming out of the break. They started the weekend with a doubleheader, and the off day that was scheduled for this Thursday has been replaced with a trip to St. Louis between home dates with the Pirates and Astros. They don’t get a reprieve until August 3.

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As we inch ever closer to the trade deadline, eyes continue to be on the Phillies to see if Jonathan Papelbon will finally be traded, allowing Ken Giles to grab the closer role. Giles is humming along with a 15.6% SwStr% and 19.4% K%-BB%, so he’s got the stuff to close. His fastball velocity has been creeping up as the weather has warmed up. Depending on the depth of your league, he’s likely not going to be available, but if he is, grab him now before it’s too late. He pitched a scoreless eighth and was awarded his fourth win when the Phillies tagged the Marlins pen with four runs in the bottom half. Papelbon gave up a run and a couple of hits to close it out in a non-save situation. There shouldn’t be anything to read in to Carter Capps only facing one hitter in the eighth. Dan Jennings just loved the Mike Dunn matchup against Ryan Howard.

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It’s time to pull the trigger on picking up Jim Johnson in your shallow league. He’s probably long gone in your deeper leagues. There was a strong chance that he’d be closing games for the Braves as the season went on, but most thought that it would be as a result of a floundering Braves team becoming sellers at the deadline and getting what they could for Jason Grilli. Unfortunately, one of 2015’s top closers(sixth in saves, tenth in WAR amongst qualifying relievers) is going to miss the rest of the season after rupturing his Achilles Saturday afternoon in Denver. The Braves bullpen has seen plenty of turnover this year, as they’ve had 24 pitchers come out of the bullpen.  24!!!! Mark Bradley has a good look at Arodys Vizcaino and posits that it may be his time to get a shot at closing. He’s on the grid behind Johnson for now and David Aardsma slots back in to the third spot. Mike Foltynewicz is a candidate as well, but Aardsma has the track record that managers tend to lean towards, so until Folty is seeing seventh and eighth inning leads on the reg, he’ll be just on the cusp for now.

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Hector Rondon pitched the eighth inning against the White Sox on Friday, didn’t surrender a hit, didn’t walk a man, and yet was saddled with the loss and an earned run. After he plunked Emilio Bonifacio, a stolen base was followed by a sac bunt and a sac fly for the only run of the game. His usage by Maddon fit in with how he’s slotted on the closer grid. Justin Grimm came on for the ninth once the Cubs fell behind. The White Sox used a late inning trio of Jake Petricka, Zach Duke, and David Robertson to shut out the Cubs over three innings, striking out six and allowing only two baserunners. The save was Robertson’s 19th.

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Andrew Miller threw a bullpen on Saturday, and is slated to make a rehab appearance at AAA Scranton on Monday. If the rehab goes well, he could be activated after just the one appearance. This means good things for Andrew Miller owners, and not good things for Dellin Betances owners. Or does it? Joe Girardi didn’t make any proclamations regarding who his closer was early in the season, and Betances has done nothing to lose the job he’s held since Miller hit the DL. Girardi hasn’t come out and said that Miller will be thrust back into the role, so don’t be so quick to assume that’s where he’ll be when he is activated. Betances did blow the save on Saturday, giving up a two-run homer to Steven Souza Jr., but that’s not enough for an elite reliever to lose the closer gig. Pay close attention to the Yankees early in the week, and don’t hesitate to put both Betances and Miller in your lineups if they lock tonight.

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Lloyd McClendon said on Saturday that he wants Fernando Rodney to reclaim the closer role. Late on Friday he also confirmed that he went with Carson Smith in the eighth because it was the toughest matchup with Mike Trout and Albert Pujols due up. If he’s going to mix and match to close out games until he has full confidence in Rodney again, don’t drop Smith just yet. He’s still going to help you with ratios and strikeouts, and I think he’s still going to pick up a few saves. Huston Street grooved a sinker to Kyle Seager, and Seager tied the game in the top of the ninth on Sunday. In the bottom half, Rodney got the nod and he gave up a hit in his seventh consecutive scoreless outing to get the game to extras. Carson Smith had pitched the last two outs of the eighth, coming in after Trout was intentionally walked. He got Pujols to fly out and then struck out Kyle Kubitza. A Tom Wilhelmsen wild pitch provided the rare wild pitch walkoff victory for the Angels in the tenth.

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Zach Britton kept humming right along for the Orioles, notching his 22nd save. He continues to lead qualified relievers with a 71.6% GB%. He has an excellent 23.2% K%-BB% and a 14.3% whiff rate, both numbers putting him in the top 25 of relievers. He throws his 95 mph sinker over 90% of the time, no reliever throws his fastball more. As a result of the sinker usage, he hasn’t induced a single pop up this year. He’s having one of the best seasons of any reliever. His 1.99 ERA is right in line with his 1.91 FIP.

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The Blue Jays bullpen is all kinds of red right now. Steve Delabar came on with two outs and a runner on third in the seventh. He gave up a single, allowing the inherited runner to score and tie the game. He didn’t give up a run in the eighth, giving way to Brett Cecil to try to preserve the tie and give the Jays a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth. After getting Matt Wieters to ground out, he went walk, walk, single, triple, strikeout before being replaced. The single was a soft flare up the middle that Jose Reyes just gave up on, thinking that Munenori Kawasaki was going to get it. Cecil was visibly upset on the mound. He was charged with four earned runs, and you’d have to think that he won’t be pitching the next time the Jays have a job that calls for a closer. He thinks he may be tipping his pitches http://news.nationalpost.com/sports/mlb/toronto-blue-jays-drop-game-and-series-to-baltimore-orioles-and-expose-their-dire-pitching-situation. Roberto Osuna was unavailable Sunday after pitching in the first two games of the series. Who will get the next opportunity remains to be seen, but it would likely be between Osuna and Delabar. Delabar has a 21.1% K%-BB% on the year and he’s sporting a stellar 1.06 ERA. That’s been aided by an unsustainable .097 BABIP and 100% LOB rate. His 3.61 FIP is not so sharp. Osuna has a similar K%-BB% at 20.6%. He has a 2.26 FIP, and if I had to guess who would be getting the role, and I do, I’m going with Osuna. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Delabar and you couldn’t be faulted if you grabbed him, but I’m going with Osuna. Cecil is still listed as the closer on the closer grid and will continue to be until John Gibbons sends someone else out there in that role. It could be Monday in Tampa.

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There were all sorts of happenings in Toronto on Friday night regarding the Jays pen. Roberto Osuna was tossed in the eighth after dotting Adam Jones. He gave up two hits and was charged with an earned run. Steve Delabar cleaned up the eighth after Osuna was tossed, lowering his ERA to 1.15 in the process. That left the ninth, and a rare save opportunity, for Brett Cecil. He gave up three singles, hit a batter and surrendered two runs, allowing the Jays to win by a single run while getting save number five. The Jays have been linked to Francisco Rodriguez and Jonathan Papelbon, and with a pair of replacements ready in the pen in Osuna and Delabar, the days of Cecil as closer are numbered.

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The power outage wasn’t scary at all because it stays light out here until 11:00, so I’m fine. Thank you for your concern.

The Phillies back end power trio shut down the Orioles to win by a run Thursday afternoon. Once Jonathan Papelbon is traded to Canada, Ken Giles will capably take over saving the few games that the woeful Phillies will keep close. Just because they’re bad doesn’t mean they won’t have close games though. The Jays are playing great and save chances have been few and far between in Toronto. Luis Garcia will slide into the eighth-inning role. The trio struck out four over three scoreless innings.

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