It depends on what you're looking for.

It's easy to over-react after a series like the one we just went through, where the bullpen is the focal point of blame for A) being unable to keep a quality performance together, like what happened with Baker and Blackburn, and B) being unable to stop the opposition from racking up 12 runs in three innings.  Our bullpen failed, three games in a row, and it wasn't pretty.  It was destructive, and it was disconcerting.

It's easy to look at how the bullpen was managed, to see Brian Bass's appearance in Monday's game or to note that Joe Nathan didn't throw a pitch in the series, and heap the blame on Ron Gardenhire.  Still, a good bullpen is only as good as its options, and as effective as guys like Crain, Breslow, Reyes and Guerrier have been, it's not a bullpen you want to put a lot of weight onto.

The reality of the situation is that the heirarchy that Gardenhire has set up works perfectly when his relievers are effective.  But there is no Juan Rincon v. 2004, and there's no Pat Neshek v. 2007, so when those relievers aren't effective the status quo gets questioned.  Not only are we second-guessing the manager's use of the bullpen, we're questioning his options.

So what the hell can we do?

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