Pardon me for being a little quiet on here today. It’s been a rough weekend for me as the UConn Huskies football team lost on Saturday afternoon, the Boston Red Sox lost to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and then the student beat the teacher in the New England Patriots/Denver Broncos game.
All hope in Red Sox Nation yesterday rested on the right shoulder of Clay Buchholz. He went out and did his job as the offense broke out of it’s shell and gave him a lead. While he left the game after loading up the bases, his bullpen buddy Daniel Bard came in and bailed him out.
After another inning of work, Billy Wagner came on with a 5-2 lead and got into a little bit of trouble. Jonathan Papelbon came in to try and bail out Wagner but instead gave up a 2-run single to Juan Rivera. Papelbon got out of the inning after that and the offense added another run to make it 6-4.
With the way Papelbon had pitched during the season, a little scare while on the mound became normal to us. Only three times during the season did Papelbon blow a save and had a perfect ERA during the postseason.
So as he got into trouble during the 9th, the thought of him blowing the game came to everyone’s minds. But when it happened, you could hear the collective breath of all of New England and Red Sox Nation be held. Kind of like seeing something and not believing what you had just witnessed.
Papelbon came off the fields to boos, which may have been appropriate at the time but were totally uncalled for. How many times has Papelbon saved the game and he’s been cheered. I really thought Red Sox fans were better than that. But for those who booed, it made them no better than New York Yankees fans.
Julio Lugo deserved the booing. Papelbon simply didn’t. I’m sure if you asked anyone in the Red Sox clubhouse if they’d want Paps out there in the same situation again, I’m sure you won’t find one person who wouldn’t. He’s human, he had a bad outing. It happens. It’s just unfortunate that it happened during the playoffs.
So where do Theo Epstein and the Red Sox go from here? There are lots of questions to be answered.
The main one being what will it take to keep Jason Bay in a Red Sox uniform? Will the Red Sox pickup the options of Victor Martinez and Alex Gonzalez (no brainers to me)? Have we seen the last of Jason Varitek in a Red Sox uniform?
All of these questions will be answered in the coming weeks.
For more slices of Boston Red Sox goodness, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and Providence Journal websites.
And if you must see what the enemy papers are saying you can check out the LA Times, Orange County Register and LA Daily News websites.
