The bullpen was a gas can in the playoffs, I can't fathom why people would say otherwise. Pitchers just don't go 8 or 9 innings anymore. We absolutely need someone to bridge the gap to Brad Lidge.
I agree with you but trading Backe will not solve that problem. All we need is a couple of solid vets who can pitch under pressure. As you can see below, it was not like the Cards were killing us with their bullpen. It was actually quite close. They gave more HRs, we had more K's, they had more BB's. Still, we could use a little help and we already got it with Micelli being gone. Take his numbers out and we look really good. NAME G GS W L Sv Hld IP H ER HR BB SO K/9 P/GS WHIP ERA Dan Wheeler 4 0 1 0 0 0 7.0 4 0 0 0 9 11.57 0.0 0.57 0.00 Brad Lidge 4 0 1 0 2 0 8.0 1 0 0 2 14 15.75 0.0 0.38 0.00 Brandon Backe 2 2 0 0 0 0 12.2 6 4 1 4 10 7.11 97.0 0.79 2.84 Roger Clemens 2 2 1 1 0 0 13.0 10 6 3 2 9 6.23 103.0 0.92 4.15 Roy Oswalt 2 1 0 0 0 0 8.0 11 6 1 4 2 2.25 97.0 1.88 6.75 Pete Munro 2 2 0 0 0 0 7.0 14 7 2 1 5 6.43 63.0 2.14 9.00 Chad Qualls 2 0 0 1 0 0 4.0 8 5 0 2 4 9.00 0.0 2.50 11.25 Chad Harville 3 0 0 0 0 0 1.1 3 2 1 1 3 20.25 0.0 3.00 13.50 Dan Miceli 2 0 0 2 0 0 1.1 3 4 3 1 0 0.00 0.0 3.00 27.00 NAME G GS W L Sv Hld IP H ER HR BB SO K/9 P/GS WHIP ERA Astros 7 7 3 4 2 0 62.1 60 34 11 17 56 8.09 89.0 1.24 4.91 NAME G GS W L Sv Hld IP H ER HR BB SO K/9 P/GS WHIP ERA Cal Eldred 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.1 0 0 0 1 0 0.00 0.0 3.00 0.00 Steve Kline 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 2 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.00 W. Williams 2 2 1 0 0 0 13.0 5 4 2 3 9 6.23 94.5 0.62 2.77 J. Tavarez 5 0 2 1 0 1 6.0 3 2 2 2 3 4.50 0.0 0.83 3.00 Jeff Suppan 2 2 1 1 0 0 12.0 8 4 2 4 9 6.75 95.0 1.00 3.00 Kiko Calero 5 0 0 0 0 2 7.0 8 3 1 1 7 9.00 0.0 1.29 3.86 J. Isringhausen 6 0 0 1 3 0 7.2 4 4 1 4 3 3.52 0.0 1.04 4.70 Matt Morris 2 2 0 0 0 0 10.0 11 6 3 8 6 5.40 83.0 1.90 5.40 Jason Marquis 1 1 0 0 0 0 4.0 5 3 0 2 2 4.50 69.0 1.75 6.75 Ray King 4 0 0 0 0 1 1.2 4 2 2 0 1 5.40 0.0 2.40 10.80 Danny Haren 2 0 0 0 0 0 1.2 3 2 1 0 2 10.80 0.0 1.80 10.80 NAME G GS W L Sv Hld IP H ER HR BB SO K/9 P/GS WHIP ERA Cardinals 7 7 4 3 3 4 63.1 53 30 14 25 42 5.97 87.7 1.23 4.26
I'm not advocating trading Backe. But your comparison is silly - our bullpen's performance should be judged based on the norm, not based on what the Cards pen (with an injured Steve Kline) did. Look at both the LCS and the LDS and tell me that you'd trust anyone other than Wheeler and Lidge again with the score close and late. The role of setup man has become almost as critical to postseason success as the closer.
The comparison is not silly but if you include the Braves series well then they would suck even worse. However Micelli pitched more in the Braves series and stunk it up even more. Take Micelli out ( which he is) and the bullpen would be decent. Still we could use someone besides Wheeler and Lidge. I think Qualls and Harville would work out with a little more playing time. They had one rough outing against great hitting and had some decent outings as well.
No it wasn't. In fact our bullpen was better than Atlanta in the NLDS and our bullpen was better than St. Louis in the NLCS.
Nope. Starting pitching depth or lack thereof cost us more than anything. Having to start Munro because we had no better options is what killed us.
Well based on the NLCS and you were a Cards fan who would you trust in their pen? Izzy? He was fairly terrible? Tavarez? Blowup. Burger King? Our pen was better than the Cardinals was in the NLCS. Therefore you can look elsewhere for the reason why we lost that series.
Qualls showed me a lot during the regular season. Great arm and solid control. He needs a good infield defense behind him, but I think we could have a nice setup man in him. Wheeler is really meh. I won't let a few postseason performances change my mind. He's a decent reliever, but not someone I would continually trust with the game on the line.
Chad Qualls will be the 8th inning guy this coming season. Chad Harville will be much improved. Dan Wheeler is solid, if anything. I think they will search for a better lefty option that Mike Gallo. Especially since he's a lefty who doesn't get lefty batters out. I wouldn't be suprised to see a rookie in the pen as well.
