Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Hopeful or cynical? Is your glass half full or half empty?
Chances are, answering those questions will determine how you view the Red Sox' 9-7 win over the Detroit Tigers Wednesday afternoon.
The fact that it gave the Red Sox a series win and a .500 road trip to start the season is reasonably good news.
After that? It's all up for interpretation.
If you're a "glass half full'' person, you'll probably remember the way the offense bashed out a dozen hits and chased former teammate Eduardo Rodriguez before the fourth inning ended.
You'll celebrate the six-run fourth, the fact that the Sox banged out six extra-base hits and established a season-high for runs scored.
You'll be gladdened by the production that sprung from the bottom half of the order, as if out of nowhere. Before Wednesday, four of the final five hitters on the Red Sox lineup card were hitting .200 or below.
That changed in a hurry, however. Bobby Dalbec had two hits and an RBI. Christian Arroyo had a base hit and, weirdly, a hugely consequential sacrifice bunt. Christian Vazquez contributed a sacrifice fly, and Jackie Bradley Jr., getting a rare start against a lefty, had two big doubles and three RBI.
And all of that doesn't include Trevor Story, who missed the last three games with food poisoning but returned to the lineup unexpectedly and had two hits and an RBI.
For a change, it wasn't Rafael Devers or Alex Verdugo carrying the offense. The Sox got contributions from nearly everywhere, and enjoyed the kind of outburst that was expected of them. And, it should be noted, they did it against a quality pitcher, in a roomy, pitcher-friendly ballpark, and in the rain.
Those are the positives.
But maybe you're a little more circumspect. Maybe you're not about to do handstands after the Red Sox escaped Comerica Park with a difficult win that should have been far easier than it was over the final few innings.
Maybe, in other words, you're more than a little concerned about what you saw from the bullpen. In which case, your apprehension is fully understandable.
Nathan Eovaldi had turned in a pretty strong start, allowing just two solo homers before he left. Problem was, the Tigers forced Eovaldi into a lot of deep counts and drove his pitch count up to 101 pitches after just five innings.
Then again, with Hirokazu Sawamura being the only reliever not named Garrett Whitlock to be used Tuesday, the Red Sox bullpen was fully rested and available. Which turned out to be fully necessary.
Here are ugly totals for three Red Sox relievers (Austin Davis, Kutter Crawford and Jake Diekman): Together, they pitched 1.2 innings and allowed seven hits and five earned runs.
Crawford wasn't the measured rookie who was so impressive Sunday night in Yankee Stadium. Diekman, called upon to extricate the Sox from a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the eighth, began well enough, fanning the first two hitters he faced. For a minute there, he looked positioned to post his sixth consecutive strikeout and build on the highly impressive ninth inning appearance Sunday when he stared down the power trio of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Joey Gallo.
But then came a hard-hit, run-scoring single to Victor Reyes before Diekman plunked Austin Meadows to force in another run. It took Hansel Robles to get the final out of the eighth, then three more in the ninth before the victory was secured.
So, what did we learn about the bullpen?
For one thing, it still looks like something Chaim Bloom dragged home from Ikea, with lots of parts scattered around, and everyone uncertain about what goes where. Is Diekman the de-facto closer? Can Crawford be counted on for high-leverage spots? And hey, what do we do with Matt Barnes? (Barnes looked good again, but notably, was called on for the sixth inning, before things got dicey, indicating that Alex Cora isn't fully convinced he's ready to be plugged back into late-inning situations).
It's dangerous to overreact to one game, of course. Even the best bullpens are bound to meltdown at times. But similarly, it probably wasn't wise to get too enthused about how the bullpen had performed in the first five games, either. These things take time.
Here's what's pretty certain after two series: As he was a year ago, Whitlock is the team's most trustworthy relief arm. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, he can't be used every day. Eventually, they're going to need to rely on others.
Who those others are, and when to best deploy them, is still unknown.
But just as the Red Sox had already won twice this season because of their bullpen, their getaway day win in Detroit came in spite of it.
That's going to happen, too.
in the meantime, Bloom and Cora are left to stare at the instructions once again, and worry about the spare lug nut that went unused, and what it portends for the future.