Never change, Papelbon

I was so caught up with the trade deadline yesterday that I neglected to share one of my favorite anecdotes so far. It concerns perhaps the most quirky former Red Sox out there, a pitcher who once told Amalie Benjamin to "put the fact that he's a sheriff in Mississippi into a story."

Of course, I'm talking about former closer Jonathan Papelbon, Lord Cinco Ocho himself. The man Manny Delcarmen described as the strangest he's ever shared a bullpen with. Even though I knew the Phillies were in Washington for a four game set, it totally slipped my mind that Paps would be in town.

Which is why it took me a moment to realize that the player who poked fun at the camera setup Julianne and I were using yesterday on the field was the same man who once danced around Fenway Park with a beer box on his head.

We were shooting a pre-game standup regarding the Nationals trade deadline activity, and I wanted to frame up the shot with the field and the scoreboard in the background. Because neither Julianne nor I are particularly tall, we achieved this by having her stand on the camera case.

Halfway through the first take, we heard a voice drawl, "I've never seen anything like that before." I turned around, and out of the dugout behind me emerged Jonathan Papelbon, gesturing at the case under Jules' feet.

He chuckled and added that it might be easier if we were taller, and before we could formulate any kind of reasonable response, he was walking away for team stretching.

I've been able to mostly shed the baseball fan inside of me when I'm working, but after that interaction I indulged in a moment of reflection. If seventeen-year-old me had ever anticipated something like that, as casual as it was, I would have freaked out. 

Five weeks into covering every Nationals home game, the thrill of interacting with major league ballplayers has become all but mundane - but I spared a grin for Papelbon, if only for nostalgia's sake.

Koji Time

Source

At the beginning of the season, I had Joel Hanrahan on my fantasy team. I had high hopes for Hanrahan, but even when he went down, I wasn't worried about the closer situation. If you're guessing I added Andrew Bailey to my fantasy team, you'd be correct - but I also added Koji Uehara.

It's goes without saying that my best add was certainly the last one, as we all know about Uehara's incredible numbers since taking over the ninth inning.

Uehara's brilliance hasn't gone unnoticed by his teammates either. Fellow pitcher Craig Breslow is blogging over at WEEI for the duration of the playoffs, and here's what he had to say:

But what he’s done is absolutely unbelievable. John Lackey and I were joking, why don’t we just start him and see how long he can go? If it’s three or four innings and 15 to 20 pitches and he gets tired, then we’ll worry about bringing somebody in behind him.

The best perspective on his stuff has got to come from a hitter because the way I see it, his stuff seems very pedestrian. It seems almost like, ‘Huh, maybe I can mess around with a splitter and get a pitch like that.’ Then you see the swings that guys take and you see the results that he’s gotten — not over an inning or two innings but 75 innings. I think collectively we’re all missing something, because the swings that guys take at that pitch are like he’s throwing a wiffleball.

Every time the rest of the Sox pitching staff can hand the ball safely to Koji Uehara at the end of each game, I'm confident in our chances. Gone are the days of heart-attack innings from Jonathan Papelbon circa 2011, or the nightmarishly unpredictable antics of Alfredo Aceves in 2012.

No, 2013 is different. It's Koji time - High Five City.

Two days, two saves for Papelbon

We watched Jonathan Papelbon close games for us for the better part of a decade in Boston. Better than any other team, the Red Sox know that it's difficult to get the big righty to blow a save opportunity. I certainly wouldn't go as far as saying that Paps is as bullet-proof as the great Mariano Rivera, but when you see him warming up in the opposing bullpen, it's a good bet that you won't be coming out of the game on top.

Tonight was no different (though the Sox kept things interesting), as the Phillies handed a 4-2 lead to Papelbon in the top of the ninth inning, and Paps delivered the save, despite walking Stephen Drew and opening the floodgates just a bit. David Ortiz pinch hit with one out and Drew on first, and flew out to right field before Jonny Gomes hit a single to put the tying run on base. Ellsbury then knocked a double down the left field line, scoring Drew and bringing Nava to the plate with the tying run just ninety feet away. Sadly for the Sox, and luckily for Papelbon, Nava grounded out to first base to end the inning and the game.

Hindsight being 20/20, an argument could certainly be made that letting Papelbon walk was one of the larger misteps made by Sox brass in recent years. Boston hasn't had a reliable (and reliably healthy) closer since we said goodbye to Papelbon, and in fact we've spent more money on the combined salaries of attempted replacements than Paps has made in two years in Philadelphia.

