THE WATERCOOLER

QUESTION: Assuming the Cardinals make it to the postseason, which National League team do you feel offers the greatest matchup problems for the Redbirds?

BERNIE MIKLASZ
The Phillies. They lead the league in runs, homers and slugging. They’re the best slugging team in the NL against righthanded pitchers, and the Cardinals have a RH rotation. The Phillies’ rotation was upgraded substantially with the addition of Cliff Lee and this is the one playoff-bound NL team that can match up reasonably well with rhe Cardinals’ big three of Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright and Joel Pineiro. For some reason, Carpenter hasn’t pitched well in Philly; he has a 6.75 ERA in three career starts at Citizens Bank Park. That said, Wainwright was magnificent there in his only start, and Pineiro hasn’t allowed a run there in two starts. The Phillies rake well at Busch Stadium; Ryan Howard and their big hitters like the place. In 17 games in STL the Phillies have averaged 6.9 runs since Busch opened in 2006. The X factor would be Brad Lidge. The Phillies closer is having a horrible season, and if that continues, the Phillies are vulnerable late.

DERRICK GOOLD
The Phillies. The Cardinals may be 10-2 against lefthanded starters since Matt Holliday arrived, but the Phillies still have lefties like Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee and Jamie Moyer who can tie the Cardinals in knots. Joe Blanton is 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA against the Cardinals this season and they have yet to figure him out. He’s 3-0 with a 1.71 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 21 innings against the Cardinals in his career. Ryan Madson, a late-inning reliever, may be the only Albert Pujols specialist in the game. The Cardinals first baseman is 0-for-10 in his career against Madson. He doesn’t strike out against the righthander, but he doesn’t hit him well either. And that’s all without mentioning what may be the most difficult lineup in the National League to contain. The variety of hitters the Phillies throw at opponents — speed in Victorino, balance in Utley, thunder from Howard and power throughout — makes a lineup with few, if any, cracks. Forget how Howard hits like Roy Hobbs in St. Louis, whether he’s taking aim at a Red Lobster in Ballwin or crushing shots at Busch Stadium. Sure Colorado is playing as well as anyone. Yes, the LA Dodgers have Manny and pitching. Fine, the Giants have a fearsome tandem atop their pitching staff. But the defending champs have more. And Brad Lidge.

RICK HUMMEL
The world champion Phillies. They have the lefthanded-hitting firepower to contend with the Cardinals’ all-righthanded rotation. In five games, four of them wins by the Phillies, Philadelphia has outscored the Cardinals, 40-24.

JEFF GORDON
The Phillies come at you with lefthanded power and switch-hitters. They put up some football scores on the Cards earlier this season, although much of that damage came against guys like Todd Wellemeyer, Josh Kinney and Jason Motte. The addition of Cliff Lee gives them a 1-2 punch to match Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. The only soft spot on that team is Albert’s buddy Brad Lidge. A Phillies-Cards battle in the NLCS would be quite a battle.

GERRY FRALEY
As Ric Flair often said, “to be the man, you’ve got to beat the man.’’ Philadelphia, defending World Series champion, would present the biggest problems for the Cardinals in a post-season series.

LHP Cliff Lee changes the face of what was a mediocre rotation. Since being obtained from Cleveland, Lee is 5-0 with a 0.67 ERA and has allowed more than one run only once.

The Cardinals’ all-RHPs rotation will bring out the best in Phillies 1B Ryan Howard. Howard struggles against lefthanders, but goes into tonight’s play batting .312 with a .692 slugging percentage and 30 homers in 295 at-bats against righthanders.

Of course, this all changes if a Cardinals-Phillies series comes down to Albert Pujols against Philadelphia closer Brad Lidge. A year, with Lidge on top of his game, the Phillies were 79-0 when leading after eight innings. With Lidge having problems stemming from a bum knee, the Phillies are 58-7 when leading after eight innings this season.

THE WATERCOOLER

QUESTION: Now that Chris Perez has been optioned back to Memphis, how much of the closer load do you expect Jason Motte to shoulder? Do you expect it to be a 50/50 timeshare with Ryan Franklin to start the season, or will Motte see a greater load from the very beginning?

BERNIE MIKLASZ
Give Jason Motte the ball and the chance as the full-time closer. He has a blazing fastball and is a rare talent, with potential for greatness. Will Tony La Russa install Motte and stick with him? Some blown saves are inevitable and the best closers are allowed to work through slumps. Motte should be given the same consideration but La Russa probably won’t be as patient with a rookie. Ryan Franklin is an excellent setup man but he isn’t a closer. If Motte struggles La Russa will likely turn to Franklin, anyway.

JOE STRAUSS
Motte will shoulder as much as his performance allows. It’s that simple.

RICK HUMMEL
I think Motte will get the first shot at it, although Franklin will get his chance early on, too. If Motte is successful, he should get the majority of, but not all, the opportunities.

GERRY FRALEY
The nature of the job will lead to Motte getting more save chances than Franklin. A top closer must get strikeouts either with pure power or a trick pitch. Of the 15 National League relievers who averaged 10-plus strikeouts per nine innings last season, six were closers. Brad Lidge, Philadelphia’s perfect closer, was second overall among relievers with 11.94 strikeouts per innings.

Motte is a pure power pitcher. In his brief major-league trial last season, Motte had a Lidge-like 16 strikeouts in 11 innings. Motte is a one-pitch (fastball) pitcher at this stage of his career, but that can work for the short term. The Chicago White Sox did all right with a similar guy in 2005: Bobby Jenks.

Franklin is a capable reliever, but he is also a ground-ball pitcher with limited strikeout capability. He averaged 5.83 strikeouts per nine innings last season. The more often the ball is put in play in the late innings, the greater the chance of something bad happening to the team that leads.

JEFF GORDON
Motte is the best candidate for the job, but, understandably, Tony La Russa doesn’t want to blow him up early on. TLR could test him in the “Marmol Role” a few times while seeing if Ryan Franklin is more prepared this season to close. If Franklin gets it done, the veteran could stay there for a stretch. If he repeats last year’s struggles — and if Motte settles in — then TLR can make the switch. La Russa could also use Josh Kinney or Dennys Reyes at the end of a game, depending on the matchup. In time, the manager will want to define everybody’s role. But allowing Motte to ease into the role does make some sense.

TOM ACKERMAN (Sport anchor of “Total Information A.M.” on KMOX)
I would hope that Motte sees the bulk of the work, and I anticipate that he will be the closer most of the time. We’ve seen Franklin in the ninth already; he’s better suited as a set-up man. Motte has shown overpowering stuff in spring training. He possesses a closer’s mentality. If the Cardinals are serious about developing players, then why not Motte?