Analysis of Bernie Miklasz’s “Hard ninth a cause for concern”, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, printed 4/9/13

Bernie's column

MLB Video: 4/8/13: Reds @ Cardinals

Ah, yes, bullpen woes—the bane of every Cardinals fan’s existence.  In his follow-up to the Cardinals’ disastrous final inning of the home opener, Bernie takes on closer Jason Motte’s indefinite absence from the ‘pen (due to an injury to this elbow on his throwing arm) and the ability of the Card’s relievers. 

In this feature story, Bernie meshes together the issue of Motte’s elbow ailment and his colleague’s ability to close out games without him with elements of a character study of the Redbird’s bullpen, namely traditional set-up man Mitchell Boggs and flame-throwing youngster, Trevor Rosenthal.

Bernie is of the opinion that without quality relief pitching, and the ability to shut the door on tight games in the eighth and ninth innings, the Cardinals could be in for a long, fruitless season.  That’s why he gets paid the big bucks, folks: to inform us that it is not in the best interests of a baseball team to blow games!  Luckily, however, for those of us who have at least a rudimentary understanding of the game of baseball, Miklasz is able to expand and offer insight on this notion of doom hanging over the relief staff. 

The eighth inning of the Cardinals’ home opener rolled around with the good guys leading 4-3.  The Redbirds’ 22-year-old right-hander Rosenthal came in and conceded the tying run to the Cincinnati Reds.  Later on, in the top of the ninth inning, with the score still tied at 4-4, veteran righty Boggs got his chance on the mound. 

“Trevor Rosenthal, Mitchell Boggs and Marc Rzepczysnki deemed it necessary to combine for 77 pitches to get six outs,” writes Miklasz. “[Boggs went] one third of an inning, two hits, two unintentional walks, six earned runs.”

Bernie points out that this is not an isolated incident so far in this young baseball season.  “Last Wednesday at Arizona, the Cardinals squandered four leads, the last three by the bullpen, in a deflating 16-inning loss,” recalls the columnist.

This should be a startling statistic to any Cardinals fan, especially since, as Bernie reminds us, this isn’t the NL Central of old, where the Card’s were often able to sit like Zeus atop Mount Olympus. The club has a true adversary to contend with now in Dusty Baker’s Reds.

It is difficult to argue with Bernie on this subject in the face of indisputable facts and stats regarding the bullpen’s performance so far this season.  No one knows when, or even if, Jason Motte will be available to pitch this season.  Bernie asserts that Boggs in underachieving and has got to do better. I agree completely.  There is no reason that he shouldn’t be able to pitch a scoreless inning or two late in games. He has been doing it for years.  I also agree with Bernie’s point concerning Rosenthal.  “Rosenthal has electric stuff  _ a closer's arsenal  _ but he's still learning his way through late-inning situations. I'm not alarmed, at all, by his missteps,” says Miklasz. In a time of great change for the Cardinals, the NL Central and in deed, the whole National League, the St. Louis bullpen absolutely needs to step up and get the job done, if the club wants to continue their exemplary streak as the class of the NL.