Red Sox add Andrew Bailey, GM is #winning

New closers keep coming to Boston while the Yankees haven't had to change in 16 years.

After losing six-year closer Jonathan Papelbon to free agency (Phillies, $50 million, 4 years with vesting option), the Red Sox weren't quite set on plugging in flamethrower Daniel Bard as the full-time closer. So they added Mark Melancon, as noted earlier today, saying he would be in the mix for the job after a strong 2011 with Houston. Just minutes ago, the Red Sox acquired Andrew Bailey, the Athletics' All-Star closer.

Yanks’ comeback falls short, Garcia lit up

The Yankees dug themselves into a hole early, and they never made it out. Jon Lester and Jonathan Papelbon made sure of that.

Scoreboard Says:
Red Sox 6, Yankees 4
W: Jon Lester
L: Freddy Garcia
S: Jonathan Papelbon

Mariano Rivera infographic shows why he’s irreplaceable

The Washington Post put together an excellent infographic that shows how many closers other teams have had during Mariano Rivera’s time with the Yankees. At first glance, it’s a bit confusing, but it’s very clear after reading the index at the top.

The Cubs have had 11 saves leaders since 1997, the year Rivera inherited the closer role from John Wetteland, and five other teams had 10 saves leaders in that 14-year span.

Have a good laugh at Jonathan Papelbon

Jonathan Papelbon yesterday allowed two runs in a minor league game. Here’s what he had to say after the game (via Craig Calcaterra).

“This was exactly what I wanted.”

Well put, sir. The Red Sox closer sure is getting his work in this spring. In five innings he’s allowed seven earned runs on two homers with five walks and three strikeouts.

The story with the Yankees closer Mariano Rivera is a little different: 4 IP, H, 0 ER, 5 K’s. Just sayin’.

Baseball’s best bullpens: Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers

Last night the Yankees paired the best closer of all time with the best closer in baseball last year. Only one other team has a comparable one-two punch: the Red Sox.

I’d also add the Tigers to this best bullpen in the game discussion with their addition of Joaquin Benoit, who posted a 1.34 ERA for the Rays last season.

Yankees	Red Sox	Tigers
Mariano Rivera	Jonathan Papelbon	Jose Valverde
Rafael Soriano	Daniel Bard	Joaquin Benoit
David Robertson	Dan Wheeler	Joel Zumaya
Pedro Feliciano	Hideki Okajima	Daniel Schlereth
Joba Chamberlain	Bobby Jenks	Ryan Perry

Yankees News: Sox salvage split, Tex out

A few tidbits of the day’s happenings in Yankeeland:

• The Red Sox won a nail-biter over the Yankees, 2-1, as Jon Lester defeated Phil Hughes. The Yankees had major opportunities to score in the last three innings, but Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon came up big in big spots to earn the series split.
• Mark Teixeira hit his team-leading 26th homer — accounting for the only Yankee run — and he’s on an absolute home run tear lately. Six of his last 10 hits are home runs.
• Unfortunately, Tex made the last out of today’s game, stranding Derek Jeter at second base.
• Tex stayed behind for the flight to Texas, as the team gave him permission to wait in New York with his wife. They’re expecting a baby to be born Tuesday. This is bad news for the Yankees, as they have four lefties ahead and Tex’s absence means Lance Berkman most likely will be playing first. The Yankees benched Berkman today because they faced southpaw Jon Lester.

Red Sox make Yanks pay for early mistake

The Red Sox ousted the Yankees in the first game of a four-game series, 6-3, behind 7-1/3 strong innings from Clay Buchholz. Javier Vazquez took the loss, his first since June 30.

Best of All: Robinson Cano notched his 12th game with three hits or more this season. Unfortunately, the hitters behind him combined to go 1-for-16.

The bullpen continued to shut down opponents. Joba Chamberlain, Kerry Wood, Boone Logan and Chad Gaudin pitched 3-2/3 scoreless innings in relief of Vazquez.

Mark Teixeira added his 24th homer of the year in the first inning to give the Yankees their only lead of the game.

Worst of All: Francisco Cervelli’s error in the second accounted for three unearned runs charged to Vazquez. Vazquez’s night ended in the sixth when he allowed a two-run homer to Ryan Kalish and then a walk to Jed Lowrie.

Jonathan Papelbon nailed down the save in the ninth despite an awful track record against the Yanks this season. Derek Jeter worked a walk on 12 pitches with two out, but Nick Swisher flied to left to end it.

Coming Up: The Yankees try to even up the series Saturday at 4 p.m. with CC Sabathia on the mound.

Papel-bombed! A-Rod, Thames deliver ninth-inning heroics

After blowing a five-run lead, the Yankees trailed by two going into the bottom of the ninth against Jonathan Papelbon. The day after Mariano Rivera blew a save, the Yankees were the ones who came from behind, as Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run homer to tie it and Marcus Thames blasted a two-run shot to win it, 11-9, in walk-off fashion for the first time all year.

Best of all: Javier Vazquez, whose last relief appearance against the Red Sox in The Bronx goes without being said, earned the W by striking out Kevin Youkilis in the top half of the ninth.

Worst of all: The Yankees held a 6-1 lead after two innings. They should never have been trailing, especially with the emerging Phil Hughes toeing the rubber.

Line of the Night: A-Rod+Thames: 4-for-9, 3 R, 8 RBI, 2 HR.

Up Next: Game 2 of this two-game series is same place, same time, with CC Sabathia and Josh Beckett starting.

The Grandy Man can!