But pitchers' injuries are notoriously difficult to predict and prevent - especially when the pitcher in question, like Papelbon, relies heavily on velocity to make his pitches successful - and it's still very possible that the Phillies will turn out to have made an imprudent investment. If Paps has an unfortunate injury, the Red Sox look like geniuses for letting him walk and sparing themselves an expensive long term commitment. Obviously I wish nothing but the best for Paps going forward, with the exception of hoping for many blown saves against the Red Sox.

Sox fall to Phils

Despite the way the game ended, Ryan Dempster was excellent today. My mother, the casual Red Sox fan, remarked that his name looked like "dumpster" (I'm sure he's never heard that one before) - but he pitched as well as you could expect tonight, giving up just two runs in seven full innings.

Unsurprisingly, the Sox bats couldn't get anything going tonight against Phillies' starter Cliff Lee. Indeed, when I saw who they had going for them tonight, I mentally prepared myself for the disappointment of the conclusion of the four-game winning streak. I would like to once again go on record thanking the Phillies for signing Lee back in the 2010-2011 offseason. Everyone figured he'd go to the Rangers or the Yankees, but he surprised us all and went to Philadelphia. If Lee had made a different choice, we'd be suffering at his hands much more frequently.

With Lee and Dempster performing well, that was an impressively quick game. Certainly it helped that the Sox and the Phils scored just four runs between them, but both Dempster and Lee worked at a brisk pace. Indeed, the two starters are exactly what MLB was hoping for with its rules on pitching speed.

It was weird to see Jonathan Papelbon pitching at Fenway Park again. The former Red Sox closer got the save for the Phillies, indicing David Ortiz into grounding out into the shift to end the game. I'm not sure why the boos seemed to be so loud - I don't begrudge Paps for following the money to his current team. The Sox weren't prepared to show him the money he was looking for, and you could argue that we've paid for that bit of thrift with all the closer woes we've had since the departure of #58.

Closer woes

Just one day after Jon Lester came one batter away from a perfect game to stop a losing streak, the Red Sox lost a heartbreaker in the ninth inning to the Toronto Blue Jays. It's time to address the elephant in the clubhouse: the Red Sox are without a closer, yet again.

With Joel Hanrahan out for the season, and Andrew Bailey reporting that he'll be unable to return from the DL as soon as he's eligible, John Farrell has designated Junichi Tazawa as the stopgap closer. This afternoon, the stopgap closer blew a save after the Sox had rallied to take the lead.

The Extra Bases Blog over at Boston.com has a really great breakdown of the Red Sox closer struggles since they let Jonathan Papelbon back - so far, the financial investment in his replacements has made it seem like it would have been a more responsible decision to just pay him.  Personally, I have a lot of confidence in Andrew Bailey (in fact, I picked him up on both of my fantasy teams when the Sox first declared him the closer), but he can't seem to stay healthy. 

"Sellout" streak officially over

As awful as it was to watch last night's meltdown from Joel Hanrahan, there was a kind of poetic justice about the whole situation. It was the first officially un-soldout game in nearly a decade, and it somehow seemed to mirror the tendencies of the Red Sox over the last couple of years.

Things started off pretty evenly, as the Orioles scored, the Red Sox evened the score, and then the Red Sox pulled ahead by two runs - but the Orioles closed the gap heading into the rain delay. I know I came into the game with high hopes, after seeing the Sox dispose of the Orioles on Opening Day.

The first part of the game was like a microcosm of the 2011 season: the Sox got off to a 0-6 start, but managed to pull themselves out and back into contention by midseason, just as last night's squad fell behind but stayed within reach of a win by the rain delay. Post rain delay, Daniel Nava and Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit two home runs, resulting in jubilation among the Fenway faithful, much like the incredible summer we enjoyed in 2011.

And then Hanrahan came on to close things out. After Koji Uehara, Junichi Tazawa, and Andrew Bailey each pitched a scoreless inning, Hanrahan came in and couldn't close the deal - like the September 2011 meltdown of the entire Red Sox pitching staff (and, even more specifically, then-closer Jonathan Papelbon's personal meltdown against the Orioles on the last day of the season).

Andrew Miller managed to come in and get the last out, but then the Red Sox could not score in the bottom of the ninth - an exercise in futility that resembled 2012 in its entirety.

