TORONTO -- It's easy to tell that Andrew Miller has grown tired of hearing the question.
The numbers and statistics have planted the idea in our brains. Ever since Tony La Russa first toiled with bullpen specialization nearly 30 years ago, we accepted that the best reliever took the hill at the end of the game, his immediate inferior pitched before him, and so on.
We romanticized the save stat, a rather feeble attempt at measuring how frequently a pitcher escaped harm at the end of a contest. Never mind the fact that a closer earns a tally for locking down a one-run game against the heart of the order and merits the same numerical kudos for sealing a three-run advantage against a trio of meager hitters.