...but the bullpen isn't what it used to be.

In his last 12 appearances (dating back to July 12th), Guillermo Mota has allowed 1 ER in 11 2/3 IP, which gives him an ERA of 0.77 in that time. Eric Gagne has turned into Derrick Turnbow circa 2007, holding teams scoreless in 12 of 16 games since coming off the DL in early July, though two of those unsuccessful outings resulted in 3 and 4 runs to score. Since his long break (he didn't pitch from July 31st to August 11th) brought on by a very effective rotation, David Riske  has a 1.69 ERA in 5.1 IP. If you go back to when he came off the DL in June, Riske has a 3.38 ERA in 18 2/3 IP. These may be somewhat modest improvements from what these guys did before the time frames given, but they are definite improvements.

Closer Salomon Torres and setup lefty Brain Shouse are largely holding steady with what they've done most of the season. Neither is infallible, but they are effective far more often than not.

On the flip side, while Carlos Villanueva still has very good numbers (2.09 ERA in 43 IP) since joining the pen, he has struggled lately. In his last 4 appearances, CV has allowed 6 hits and 3 walks in 5 innings, 2 HR and 3 runs to score. The runs number would almost certainly be higher but for Mota's Houdini act in the top of the 12th on Sunday, when he bailed CV out for loading the bases with no outs. Since his last start on July 21st, Seth McCung has only pitched 6 times, allowing 7 ER in 7 1/3 IP, which goes a long way to explaining why he's not seeing more action.

So what's the point? Simply that a bullpen is a very fluid thing, mostly. A month ago, most people would have preferred a  McClung or Villanueva to be in to hold close leads and hand them to the closer and would have been terrified (or outraged) at the thought of Mota or Gagne being asked to do the same. In a few weeks, this may have all changed yet again. Manager Ned Yost has a lot of options out in the pen, but not a lot of certainty, which means he is going to have to be trusted to play the hot hand.

Trusting Ned Yost isn't something a lot of Brewer fans do willingly. If the bullpen doesn't step up as a unit in the final 5 or so weeks, Yost is going to be facing a lot of heat.