Bullpen Report: September 19, 2012

• Tyler Clippard closed the door on the Dodgers in the first half of a double-dipper this afternoon, earning his 32nd save in 35 chances this season. Clippard gave up a one-out hit to Mark Ellis, but needed just 14 pitches to induce three fly ball outs in the ninth to seal the deal. Davey Johnson called Clippard to the hill again in the second half of the double header — but gave up a lead-off moonshot to Matt Kemp — and took the loss, his fifth on the year.

• How many of y’all listened to Ben’s suggestion last night? For those who have no clue what I’m talking about, he insisted you add Rafael Soriano to your daily league or Fangraphs: The Game roster knowing that the Bombers had a double-header today in the Bronx against the Blue Jays. It turns out, Soriano earned a save in each half of the double header, handsomely rewarding those trusting the Bullpen Report. The Yankees’ closer needed a total of 32 pitches — 23 in game one, nine in game two — to earn his 41st and 42nd save respectively. Soriano is now just three saves shy of his career high 45 that he set with the Rays in 2010. With his stock seemingly rising, it will be more-than-interesting to see if Soriano chooses to opt out of his $14 million option for 2013.

• Aroldis Chapman, who hasn’t pitched since September 10th due to shoulder fatigue, tossed 25 pitches off a mound today in a side session at Wrigley Field. This was the first time Chapman has threw from the mound since he was shutdown, but insisted the fatigue was gone. Chapman felt that his bullpen session went “really well today, and he needs about two or three more sessions to work on command” before he will be ready to return to action. Jonthan Broxton figures to continue to get the save chances for the Reds until Chapman returns. Although Broxton hasn’t exactly been blowing batters away since he stepped into the role (2:1 K:BB), he is a perfect 3-for-3 in save chances.

For those of you who play daily fantasy games like FanGraphs: The Game, or just like to stream players, here is a matchup you may be able to exploit.

A Pitcher for Tomorrow: David Robertson (NYY) vs. TOR

As noted above, Yankees’ ninth-inning man Rafael Soriano tossed 32 pitches in his two-save effort on Wednesday. Joe Girardi may look to get his closer some rest on Thursday to prepare for this weekend’s series with the Athletics.

Closer Grid:

	Closer	First	Second	Off 25-Man
Arizona	J.J. Putz	David Hernandez	Takashi Saito
Atlanta	Craig Kimbrel	Eric O’Flaherty	Jonny Venters
Baltimore	Jim Johnson	Pedro Strop	Darren O’Day
Boston	Andrew Bailey	Vicente Padilla	Junichi Tazawa
Chicago (NL)	Carlos Marmol	James Russell	Shawn Camp
Chicago (AL)	Addison Reed	Brett Myers	Matt Thornton
Cincy	Aroldis Chapman	Jonathan Broxton	Sean Marshall
Cleveland	Chris Perez	Vinnie Pestano	Tony Sipp
Colorado	Rafael Betancourt	Matt Belisle	Rex Brothers
Detroit	Jose Valverde	Joaquin Benoit	Octavio Dotel
Houston	Wilton Lopez	Wesley Wright	Fernando Rodriguez
KC	Greg Holland	Kelvin Herrera	Aaron Crow
LAA	Ernesto Frieri	Kevin Jepsen	Scott Downs
LAD	Kenley Jansen	Brandon League	Ronald Belisario
Miami	Steve Cishek	Heath Bell	Mike Dunn
Milwaukee	John Axford	Kameron Loe	Francisco Rodriguez
Minnesota	Glen Perkins	Jared Burton	Alex Burnett	Matt Capps
NY (NL)	Frank Francisco	Bobby Parnell	Jon Rauch
NY (AL)	Rafael Soriano	David Robertson	Boone Logan
Oakland	Grant Balfour	Ryan Cook	Sean Doolittle
Philly	Jonathan Papelbon	Antonio Bastardo	Josh Lindblom
Pittsburgh	Joel Hanrahan	Jason Grilli	Chris Resop
St. Louis	Jason Motte	Mitchell Boggs	Edward Mujica
SD	Luke Gregerson	Dale Thayer	Brad Brach	Huston Street
SF	Sergio Romo	Javier Lopez	Santiago Casilla
Seattle	Tom Wilhelmsen	Stephen Pryor	Charlie Furbush
Tampa Bay	Fernando Rodney	Joel Peralta	Kyle Farnsworth
Texas	Joe Nathan	Mike Adams	Alexei Ogando
Toronto	Casey Janssen	Brandon Lyon	Darren Oliver
Wash.	Tyler Clippard	Drew Storen	Sean Burnett

[Green light, yellow light, red light: the colors represent the volatility of the bullpen order.]