99 pitches and a bitch ain't one
Pedro Day, as told in text messages.
katie to kelly, 7:24PM: Manny says, 'I don't like hitting against Petey, I thought you guys knew that.'
the pm to kelly, 8:29PM: pedro out after 3 innings, i feel like i accidentally raped superman.At least we won. I guess. More importantly, exactly how many DMB concerts do you think Josh Beckett has attended in his life? Phish?
send the bus drivers home
Two looks at last night's blown save:
Barely half an hour after David Ortiz's single hit the outfield turf in the Red Sox' 8-7 win yesterday, Jonathan Papelbon's locker was empty of street clothes. He had left already, bound with five other teammates -- Jason Varitek, Doug Mirabelli, Matt Clement, Tim Wakefield, and Mike Timlin -- for the Tim McGraw and Faith Hill concert at the TD Banknorth Garden.
From here.
And:
Papelbon, who allowed one run in 1 1/3 innings, was infallible by comparison to Rudy Seanez. The veteran right-hander inherited a bases-loaded situation from Tim Wakefield in the seventh inning with the Sox ahead 6-0 and allowed all three runners to score.
From here.
papichusetts welcomes you
Sports Illustrated cover boy says:
"When I first saw [Papelbon], I thought he would be something special. I thought he was a young Roger Clemens. The confidence. The velocity. The attitude. It was like a carbon copy of Roger Clemens. I'm pretty sure you guys [i.e. the media] felt the same way. You don't see many like him, a guy who comes into the game and acts like he's been around 10 years. You don't see players like that. When you do, you've got a superstar."
Brilliant! From hereAnd, apparently it's a mutual admiration society, because Papelbon had this to say about Papi:
"It's almost expected of him now, which is kind of tough on him because when he doesn't do it, it's kind of a downfall to him," Papelbon said. "He's clutch, man. He's money."
From here which is definitely recommended reading as it has many delightful bits about both Papelbon and Papi.
let's end this foolishness
Since I was on vacation during that whole swept-by-the-Twins thing, it's sort of like it never happened, right? Right.
Here's what we missed:
Read about Papelbon the younger.
Read about how much we all love Papelbon.
Read about how much Kevin Millar loves Papelbon.
Read about Foulke and the baby bullpen.
**
And MOST IMPORTANTLY, watch his attempt at selling cars. Oh NICE. I mean, it's not quite the creepy Bernie and Phil's ad where Wake seems to pass out on their bed, but still. STILL. Oh my.
just can't wait to be king
"He said, 'Go out there and take one pitch at a time,'" Papelbon recalled. "And I really thought about that, and he was right in the sense of, don't get ahead of myself and don't think about the past."
Papelbon shares the deep, deep advice he recieved from Foulke earlier this season. From here.
**
When the Boston Red Sox assembled for Spring Training in February, the pitching staff was a work in progress.
Unlike now, when the pitching staff is in perfectly solid condition at all times.
Rest of the article, all about Papelbon, here.
like a child to me
Sad, but inevitable day 'round these parts. Still, if you have to blow a save, the best way to deal is come back and get the win, eh?
"I took the ninth inning as a save opportunity even though it wasn't," said Papelbon, who pitched the ninth in a steady rain. "I knew it was all or nothing. It's a good lesson learned if you look at the way it turned out."
From the AP
A rundown of the positives we can all focus on here
**
Despite rainy conditions more than 490 fans lined Park Avenue in front of Hadlock Field on Wednesday, June 7th hoping to get one of only 1,000 Jonathan Papelbon Bobblehead dolls courtesy of Irving Oil.
Update on the SeaDog's Papelbon bobbleheads here
thicker than water
Jonathan Papelbon said his younger brother, Josh (a submariner), taken by the Sox in the 48th round of this week's draft, will do just fine in the organization. "He can really compete. He's always been one of the hardest workers. Nothing's ever come easy to him so he's worked for whatever he's accomplished and that will play out well here." Papelbon said when Chad Bradford was with the Red Sox, he had him work with his brother on his delivery. Meanwhile, Josh's twin, Jeremy, was drafted by the Cubs. "He's got three or four pitches and he throws them for strikes," said Papelbon. "He's also a competitor. It's in our blood."
From here
It's in the blood, man.
runs in the family
Papelbon's younger brothers were both drafted in the second day of the mlb draft. Jeremy went in the 19th round to the Cubs and Josh in the 48th to the Red Sox.
More on the never-exciting baseball draft here.
And unless you're celebrating your fantasy baseball acquisition of the one, the only Jon Papelbon via the ethically sketchy betrayal of a friend (the only way to acquire anything worthwhile, really), that's all she wrote.
be careful what you learn from that man
Article from The Clarion Ledger here.
But improved strength and fitness is only part of Papelbon's success story. That split-finger fastball, developed during the 2005 season and perfected in the off-season, has been huge.
"Schill (Curt Schilling) showed me the grip in spring training last year, and I kind of took it from there," Papelbon said. "Turns out, it is a natural pitch for me."
**
Really, thank god Papelbon didn't pitch last night so we can all just not talk about that debacle. ugh.
maybe someday he too will grow an awesome mustache
After all that time away, now all I've got is this little bit of fun-with-stats from mlb.com:
How good has Jonathan Papelbon been for the Red Sox? Team stats maven Peter Chase pointed out just how good with a telling note on Sunday. Since the advent of the save rule in 1969, Papelbon is just one of 10 pitchers to have 20 saves as of June 4, and only the second to have a 100 percent success rate.
The only other closer to pull that off was Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley, who was 20-for-20 on June 4 during his American League MVP- and Cy Young Award-winning season of 1992.
Other non-papelbon related tidbits in the rest of the article here.
absence makes the heart grow fonder
So, first I was sick. And then I had a weekend wedding event to attend. Which means Papelbon has been extremely neglected. So here's just a quick list of the articles I missed:
Globe piece on Foulke
The Journal News talks Papelbon
Boston Herald piece that has some Papelbon thoughts
Boston Globe on the bullpen
My favorite of these articles
And finally:
Papelbon. Learn It. Know It. Live It. The Red Sox are tied with the Yankees atop the AL East, and if Boston is to win this thing, we’d have to say that Jonathan Papelbon will be the deciding factor. The Closer earned his 19th save in as many attempts, and Boston got home runs from David Ortiz, Mark Loretta, Trot Nixon and Manny Ramirez in an 8-6 win over Toronto.
From Deadspin