And so whether you buy my metaphor, last night was the beginning of a new era for the Red Sox. Hopefully the end of the "sellout streak" (which was fraudulent by the end, let's be honest) can be a clean slate for the Sox. Even after last night's loss, the Red Sox are still in first place in the AL East. Alfredo Aceves takes the mound tonight for the series finale, and while I wouldn't have chosen him as the tone-setter, he definitely has something to prove.

The World According to Paps

Jonathan Papelbon has never been the most tactful or thoughtful of baseball players:

He is, after all, the man who once asked Boston Globe Red Sox beat writer Amalie Benjamin "to put the fact that he's a sheriff in Mississippi into a story." Papelbon has always been a character, the "Manny being Manny" after Manny jumped ship. He is also an extremely talented pitcher, which is why we all just nodded and smiled rather than shipping him off to Beth Israel for a head exam.

But now that Pap is in Philly, he has some things to say about Boston fans: "The difference between Boston and Philadelphia, the Boston fans are a little bit more hysterical when it comes to the game of baseball... The Philly fans tend to know the game a little better, being in the National League, you know, the way the game is played. I've had a guy take off his prosthetic leg and throw it in the bullpen in Boston."

First of all, that story is HILARIOUS. Secondly, and more importantly, the person that asked him to compare fanbases is an idiot looking to stir things up. Papelbon has been a member of the Phillies for a few months, and has yet to play in a non-Spring Training game. He has no basis for comparison, and the person who asked him about it knows that. That being said, I'm not particularly offended that a man who plays a broom like a guitar thinks I'm "hysterical."

But if you ARE concerned that your baseball street cred is being called into question, never fear, because the always vocal Curt Schilling has your back!

 

"Smartest sports fans on the planet," indeed. It's worth noting that Schill spent time in both cities - but he lives in Massachusetts now, so he has no interest in spurning his neighbors.

I don't blame Papelbon for making Red Sox fans out to be hysterical... I've taken my share of shots at the enigmatic closer, so if he wants to ingratiate himself to a new fanbase by alienating his old one, that's his call. He won't be returning to Fenway Park this season (our one series with the Phils is in Philadelphia), so he'll be safe from the "hysteria."

Now I will never get that image out of my head

When asked about the differences between being a starter and a reliever, Daniel Bard cited the pre-game routine. Relievers hang out and mess around, while each starter has his own ritual he'll follow every five days.

"Every guy has their own thing. [John] Lackey walks around with no pants on, bounces a baseball, eats peanut butter and jelly. Jon Lester got his headphones in, but he's still walking around, talking to guys. Curt Schilling was a guy that nobody could talk to 'til the last pitch was thrown. I just try to be me whatever that is."

The latter two I can live with - in fact, they are exactly what I imagined Lester and Schill doing before their starts. As for the revelation about Lackey? THAT was an image I NEVER needed in my head. So as my apology to all of you for putting it in YOUR head, here's a video of Philly Jonathan Papelbon impersonating Terry Francona:

The end of an era: Jason Varitek retires

I thought I could hold it together, I really did. And then, about a dozen words into his speech, Jason Varitek began to cry - and all of Red Sox Nation (including yours truly) followed suit.  Tek has been playing for the Boston Red Sox since I was seven years old - I literally cannot recall what any of the catchers who came before him look like.

Jason Varitek is the only Red Sox player I've ever met in real life, and some of you might remember this post, where I posted my favorite pictures of Jason Varitek's Celebrity Putt Putt and gushed about how my life was made complete when I handed the Captain his runaway golf ball.

Over the lifespan of this blog (about three years), I have posted about Varitek forty times (not including this one) - accounting for almost ten percent of all my posts. Though not my current favorite player (if you don't know who that distinction belongs to, you must be new here), Jason Varitek means a lot to me.

Tek is a Red Sox stalwart, a Dirt Dog, a leader. His teammates respect him, and the fans love him. He reduced Red Sox Nation to tears several times over this evening at his retirement press conference with sentiments like thanking Terry Francona for "letting me sail with you and captain your ship," and "The hardest thing to do is walk away from your teammates, and what they meant to you.''

