Nate Robertson

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Contents 1 Overall Career 2 Notable Achievements vs. Boston Red Sox 3 Nate Robertson's Pitching Performance Against The Red Sox 4 Trivia 5 External Links

Overall Career

Nathan Daniel Robertson (born September 3, 1977, in Wichita, KS) was drafted in 1995 and in 1998 by the Chicago White Sox (35th and 15th rounds, respectively) but did not sign. He signed with the Florida Marlins in 1999 after they drafted him in the 5th round. After his first major league season, Robertson was traded with Rob Henkel and Gary Knotts to the Detroit Tigers for All Star Mark Redman and Jerrod Fuell. The Tigers converted Robertson to a starter (he has made 118 appearances as a Tiger, 116 of them as starting pitcher), and has made steady improvement. In 2006, he tied for 11th best ERA in the American League at 3.84, despite a 13-13 W-L record.

In January 2007, the Tigers signed Robertson to a 1 year, $3.26 million contract. In 2008-2009, Robertson is arbitration eligible.

Currently, Nate Robertson is on the 15-day disabled list (June 7) for a tired arm. In a rehab start on June 22, Robertson pitched 6 no-hit innings (6 strikeouts, 1 walk) for Tigers AA affiliate Erie.

Notable Achievements vs. Boston Red Sox

On August 16, 2005, Robertson held the Boston Red Sox to 2 hits and 2 runs over 8 innings at Comerica Park in Detroit. A Jason Varitek 2-run HR in the 1st inning were the only runs given up by Robertson. Robertson’s opponent on the mound that night was Jonathan Papelbon, a rookie making his 2nd major league start. Papelbon went 5 innings giving up 2 runs and striking out 6. In the 9th inning, Tigers manager Alan Trammell replaced Robertson with closer Fernando Rodney with the Tigers leading 3-2, a decision that was controversial considering Robertson had thrown only 90 pitches and left-handed hitting David Ortiz was due up in the 9th. Rodney gave up a game tying home run to Ortiz, sending the game into extra innings. The Red Sox scored 7 runs in the top of the 10th, aided by home runs by Jason Varitek and David Ortiz (each player’s 2nd home run of the game), which gave Boston the victory, despite the Tigers having scored 4 runs off Mike Remlinger in the bottom of the 10th.

Nate Robertson's Pitching Performance Against The Red Sox

Trivia

• Nate Robertson is the inventor of Gum Time, a rally-inducing technique where large wads of Big League Chew are placed into the mouth in order to induce a rally.

About how Gum Time started, Robertson wrote, “Let's start it off where this thing began. We were in the Yankees series a few weeks ago (5/30/06), and it was the day before I started. I had been miked up for the telecast. We were down 5-0, and I was doing the pitching chart that night, so I was only actually in the dugout every half-inning. And I told the guys on the mic, I said, 'All right, I'll give you something here, down 5-0 (in the third inning), nothing's going on. I'll throw you a bone. I'm going to throw in a rally chew and see what happens.' And I stepped back there, opened a pouch. I threw a good portion of it in, and right as I was doing it, Pudge hit the ball up in the air. And as the ball was in flight, I started putting more in, and it gets over the fence. And then we begin with this whole fad. I did it three more times that game, which resulted in a triple, a double and a walk.”

• ESPN.com's The Sports Guy, Bill Simmons, in a diary of the 2006 ALDS game 1 vs. the New York Yankees said about Robertson, "Detroit's starter (Nate Robertson) is wearing glasses from the Brian Posehn Collection. It looks like he's headed out to a Weezer show after the game."

External Links

• Baseball-Reference.com - Career Statistics and Analysis
• Detroit Tigers
• Nate Robertson's Gum Time