Bullpen does it again as Robertson closes

Brett Lawrie, the impressive young Blue Jays third baseman, stroked a double to right-centerfield with one out in the ninth inning Saturday afternoon, bringing the tying run to the plate in J.P. Arencibia.

The Yankee Stadium pitcher's mound, usually a picture of calm in this precise scenario, instead played host to a brief case of the jitters.

"It's a little different, yeah," David Robertson said, referring to the contest's final inning. "I got a little worried there after giving up the double. I said, 'Gosh, this is it. Better figure out a way to get out of it.' "

Arencibia grounded out to third, Mike McCoy struck out and Robertson -- working the eighth and the ninth because recent workloads sidelined Mariano Rivera and Rafael Soriano -- nailed down his first save of the 2011 season as the Yankees completed their 6-4 victory over Toronto.

Robertson retired six of the seven men he faced, striking out three, and by finishing his job, he typified the entire Yankees bullpen for this whole campaign. In a year that has been defined by anxieties about the club's starting rotation, the relief pitchers have figured out a way to get out of it. And they'll continue to be leaned upon heavily as the Yankees charge toward the postseason.

"Robbie started off as our sixth-inning guy, [graduated to] eighth-inning guy, closed the game today," Joe Girardi said. "That shows you the depth that we have here, and how guys have stepped up."

Bullpen management arguably has been Girardi's greatest strength since he moved into the Yankees manager's office in 2008, and he started this season -- after Cliff Lee and Andy Pettitte said "thanks, but no thanks" to the Yankees' invitation -- knowing that he would have to maintain that forte. That became a greater challenge when new lefty specialist Pedro Feliciano never made it out of Tampa and Joba Chamberlain didn't make it to Flag Day.

Yet here the Yankees are, owning the American League's best bullpen ERA at 3.00 and handling a day in which Girardi opted to rest his two highest-paid relievers.

Bartolo Colon departed with one out in the seventh and the Yankees trailing 4-3, and lefty Boone Logan quickly retired Mark Teahen and Dewayne Wise to move the game to the bottom of the inning, at which point the Yankees' prodigious offense did its thing and scored three runs to jump ahead 6-4.

Girardi intended to bring in Robertson for the eighth even if the Yankees still trailed, but Robinson Cano's two-run double and Nick Swisher's run-scoring single put Robertson in position for his third career save and his longest outing since May 20 of last year.

The Yankees' starting rotation, its problems with A.J. Burnett and Phil Hughes notwithstanding, has largely exceeded expectations. Right now, Colon is favored to join Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia alongside CC Sabathia in the postseason starting rotation, and of that quartet, only Sabathia can be counted on to provide lengthy postseason outings.

Hence the importance of the Yankees' bullpen. Logan has emerged as a decent lefty-on-lefty guy. Soriano is better after his long injury absence, Cory Wade can deliver in high-leverage spots and Rivera is still Rivera.

Robertson? He remembers the 20.25 ERA he put up in four American League Championship Series games against Texas last October.

"Things didn't go my way that series. I missed with a couple of pitches, and they did damage to me," he said. "I can't go any further than that. Got to move forward.

"They like to say there's always another game. Well, I've had to wait a whole year for that 'another game' to get going again."

Anything can happen in those short series. But the Yankees have to feel that if their starting pitchers and offense can get them a late-inning lead, their bullpen should take care of the rest.