We've played four games, and our bullpen has made 25 appearances! Including the oddity of Chris Resop who has 5 appearances in only four games after appearing twice in last night's game while playing left field for one batter. None of this is a good sign for a part of our team that is supposed to be a strength. Keep in mind that while some of these appearances are for one batter, they still have to warm up in the bullpen, then again on the mound -- that's a lot of back to back wear and tear this early in the season.

Add to all this the fact that we are carrying eight relievers (instead of the usual seven), and tonight we'll likely have nine relievers in the bullpen and the numbers above sort of boggle the mind. For comparison, the Atlanta starters have made three appearances (I'm not counting Bennett as a starter, even though he made a start) totaling 17.1 innings. It hurts that two out of the four games we've played are for extra innings, but that just further underscores the importance of the starters going deep into games this weekend (and the offense scoring plenty of early runs to put us ahead and keep us ahead).

Admirably, Royce Ring earns the "perfect award" for having appeared in three games to face one batter in each game and having struck out all three batters he's faced -- that's a good LOOGY.