A manager can pore over stats until his eyes bleed. He can play hunches and try to outguess his opponent.
Ultimately, he must rely on faith - faith that the 25 men on his bench will rise to their abilities even in the wake of failure if their bodies are strong and their minds stronger.
The Giants clinched another winning series Wednesday night as Barry Zito went to 5-0 with more sheer domination, but the story of their 3-2 victory against Florida might have been vastly different had Bruce Bochy not maintained his faith in setup man Sergio Romo.
Romo had surrendered two killer homers in the eighth inning, one costing Zito a win in Los Angeles, the other costing Tim Lincecum a win here Tuesday night.
But there was No. 54 again Wednesday, trotting to the mound in the trickiest of spots: one run in, bases loaded, nobody out, the heart of Florida's lineup approaching and the Giants' 3-1 lead looking as vulnerable as a scarecrow in a tornado.
Six pitches later it was over. Faith was rewarded. Romo threw three sliders past Hanley Ramirez for the first out, then got Jorge Cantu, another grand-slam threat, to ground into a double play.
"Good team win," closer Brian Wilson said after allowing a run in the ninth but striking out Wes Helms with two on to save it. "Barry pitched masterfully again and Romo came out and showed he deserved to pitch that inning."
Bochy did not waver. Before the game, he said Romo was still his guy in the eighth inning. One cannot imagine the impact that had on the slight, 27-year-old reliever.
"To have the manager put me in after what happened last night, in an even tougher spot, was a huge confidence boost for me," Romo said.
"Can I say I wasn't replaying last night in my head? No, I can't say that. A lot of my teammates said, 'Forget about it. It happens. It's part of the game.' That helped me accept it more. Tonight, hey, it was my time. Zito just put his heart on the line. Why can't I?"
In turn, Zito said Romo "has as much courage and tenacity as any guy I've ever played with."
Right now, Zito has as much of anything you could want from a pitcher. He lowered his ERA to 1.49 and was cruising toward his first shutout as a Giant until four well-placed singles in the eighth produced Florida's first run and heralded Romo's entrance.
Zito has pitched in 45 different innings this season. The opposition has scored in only seven. Last year, Zito also got his fifth win against the Marlins - on July 7.
Aaron Rowand keyed a sometimes sluggish offense, driving in his fourth and fifth runs of the series with an infield out that followed a Matt Downs double and an opposite-field homer, his second in two nights. Bengie Molina also had a scoring single.
The Giants earned their second one-run win this season.
"We couldn't have been in tougher jams than we had in the eighth and ninth innings, and we came away with a win," Bochy said. "The last road trip, we lost some real gut-wrenching games. You hope they even out. We got a couple of them back here."
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