Let's say Bill DeWitt calls Mozeliak and Matheny into his office tomorrow. He wants to go over the first half and get an assessment of where they are and where they think they can be. I imagine the questioning would go something like this:

So, we're 46-40. At one point, we were 20-11 and since then I believe we've gone 26-29. Why?

Well, we've had some tough luck with injuries and our bullpen is kind of a mess. At one point we were indeed 20-11, but since then we've played with next to no consistency. Our best baseball in the past two months has been a five-game winning streak.

Is the problem with the offense?

No! Not at all! We've got Carlos Beltran, Matt Holliday and Yadier Molina having All-Star seasons. David Freese has been very serviceable. Furcal has dropped off, but he's been solid. Jon Jay has a .400 OBP. Allen Craig has been ridiculous. Matt Carpenter has blown us away. This is a tremendous offense. We actually lead the league in runs and are tops in OPS.

It seemed like we had some momentum heading into this 10-game home stand. We won five of six and the offense really took off. Why did we score 39 runs in 10 games against mostly mediocre pitching?

That's the ebb-and-flow of baseball, I think. You just never know when you're going to catch fire.

But we struck out over 60 times and didn't even draw 30 walks. That's not very good. Are the Pirates, Marlins and Rockies good at striking out opposing batters?

Not quite. Marlins pitchers are dead last in the NL and the Pirates are 12th.

Hmm...

I assure you this problem is going to get fixed. I can feel us getting closer to breaking out.

What's up with the bullpen, Mr. Mozeliak?

Well, we've got a couple of live arms down there. Cleto throws 100 mph, but it lacks movement. He's a real keeper, though. Victor Marte has some veteran presence. This guy has been tremendous.

It looks like they both give up a lot of home runs.

Yes, but they are guys we like to go to in low leverage situations.

Well, it says here that Marte has pitched the third highest-leverage innings on the team. Why?

I think Mr. Matheny really trusts that Marte is going to go out there and do a good job regardless of the situation he's put in. He's been great.

Also, I think it's important to remember that Carpenter and Garcia's injuries have really thrown a wrench in our bullpen plans.

Has it affected the rotation?

Oh absolutely.

Then why are we sixth in MLB in starting pitching ERA?

I think if we had a healthy Carp and Garcia we'd be even better.

Yeah, but it seems odd to say that a starting rotation sixth in MLB in ERA has been the reason for the bullpen not meeting expectations. How are the starters looking?

Fantastic. Kyle Lohse has been outstanding. Lance Lynn has come into his own. Wainwright is rounding into form. Westbrook has been his usual solid self. Kelly has been shaky, but he's gotten results.

So we've got the No. 1 offense in the National League. We have three All-Star hitters. We have a guy that could be an All-Star if he had enough qualifying at-bats. We have a center fielder with a .400 OBP. And our third baseman...

Who is also an All-Star...

Right, so we've got all these pieces, plus a terrific bench guy in...Matt Carpenter, yes? We've got the sixth best rotation in all of baseball. Our run differential is almost +60. Why are we 45-41 and 3.5 games back of Pittsburgh?

Well, I think when you look at it, the bullpen has really under-performed.

The bullpen? You guys are saying the bullpen is the reason we're 9-14 in one-run games? What do you think, Mr. Matheny?

I think it certainly plays a part. We've had some guys we've counted on to get results and it hasn't really happened for us in those tight spots.

So the problem is the personnel? Don't you guys like these Cleto and Marte fellows? Who else is down there?

We had Eduardo Sanchez, but he's been a disappointment. Fernando Salas has had bouts with kidney stones, but he's coming around. We've got this guy, Barrett Browning, that has some nice potential.

I want to know how you guys are going to fix this.

We're going to explore opportunities for other relievers.

And that's that? How does that help us score more than 39 runs against weak pitching staffs?

We're on that, too.

OK, but also, if I ever see Cleto pitching another big inning for this team I'm going to use your collective testicles as a giveaway promotion.

Last edited by tkihshbt (7/08/2012 6:01 pm)