Brandon Lyon has been unreliable recently for the Diamondbacks, and that's putting it lightly. Starting with one inning on August 4th, Lyon has compiled an abysmal 16.88 ERA over his past six outings. That's 16 hits allowed, 10 earned runs allowed, and only three strikeouts over the course of five and a third innings. Granted, his only save opportunity in there was also his only perfect inning. Still, though, Lyon doesn't have a solid explanation: "It's just as simple as not making pitches right now," Lyon said. "Everything that can go wrong is going wrong. I can't explain it. I just have to keep grinding it out and keep going back out there and get one out at a time."In light of the Dodgers still only trailing the Snakes by three games, you'd like to be able to have confidence with a close ninth-inning lead if you were in Bob Melvin's shoes. Reportedly, he was "vague" when questioned about any possible changes to the back end of the bully. There wouldn't be an ambiguous answer to the closer question if Melvin knew he was sticking with Lyon, which is a sign that he's at least mulling over a change.
The most qualified candidate would seem to be Jon Rauch, who enjoyed success as the Nationals closer before joining the Backs in the desert. Of course, Rauch sports a 10.80 ERA in his last five outings. They could also look to the hot hand. Tony Pena has been dealing of late (no hits or runs over his past 5.2 innings to go with nine punch-outs).
One thing is for sure, this needs to be addressed sooner than later. You don't want to enter September with a division lead and a bullpen scramble in full effect. Your cards should be in hand by then, while you sort the full houses from the pairs.
