Right-hander Danny Farquhar’s mop up of the mess left by Drew Smyly was a rare bright spot after another groin-kick loss to Toronto’s mashers on Monday.

Farquhar allowed just one hit and one walk with two strikeouts in one inning after replacing Smyly, who was more Frowny during his season debut — five runs (three home runs!) and six hits in 6 2/3 innings.

With a career 3.94 ERA, Farquhar was one of the last additions to the Rays’ 25-man roster after manager Kevin Cash and baseball overlord Matt Silverman went with an eight-man bullpen. This was a positive first impression, and it’s what the doctor ordered after Smyly was tossed around like uncooked pizza dough at Papa John’s.

An early look at Cash’s bullpen strategy shows variety.

Hard-throwing Enny Romero is the only reliever to work in both games. Dana Eveland’s 1 2/3 innings is the largest workload among non-starters so far. Expect late-inning duties to be passed around to avoid the dreaded bullpen burnout that fried the Rays late last season.

After uninspiring debuts by Smyly and Chris Archer, the need for a strong, dependable bullpen should be clear.

Your bullpen stats through two games:

Player	Team	W	L	ERA▲	G	GS	SV	SVO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	AVG	WHIP
Eveland, D	TB	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	0	1.2	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	0.00
Farquhar, D	TB	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	0	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	2	.250	2.00
Geltz, S	TB	0	0	0.00	1	0	0	0	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	0.00
Romero, E	TB	0	0	0.00	2	0	0	0	1.1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	0.00
Webb, R	TB	0	0	13.50	1	0	0	0	1.1	2	2	2	1	0	1	.333	1.50