Thankfully Bob Melvin managed the bullpen well last night, because Jake Diekman, Lou Trivino, and Sergio Romo were all effective. Of course all those times one of the three of them imploded, we should have known better. Such is the life of a manager with a bevy of shaky relievers, trying to figure out how to leverage a group that has talent but no reliability.
Here’s where the rubber meets the road with fans. Fans understand that each reliever is a roll of dice, capable of getting the job done and completely not guaranteed to do so. What many fans want is for the manager to try a reliever, but be ready to quickly pivot to someone else when that reliever struggles.