Varitek has received tons of praise from teammates past and present (and some non-Sox) for his loyalty and work ethic (quotes gathered by @Jared_Carrabis):

• "He showed me how to be a player with honesty, hard work and integrity without ever having to say one word." - Jonathan Papelbon
• "He taught me how to be a leader & showed me how to be a champion... It was a honor and a pleasure to have been his teammate." - Johnny Damon
• "In my 23 years of professional baseball I never played with or against a more selfless and prepared player than Jason Varitek." - Curt Schilling
•  "I’ve always admired the way Jason played the game, and I appreciated the opportunity I had to get to know him throughout the years." - Derek Jeter
• "His first care was that his teammates succeeded even before himself. I have never seen a player so prepared for every game." - Mike Timlin
• "Although his leadership will be missed, his legacy in Red Sox history will be forged forever." - Tim Wakefield
• "Tek was hands down one of the best teammates I ever had... he was a true captain in every sense of the word." - Mike Lowell

Jason Varitek was always the consummate professional, even if he's declined offensively in the last few years. He always came prepared, even catching four no-hitters from four different pitchers (and might have had a fifth if Schilling hadn't shaken him off).  And, even though he refuses to autograph the picture, Jason Varitek did this:

 And if nothing else, we'll always love him for that.

Happy Trails, Paps.

We can now add Jonathan Papelbon's departure to Philly to the growing list of offseason things that are both sad and unsurprising. The closer's new contract joins:

1. The scapegoating and firing of Terry Francona
2. The departure of Theo Epstein to Chicago
3. The ever-growing list of rumors about the bad behavior of players
4. The fact that we have lost another starter to Tommy John (regardless of personal feelings about John Lackey, looking for a starter in this market is rather depressing)

We all knew this was coming.  Paps never wanted to take a home-town discount, and the Red Sox were perfectly content to go year-to-year with him in arbitration.  The strategy makes sense, especially when you looks at the recent lack of success the Sox have had with long-term contracts for pitchers.  Being bankrolled by John Henry and Co., the Sox can afford to overpay year after year; it's the failed gambles that trap them in terms of years that they're wary of.

But even though it all makes sense from a clinical point of view, it stings.  Papelbon was one of the few players this season who didn't make excuses, who worked his butt off all season, and who was reasonably consistent (his heartbreaking final inning notwithstanding), and I for one am going to miss him.  I trust new GM Ben Cherington to figure this out, and whtehr Bard steps in as the closer permanently or he finds someone via trade or free agency, I don't think we'll be without someone for the ninth inning.

Dan Shaughnessy (which, hilariously, my auto-correct just tried to change to "Haughtiness"), said it poignantly last week: "A natural in front of the cameras, Papelbon was Cinco Ocho. He was the guy who put the cardboard 12-pack box on his head when the Sox clinched the pennant at home against the Indians in ’07. He was the guy who wore the kilt when he rode the duck boat."

Paps loved the spotlight, and I think Philadelphia will be good for him.  We'll see if they regret giving him all those years, but one thing is for sure: the Red Sox will miss him.

Being a Red Sox fan is WORTH the heartache

We didn't deserve to make it.  As angry, depressed, disappointed, and bitter as I am right now (and it's toned down a lot since last night), I can see that.  The Red Sox mailed it in this September, and last night's debacle was nothing more than a microcosm of the last month.

They say you don't win pennants in April.  That might be true, but if nothing else, this season has taught us that you sure as hell can LOSE them in April.  If we didn't get swept by Cleveland (Cleveland!) the second series of 2011, we squeak into the playoffs last night - whether we could have done a damn thing one we were in? That's another story.

However, some of the reactionary stuff I was seeing on Twitter and Facebook last night was appalling, and - in many cases - downright foolish:

Let's start off with a tweet where the poster misspelled the closer's name, exposed his own misogyny, and blamed a player with a serious injury. I'm sorry, bro, but I know you personally, and there is no goddamned way you were playing through injuries like Salty's and Youk's. Despite the fact that Lackey has thus far been a HUGE disappointment for the money, he DID manage to win 12 games, and the suggestion to sign Prince Fielder is hardly going to help out our pitching.

Let's move on:

Gold. "Sell the team." To whom, I wonder? Are you going to buy it?  And it's not really like the owners can carry much of the blame here. Sure, if they had denied the money to sign a really important and obvious missing piece, but we all know that John Henry and Co. essentially have an open-wallet policy with Theo.  Perhaps that's where the blame should go?  But, don't forget we were all lauding Theo just eight months ago, and Sports Illustrated literally JUST ran a story extolling the virtues of his managerial technique (you might have to subscribe to SI to see it - sorry).

