An quick Bullpen Report return since writing after a Boston-to-Ann Arbor trek is not high on my list of desires this evening. Good news? At least I got to listen to a lot of Gameday Audio of the White Sox pen imploding…

• Robin Ventura is going to have to answer some interesting questions. After Chris Sale cruised against the now-punchless Red Sox (who started five rookie position players in a game before August for the first time since 1952 according to their radio broadcast) for exactly 7 2/3 innings, the White Sox skipper lifted his ace lefty with a runner on third. Jake Petricka (the closer du jour for Ventura’s squad) face four batters and retired none of them, allowing three hits and a walk. Javy Guerra did stop the bleeding by retiring Mike Carp with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position, but the former Dodger closer ran into more trouble in the ninth, hitting Mookie Betts before allowing a game-tying double to Daniel Nava and a game-winning single to Brock Holt. None of the hits either reliever gave up were particularly cheap, either, so this wasn’t a “death by BABIP” situation, but just bad relief pitching.

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• Sometimes, I feel all I do is write about Mike Scioscia and his managerial whims. See, there’s a reason I don’t cede to admonishment for being “too low” on Ernesto Frieri in our consensus ranks. Late last night, the Angels manager said that Joe Smith is in, Frieri is out. For now. Smith has the much better ERA but only slightly better peripherals. Frieri has been toasted by the homer this season, with over 20% of his fly balls leaving the yard. Interestingly, the hard-throwing righty’s problem has traditionally been the walks but he’s (so far) shaved his BB% in half. For those who may point to Smith’s 2.19 SIERA and wonder, “why isn’t he just the guy?”, his low arm slot keeps him effective against right-handers, but causes him to get ripped by lefties to the tune of a .323 wOBA against. Not matchup-independent material. Of course, we said the same thing about Steve Cishek, and he seems to have figured out how to get everyone out. So what do we know? Smith is the guy to own right now, but that will almost certainly change before the season is out. Keep Frieri rostered in all leagues of sufficient depth, although feel free to bench him if you want to protect your rates.

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• Robin Ventura said that Ronald Belisario was still his guy even after giving up last night’s bomb to Chris Davis. With Chicago heading into the ninth with a three-run lead, was he true to his word? Well, sort of. Belisario did end up notching the save, but only after Scott Downs began the inning. Of course, Downs (a noted lefty killer) was there to face Chris Davis (a noted Belisario killer) so it was likely just a matchups ploy. After Downs allowed Davis to reach, Ventura brought in his closer who allowed the inherited runner to score, but otherwise escaped with no additional damage (and the save!).

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• Joe Maddon continues to play Russian Roulette with his ninth inning. Today it was Joel Peralta’s turn to help fantasy owners out in the ol’ SV category. The righty spun a scoreless ninth, notching a pair of punchouts as Tampa Bay cruised to a 5-2 win. The outing lowered Peralta’s unspectacular, but solid, xFIP to 3.31 and it was his first save since May 17th of last year (a four-out affair against the Red Sox). Jake McGee leads the team in leverage index (a measure of how “crucial” the game situation is) over the last two weeks, with Peralta and Grant Balfour a little behind. Trendy candidate Juan Oviedo continues to be a little further back in the race for manager trust it appears, with other guys like Brad Boxberger, Cesar Ramos, and Kirby Yates well off the radar, regardless of how good their Triple-A numbers might have been. For now, keep owning the top three guys. However, no one seems to be running away with the job right now.

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• Mike Scioscia must not listen to the Backstreet Boys. Today’s reliever tasked with protecting a one-run, ninth inning lead? Well, it wasn’t Ernesto Frieri or Joe Smith. Righty Kevin Jepsen trotted out of the bullpen instead. Of course, Shin-Soo Choo immediately crushed a no out delivery to center field, giving him the unfortunate BS in the box score. Scioscia’s faith in Frieri has clearly waned recently, but typical standby Smith had pitched each of the last two days, rendering him potentially unusable. Jepsen actually decreased his xFIP to a solidly respectable 3.28 after tonight’s outing. His K% is actually the highest it’s been during his career. Part of it may be due to the addition of a changeup in Jepsen’s arsenal, which has helped nearly double his fastball SwStr% from his career mark. Regression is to be expected, but the soon-to-be 30-year-old Jepsen may be able to keep pitching at a elevated level. Unfortunately for him, he blew his chance to get in his manager’s good graces, so he’s unlikely to see the next save opportunity. Smith Time?

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• Hector Rondon owners slept much better last night after hearing that the Cubby closer made it through an 11-pitch bullpen session healthy. Everything sounded so good, it appeared likely Rondon would be available on Sunday. However, with a 3-0 lead, it was Neil Ramirez, not Rondon, who notched another save for the North Siders.

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Relievers are a volatile bunch. Some of you drafted the Greg Hollands and Koji Ueharas of the world early and you’re like “this closer game is easy.” Others are saying “I can’t believe I spent a ninth-round draft pick on Joe Nathan.” More are lauding their own snag of Francisco Rodriguez from the Opening Day waiver wire while their fellow players still lament that between Joe Smith, Rex Brothers, Mark Melancon, and Darren O’Day, their free agent scavenging has borne little fruit.

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• Boy, did Joe Maddon really fool us. Well, some of us, at least. After all this blathering about a committee, the Rays skipper pulled a fast one tonight. After essentially declaring a bullpen game by yanking Erik Bedard before he could even finish the fifth inning (not the win!), deposed closer Grant Balfour came on to get the last out in the 7th. Low leverage, earlier in the game, let’s see if he can handle it. He did indeed handle it, so he got run out for the eighth, too. Quick work, scoreless frame. Hey, with his pitch count under 20, why not send him back out one more time to try and finish off a 6-3 win?

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A fairly quiet day in the world of bullpens, so this rapidly turned into the “Rays Closer Report.” Make of it what you will.

• So, yeah. Grant Balfour doesn’t think the baseball gods are smiling upon him. Tampa Bay’s closer had a horrendous ninth inning today, allowing five runs after being tasked with keeping a scoreless game, well, scoreless. His BB% now sits at a beyond ugly 18.5%. That figure might be even a little palatable if he was racking up strikeouts at a Marmol-esque clip, but he only has one more K than BB on the season. His fastball velocity is down 2 mph and he is only inducing swinging strikes at two-thirds the rate he did last year. His SIERA has jumped from 3.06 last year to 5.14 this year and is still climbing.

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• As I write this, another rough outing for Trevor Rosenthal. He’ll technically take a BS in the box score, but he wasn’t given a clean ninth inning to worth with as Mike Matheny tried to stretch Adam Wainwright’s potential shutout all the way through. Rosenthal gave up a hit and a walk, which, combined with a fielder’s choice, allowed both inherited runners to cross the plate. This makes back-to-back hiccup-type outings for the righty, but I remain relatively unconcerned given his velocity (96 mph, 0.5 mph off last year), swinging strike rate (14%, near career norms), and 51% Zone% (which implies his 12.7% BB% in 2014 is probably due to drop a bit).

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