Papelblownsave!!!!

[speedoo]

And then loses the biggest game of the year for the Sawx.

What a loser.

 

[GavinEdreamy]

Well it isn't his fault he had to throw for a 15th consecutive day after 200 pitches in the last week. Heads should (and hopefully will) roll in the Boston front office and dugout.

 

[RS9999X]

It Sux to be a Red Sox fan. It feels...normal again.

 

[speedoo]

Well it isn't his fault he had to throw for a 15th consecutive day after 200 pitches in the last week. Heads should (and hopefully will) roll in the Boston front office and dugout.

Except you are ignoring the fact that his efficiency sucks. Maybe if he did not have to throw 40 pitches to get three outs, he'd have something left in the tank.

 

[Scoe]

Except you are ignoring the fact that his efficiency sucks. Maybe if he did not have to throw 40 pitches to get three outs, he'd have something left in the tank.

If Rivera is in his position he gets the job done even at age 41.

 

[dsturdy5]

Not a huge Papelbon fan and haven't been for several years. I'm just not sure what/who would be a viable alternative.

 

[NHUConnfan]

This is two consecutive years that Papelbon has choked in the biggest game of the year. With the unfortunate mess of Daniel Bard in the month of September, the Sox have a huge decision to make. Do they let Papelbon go and have Bard be the closer? Do they resign Papelbon? Or do they find another closer?

 

[bpo57]

This is two consecutive years that Papelbon has choked in the biggest game of the year. With the unfortunate mess of Daniel Bard in the month of September, the Sox have a huge decision to make. Do they let Papelbon go and have Bard be the closer? Do they resign Papelbon? Or do they find another closer?

If Bard didn't have his fingerprints all over 3-4 brutal losses in September then last night would never have even mattered. Papelbon is much more relaible as a closer than Bard. Pap had a great year. His K to walk ratio was better than 8 to 1 and his WHIP was less than one as I recall. He got beat in a one run game. Happens to the best of them. See Rivera (1997, 2001, 2004). There are several other people that deserve blame ahead of Papelbon.

 

[60'sfan]

If Bard didn't have his fingerprints all over 3-4 brutal losses in September then last night would never have even mattered. Papelbon is much more relaible as a closer than Bard. Pap had a great year. His K to walk ratio was better than 8 to 1 and his WHIP was less than one as I recall. He got beat in a one run game. Happens to the best of them. See Rivera (1997, 2001, 2004). There are several other people that deserve blame ahead of Papelbon.

I agree with you. He threw a lot of innings in the last week and he definitely was not used to it. Francona babied him all season long. There are a lot of people that contributed to this collapse. It was a team effort. The starting pitching was clearly to blame. Not only because they were ineffective but also because they rarely were able to even get to the 7th. Aceves might have been the most consistent pitcher all year. I sure hope that he comes back. We cannot blame Ellsbury, Pedroia, Scutaro or Otiz. I would like to add Adrian to the list of players we cannot blame but he definitely had a weak second half. 17 homeruns and 77 RBI pre-all star; 10 and 40 after. Interestingly Adrian has been a part of late-season chokes for two years in a row. I still like the fact that we have him, however.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

In all candor the problem wasn't "who were they going to pitch in that position", it was that they got themselves in that position to begin with. Where they were two weeks ago (not even as far back as Septemeber 3), the only thing to be decided on game 162 was possibly whether they would win the division or be wildcard. To make matters worse, it isn't as if the Rays tore it up down the stretch as they had quite a few bumps in the road (primarily against the O's) to help the Sox out.