So this brings me to the most popular sentiment of the night:

You have got to be joking. Luckily, there sees to be just as many people on the interwebz who are violently disagreeing, and defending Tito.  I'm sure this conversation is of no surprise to Francona, after all, the double-edged sword of being a manager is that if the team wins, they were really talented, but if they lose, it's the manager's fault.  Could Tito have done more to light a fire underneath his team? Maybe. We will never know what he was doing in the clubhouse.  It is worth remembering that every single Red Sox is a grown-ass man, and therefore responsible for his own performance - Tito can only enhance.

And, to wrap up the evening, here's a status update that literally made me feel sick to my stomach:

Yes, that happened on my newsfeed last night. And FIVE PEOPLE "Liked" it.  Listen, I get the frustration, the thoughts that the team just doesn't work, that maybe starting over would be better - that it couldn't be worse. But these men are people. Just like you and me. They have families and lives outside of baseball. I don't care how much of a superfan you are, wishing for a plane crash just makes you a spectacularly shitty human being.

If anything, I hope this ending, this season, leaves us wiser as fans.  You don't win seasons in the offseason.  The playoffs are a special event, not a perennial birthright.  Sometimes you're on the losing end of epic chokefests.  All of these things kind of suck, and for fans like me, who didn't live through much of the storied franchise heartache (1999 and 2003, but before that was before my time), this is a stark reminder that we as Red Sox fans have lived a charmed existence.

But for me, it's worth it. I have seen two World Series Championships come to my team in my lifetime, and I believe I'll live to see many more.  Last night was crushing, painful, tear-inducing, because baseball and the Red Sox are my life.  But the feeling I got when I saw them win it in Colorado in 2007 and St. Louis in 2004 outweighs that heartache by an indescribable amount.  Being a dedicated (some might say obsessive) fan can fucking HURT sometimes - but when it feels good, it feels SO GOOD, SO GOOD, SO GOOD!

Cinco-Ocho Speaks Out

 “Cinco Ocho loves haters, he loves to drink the Haterade, man. That’s what Cinco Ocho fuels his engine with — Haterade.  Some people in this clubhouse need to be told how great they are to go out there and succeed.  I like to be told I can’t do something. Cinco Ocho needs to be told he stinks, and then he just takes the Haterade and fuels his engine. That’s how he works, man. That’s the God’s honest truth.”

Ladies and gentlemen, your closer.

Why are we using the CLOSER with an ELEVEN-RUN LEAD?!?

Snappy title, I know, but I'm legitimately lost for words. Can someone please explain to me why the hell Terry Francona decided that he needed to use the CLOSER when the Red Sox were sitting on an ELEVEN-RUN LEAD?  He couldn't have waited to see if Matt Albers could finish the thing, and only made the call to Paps if he started giving it up big? After, I don't know, six runs or so?

I'm really trying to understand the logic here, because I'm always the person trying to tell people that there's a reason Francona is the manager and not Joe "WEEI Whiner Line" - and it's because Tito generally knows what he's doing.

But I'm seriously struggling to understand this.  I know that the save is one of the most useless and overrated statistics in the history of baseball, but this was nowhere near a save situation, or even approaching a "high leverage" situation where you would want your best reliever out there (whether Paps is the Sox's best reliever can be debated, but for the purposes of this post, we'll say he's one of them).

Yes, Albers gave up a run in the eighth, but it was hardly time to push the panic button. WE HAD AN ELEVEN-RUN LEAD. Statistically, you could have thrown a postition player out there on the mound, and you would still have had a damn good chance of winning the game (is Nick Green available? I believe his ERA is still at 0.00...).

What's the harm, you ask? We won the game, you say, so quit your whining. Yes. Yes we won the game. We passed the Yankees, who lost to the Athletics, to take sole position of first place in the AL East.  But what happens if we need Paps tomorrow? Not unlikely, since we'll still be playing the Rangers.  And then what if we need him against Oakland? What if we need him for the next three games? What if we need him for more than three outs?

I know, I know... "You don't save a pitcher for tomorrow. Tomorrow it may rain." - Leo Durocher.  But I also adhere to my own radical school of thought about situations like this: don't waste a pitcher today when you have an eleven-run lead, tomorrow Andrew Miller might get shelled. 

Okay, so Durocher's quote is slightly less specific and more poetic than mine, but I literally just do not understand why you would put Paps in the game tonight.  If any of you can shed some light on this for me, do tell (in the comments, via Facebook, etc.), because I'm literally baffled.

