Or is it? In the context of responses like Z's above - rationalizing the gut-punching losses of this weekend with the statement, 'this is what a .500 team looks like' - we are, from a mathematical perspective, stating there are a set number of wins (roughly... I'm not being overly literal) or 'good performances' (or better than the opponent, at any rate) there are to be had.
Given that, and extending it to the number of 'good' bullpen performances, does it benefit the team that BP was able to turn in a 4IP/1R performance after inheriting a 4R deficit where the offense had again gone dormant after the first inning? If you want to speak to it being good for the confidence of the pitchers involved, I wouldn't necessarily disagree, however I would then point at the early removal of Nola; while I understand the desire to keep his arm healthy across the season, I don't think another 20-30 pitches sacrifices that. Instead you make it his shortest career start in a) the rubber match against a division rival; b) after he'd relatively settled down and was focused on recovering his command following the 4R first inning, and c) in a game that I'd argue was far from his career worst. If I were Nola, I would have wanted to grit through another 30 pitches as a leader of my team rather than have the manager signal for the the white flag by sending me to the showers.
Similarly, labeling it a 'good thing' to get a combined 300 IP out of VV/Anderson/Moore needs to come within a certain context as well. It's good if they are able to eat a substantive amount of innings, do so in a reasonably successful fashion (say an ERA between 4 and 5), and keep other valuable arms fresh. VV has appeared the most successful to this this point, having pulled his ERA down to a 4.18; Anderson less so, with a 5.54 ERA and having lasted past 4.1 innings only twice (five innings his max); and Moore has been a veritable train wreck period, more so when he's exceeded 2.0 IP (season ERA 8.36; 9.82 in outings > 2.0 IP).
Of course, those respective performances still constitute a relatively SSS, but the baseball season is full of the ebb and flow of individual performances. While the general talent level of the ML club may lend to greater spans of the former than latter on the whole, they also seem to be adept at finding ways of displaying bouts of that former at significantly inopportune times, like Saturday night.
