One of the most surprising things about Sunday's loss was that when the highlights were shown on a couple of the local sports shows, the headline seemed to be that Brett Tomko gave up 3 runs and the theme was "that Yankee bullpen blows another one." This has been going on all year with fans desperately searching for ideas to improve this supposedly horrible pen - move Joba back there, trade Cano for a reliever, and so on.

Tomko was in the game for one reason. The starting pitcher left after 1 inning. That is never a circumstance that lends itself to success, not even in the best bullpens in baseball, which, I'm sorry to tell the doubters, the Yankees have one of. Tomko stinks, but he is the last guy out there and he'll be gone soon. Look at the top 5 middle relievers right now:

Brian Bruney - 2.61 ERA, 0.48 WHIP, 12.2 K/9.

David Robertson - 1.84 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 14.1 K/9

Alfredo Aceves - 2.33 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 7.8 K/9

Phil Hughes (as reliever) - 2.08 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, 12.1 K/9

Phil Coke - 3.64 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 6.7 K/9

That is pretty formidable right there. The pen looked bad early on, but because of the inconsistency of relievers in general, it's normal for it to take until June to sort things out. Jose Veras is gone. Edwar Ramirez is gone. Jonathan Albaladejo is gone. I'll take my chances with the unit the Yankees have right now, who are quietly becoming a pretty dominant force.