Five-Minute Musings: Jenks, Paps, Greinke, Wheeler, and Hall

I know I have been terrible at updating this week... in my defense, it's finals AND I'm trying to pack up my whole room because I'm going abroad next semester. But I do have five free minutes this fine morning, which I will use to debrief the last week in Red Sox Nation (scope expanded due to the offseason).

1. Bobby Jenks to the Red Sox. The bullpen sure looks a hell of a lot better than it did before this signing, as we now harbor three power lefties, all potential closers. Jenks is a solid player, even if his ERA was up pretty high last season (4.44), and he provides much needed security in a bullpen that was a bigger hindrance to the Sox than the injuries last season. (I know, you don't believe me - but we lost too many games as a direct result of a faulty 'pen.) Jenks' career line can be found here at baseball-reference.

2. The status of Jonathan Papelbon. Everyone is freaking out, talking about how this trade means Paps is on the trading block, that we can't possibly keep three possible closers in the bullpen, and that somehow this is some great catastrophe. Calm. Down. Paps was always on the block for this year, because he will be a free agent next offseason. Cinco-ocho has been boasting about how he wants to "set the market for closers" for years now, and Theo never had any intention of paying him. If the presence of Jenks means we can get some impact talent for Paps (now or at the deadline) beyond the draft picks if we let him walk as a FA, I can support that. It's a smart move, and Theo knows what he's doing.

3. Zack Greinke to the Brewers. This is fantastic news for the Red Sox, as it means that a great pitcher is (a) not going to New York, Tampa, or another division rival, and (b) that he'll be in the National League. Honestly, if Greinke had ended up in New York, I wouldn't have been too worried, as his struggle with anxiety would not have boded well in a high-pressure place like the Bronx. However, this is the second time in a week that one of the game's premier pitchers jumped ship from the AL to the NL. Though the Sox play both the Phils and Brewers in interleague this season, I'll take it... the fewer top-tier pitchers my boys have to face, the better.

4. Dan Wheeler signs a one-year deal. The Rhode Island native professes to be thrilled that he'll be playing in Boston next season, even though he's making the switch from our division rival, the Rays. At least he'll have some familiar faces around, what with Carl Crawford (for whom Wheeler had nothing but praise), and the fact that his family still lives in the Ocean State. Wheeler has a 3.84 ERA in his career, and will most likely take the role of primary middle-innings guy in the bullpen.

5. Bill Hall is headed to Houston. Yes, Brad Mills (former Red Sox bench coach, and close friend of Terry Francona's) will finally get to enjoy the Bill Hall experience. Hall will be the club's starting second-baseman. I understand that, as a rule, a starter is more valuable than a sub, but the Red Sox would have been completely lost last season without Hall's super-utility abilities. The man played seven out of the nine positions (everything but first base and catcher), including a flawless inning pitched, and you just know he could have (and would have) played first base if he had been asked. Hall was a classy guy, always willing to fill in where he was needed, and I'm glad he's getting the chance to start if that's what he wants.


That's all for today, folks, but I am heading home for winter break tomorrow, so posting should be much more consistent for the next month or so. As always, thanks for reading!

Save us, Jon!

Has anyone ever noticed how many Red Sox possess some form of the name "Jon?" There's Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon, John Lackey, and John Farrell... And guess what the "J" in JD Drew stands for? Yes, Jonathan (his name is, in fact, David Jonathan, so I'm not sure how he came up with JD, but I digress).

Does one of these players hold the key to salvaging the season? I'm temped to say it's John Farrell, since he has influence over so many of the players, but in the end these are grown men who are responsible for their own performances.

Personally, I'm hoping they ALL turn it up a notch and start getting it done, starting with Jon Lester's start this afternoon.

Lester is 4-1 against the Yankees in his career, with a 4.01 ERA in ten games; in 2010, he is 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA in two starts. Take from that what you will, but Jon's not been at his best since the All-Star break.

Sometimes the rivalry is just what a pitcher needs to turn it on, and I hope he can... because I'm not sure those other Jons can go it alone.

Love is in the air...

I love this man. You might say it's just Spring Fever, that I'm quick to latch on to anyone who puts runs up on that big green scoreboard. And you'd be right. But when you're young, lust can feel amazing enough to be mistaken for love, and this infatuation is powerful.

Second in my affections? This guy:
Rookie Reddick started in center field, and contributed a double and two RBIs to the cause.

It's love.

Let's just hope McDonald can play tomorrow, because after his game-winning hit, "they beat me up pretty good. When I seen [Jonathan] Papelbon running out there, I tried to run away. Somebody got a hold of me.’’


Honestly? I'd run away, too, if he looked like that.

Perspectives on Paps

Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I think Jonathan Papelbon is an excellent closer, and I'm very pleased that he's wearing a Red Sox uniform for the time being. However, I wrote a post yesterday entreating the young pitcher to get some perspective, and I stand by what I said.

Papelbon is one of the top closers in the game, right now. However, closers don't tend to have long shelf lives, and he's already twenty-nine years old. You can toss out Mariano Rivera, because he is either a freak of nature or an android (the jury's out), and Papelbon has yet to touch the dominance that Mo reached his very first year in the majors.

According to baseball-reference.com, Papelbon's most similar player is Takashi Saito, and his most similar player through age 28 is Bryan Harvey (9 seasons in the majors, ending in 1995). The "godfather" Rivera? Didn't crack the top ten on either list, so everyone STOP throwing out that comparison. In fact, if last year was what we can expect in the future, count me out: his walk rate more than tripled, and he was absolutely painful to watch at times (that said, I'll admit that he got it done... except in ALDS Game 3).


Earlier in the offseason, I wrote this piece rattling off reasons Paps could be traded... Not that I think he SHOULD, necessarily, but Theo has done stranger things. Please don't get me wrong: I value Papelbon a lot, but his attitude gets on my nerves at times. Just because the market dictates that he make $9 million dollars does not mean he "deserves" it. (I don't have the time to get into this now, but baseball's pay scale needs an overhaul.) Papelbon is one of the least involved members of the team when it comes to charity, and I think he would benefit a lot from some volunteer work and/or fund-raising. You're nearly thirty years old, Paps... it's time to grow up and realize something we all learn at some point: the world doesn't owe you anything, nor does it revolve around you.

What Papelbon Deserves

Theo Epstein kept his arbitration-free streak intact, as the Red Sox came to terms with Manny Delcarmen (one year, $905,000), Ramon Ramirez ($1.1 million), and Jonathan Papelbon ($9.35 million). I'm a big fan of Ramon Ramirez (though I refuse to call him "Ram-Ram"), and we've all heard the "MDC has the best 'stuff' on the team" company line. I have no problem with either of their contracts.

Really, I have no problem with Papelbon's contract, either. Numbers seldom lie, and he's definitely a quality closer. It's his attitude about such things that really rubs me the wrong way sometimes:

"Understand, I'm in the prime of my career. Why would I give up something? I'd give up something if it's fair to both sides, but I want to do things for my fellow closers, just like [Mariano Rivera] paved the way for me. I want every closer out there, man, to get every penny they deserve.'' -via Gordon Edes, ESPNBoston.com

Let's be honest here, Pap... You don't want to do anything for your fellow closers. You want to take care of Number One, and that $9+ million goes a long way. And what, exactly, do you think you "deserve?" You think that because you throw a ball with accuracy and velocity, you deserve to make more money than any reasonable human being needs?

Here's a newsflash for you, Jonathan: people don't always get what they deserve. In fact, most people never see a fraction of it, and a huge portion of the world lives on less than a dollar a day (you might have heard something about Haiti...?). Most people work much harder than you do, Paps. Let's see some humility, or at least some gratitude... because right now? The only thing you deserve is a healthy dose of perspective.

Earned Respect

I know that I used a recent post to outline the possible reasons that Jonathan Papelbon could be traded, but in light of today's nesn.com article, I feel that I should clarify.

Papelbon is not untouchable, but he's not on the immediate chopping block, either. I want to emphasize once again that Papelbon's ninth inning blown save in Game 3 of the ALDS has nothing to do with any trade that might go down. He picked a terrible time for an aberrational meltdown, but Theo is rational, and as painful as the Game 3 memory is, his stat line looks like this:

2009: 66 games, 68 IP, 1.85 ERA, 1-1 record, 38 saves
2008: 67 games, 69.1 IP, 2.34 ERA, 5-4 record, 41 saves
Career (5 seasons): 268 games, 298 IP, 1.84 ERA, 14-11 record, 151 saves

Manny Delcarmen is right: fans take Jonathan Papelbon for granted. Aside from Mariano Rivera (who I'm quite sure is an android of some sort), there's no one I'd be more comfortable seeing closing out games for the Sox.

"What Paps has done here, you've got to give the guy a lot of credit," Delcarmen said. "Like the way people acted after the last game, it was surprising to me and to a lot of people because of what he has done here. Like I said, he deserves a lot of respect -- it's baseball and stuff happens. He gets it done 99 percent of the time and that was just one game."

Lord Cinco-Ocho, as he's called himself, has earned our respect. Papelbon is a valuable commodity - he's almost a sure thing every time the ninth inning rolls around - and that's exactly why I wouldn't be shocked to see him go. Theo is a big fan of buying low and selling high, and the Red Sox have done stranger things in the ninth inning than trust the job to a still-developing rookie (closer by committee, anyone?). The name Papelbon would open a lot of otherwise locked doors on the trade market, and you know Theo is sniffing out every possibility. I hope Paps is still with us come Spring, but if he's not?

Well, In Theo I Trust.

Great President? Or the GREATEST President?

As I was telling some of you about my American Presidency midterm this morning, I had to explain the course... Here are my exact words: "For the record, it's about the institution as a whole, not Obama, Buch, Lincoln, or anyone specific. Very non-partisan."

Of course, I noticed my Freudian slip pretty quickly: I meant to name the forty-third President of the United States, and not the presumptive fourth man in the Red Sox 2010 pitching rotation (don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE a course about the Sox, but this one is about the presidency).

However, that slip of the tongue got me thinking: what would it be like if Clay (or any of his Red Sox compadres ) were to take a seat in the Oval Office? What would their campaign be like? Who would their closest advisor be? Could they push their agenda through an unwilling Congress? And, most importantly, which takes precedence: the Patriot's Day morning game, or Presidential duties?

The only one with Presidential experience of any kind is, of course, Jerry Remy: honorable president of Red Sox Nation. So as I was finishing my midterm I posed the following question - "Jerry Remy: Great President? Or the GREATEST President?" Obviously, the Rem-Dawg is the inaugural President of RSN, so it remains to be see how great he might become... In the meantime, here's what I think might happen if some of our favorite Sox characters occupied the White House.

Jonathan Papelbon:
Paps would show up every day for work dressed in awkward lacy shirts, possibly with a Bud Light box on his head. He would be skilled in leading the country in high pressure situations, but would get bored if there were no problems and might pick a country to start a war of words with, just for kicks. Presidential quote: "Lord President Cinco Ocho has no comment about that situation."

Kevin Youkilis:Kevin Youkilis would support eliminating the age restrictions on buying alcohol, as long as those under twenty-one don't DRINK the booze, but dump it on Julio Lugo or Joba Chamberlain instead. His intensity level would be just as high during the Annual White House Easter Egg Hunt as it would be when dealing with Kim Jong Il. Presidential quote: "I'm not bald, I'm follically challenged. Let's be PC, people."

Jason Varitek:The Captain's first order of business would be declaring July 24 a national holiday: on that day, any MLB player (or fan!) wearing #33 is legally allowed to shove his glove into the face of anyone wearing #13. Every year, A*Rod and Tek will ceremoniously reenact the famous episode on the White House lawn. Presidential quote: "Please, I don't want to talk about my [hitting] speech-giving... most of my job is behind the plate... er I meant behind the desk..."

Mike Lowell:Before anyone gets the immigration authorities involved, Mikey was born in Puerto Rico, making him an American citizen, and thus eligible for the Presidency. Mike's agenda would be comprised entirely of invading Cuba, and democratizing the island. Don't believe me? Read his book. Presidential quote: "Suck it, Fidel!"

Tim Wakefield:Timmy would make it his business to eliminate gun violence, while still allowing for personal gun ownership (a man's gotta hunt!). His Vice President, Mike Timlin, will be his hunting buddy. However, Timlin promises not to shoot anyone in the face. Presidential quote: "Ask not what the knucklah can do for you, but what you can do for the knucklah!"

Dustin Pedroia:Pedey's first official act as the leader of the free world will be to order a booster seat for the Oval Office, followed shortly by a law that says every American must be filthy by the middle of their workday, or they're fired for not working hard enough. He'll immediately release his Presidential memoirs, tentatively titled Born to Prematurely Publish Memoirs. Presidential quote: "[Not appropriate for all audiences]"

Josh Beckett:Becks would start off with a bang by single-handedly digging Osama bin Laden out of hiding, then pelting him with 95MPH fastballs before turning him over to the United Nations. Josh would be only the second bachelor President, but hey, the guy likes to play the field... let's hope the Secret Service don't ruin his mojo. Presidential quote: "*ahem* Baseball Terms."