We knew Curtis Granderson was a smart guy. He’s especially smart for hitting a game-winning homer in the rubber game and a homer on his first at bat as a Yankee. Now he’s won over all the fans, as his 10th-inning homer gave the Yankees a 3-1 win and a 2-1 series win over the Red Sox.

Quick ‘Cap:
Granderson wasn’t the only offseason acquisition that impressed Wednesday night. Pitcher Chan Ho Park, who took the loss in Game 1, hurled three sharp innings to earn the win after Andy Pettitte’s outing. John Lackey was in line for the win after six shutout innings, but Scott Schoeneweis blew the lead when Nick Swisher singled in Jorge Posada from second in the seventh.

David Ortiz made an attempt at quieting the writers after telling off the writers yesterday. Big Papi drove in Dustin Pedroia in the third inning for his first hit and RBI of the season.

It was fun watching Brett Gardner get in Jon Papelbon’s head in the 10th. After several throws over, Gardner swiped second and Papelbon ended up walking Derek Jeter. Mark Teixeira scored Gardner on a groundout later in the inning. Mariano Rivera did his thing in the ninth for the second time of the year. Full box score here.

Thoughts:
Props to the new members of the team in this series. Javier Vazquez will make his first start of the year on Friday, but Granderson, Park and Johnson all had a very nice series. Even though Johnson didn’t get a hit, he still walked five times — one of which drove in the game-winning run on Tuesday night.

Park’s innings on Wednesday were particularly important because the Yankees bullpen could’ve used a break after Tuesday’s affair.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox bullpen has to be a major concern in New England.

Line of the Night:
Park: W, 3 IP, H, K. He made everyone forget what happened on Sunday.

Up Next:
I predicted this past series perfectly, let’s see if I can do it again for the series against the Rays that begins on Friday.

Papelbon’s take on Yankees-Red Sox games

“Man, this movie is so good I wish it would have never ended.”

That’s what Jonathan Papelbon thinks of Yankees-Red Sox games. If it’s cold out, “bundle up and drink beer” he added.

I’m sure when Papelbon watches Avatar he’s staring at the screen the same intense way he does when he looks in for the catcher’s sign.

Before continuing, you’ll want to head over to Craig Calcaterra’s analysis of Papelbon’s analogy. If you’re too lazy, at least read why he thinks the games are too long:

Mound meetings, equipment adjustments, extra bullpen throws and long stares into the catcher before each pitch, often by closers like Papelbon and Mariano Rivera who only throw one damn pitch most of the time anyway.

The last part is so true! Well, kind of. Both throw mainly one pitch, but deciding — and nailing — the location of each pitch is what makes them so good. On the other hand, there definitely is some added time for intimidation and suspense purposes.

Honestly, I couldn’t care less how long these games last. In fact, I wouldn’t mind them going even longer! It is the greatest rivalry in sports, and I’m sure there meetings are the most watched games of the regular season.

I feel like the longer the games the go, the more I get into them. The fact that the Yankees can blow out the Red Sox 20-11 on Friday and then lose 14-1 on Saturday is amazing. And those same teams went 14 innings without scoring a single run earlier that month.

As John Sterling would say, “you can never predict baseball.” It’s especially true for Yankees-Red Sox games. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

But I agree with She-Fan that the rivalry shouldn’t kick off the season. That’s just too soon to play three of the best games of the year.

'Big Money' for Papelbon, King Felix [Photoshop]

Hated Red Sox closer Jon Papelbon avoided arbitration with the Red Sox today, signing a hefty $9.35MM deal for 2010. King Felix Hernandez, a 2012 target for most Yankees fans, inked a five-year, (“in the neighborhood of”) $80 million contract with the Mariners.

That’s a lot of dough for pitchers.

Papelbon: 'Me and my brain are thinking'

Red Sox closer Jon Papelbon is either clueless or has been hibernating this winter.

Gordon Edes of ESPN Boston informs us he was completely unaware of the Red Sox acquiring John Lackey, Mike Cameron, Adrian Beltre and Marco Scutaro. This pretty much sums up his feelings for the club:

"I had no idea we got [John] Lackey until [trainer Mike] Reinold came down to see me, just a few days ago,'' he said. "I swear to you. I don't know anything about the ballclub, but I know the words to the 'Mickey Mouse Clubhouse' song.''

Well that makes sense. Here's what he said on the possibility of a big raise next year:

"Heck yeah, as far as what me and my brain are thinking,'' Papelbon said, "but I haven't even sat down with my agents [Seth and Sam Levinson] yet.

Opposed to when he and his brain are not thinking together... This last quote made me laugh the most:

But when you look at what I've done so far, you can't compare it to many other closers besides Mo [Rivera].''

Even if the numbers are comparable to Mo's in his first few years, he hasn't done it for 15 years and doesn't have the postseason fame. The scary part is, Mo actually has improved after hitting a peak age of 33.

I'm just counting the days until Papelbon has a mental breakdown and quits baseball before he reaches 33 (November '13).

Jon Papelbon Featured Card of the Week

The Red Sox season is officially over, and fans can blame the man featured on this 2007 Topps card. It is Jon Papelbon’s rookie card, and has some decent value to it — not quite as much after yesterday.

Papelbon had not allowed a single run in his career in the postseason prior to yesterday’s game. He entered the ninth with a two-run lead, but Bobby Abreu and Vladimir Guerrero came up with the big blows to hand Papelbon his first postseason loss.

Red Sox, Papelbon blow biggest lead since 1989

If it’s bad news for the Red Sox, it definitely means good news for the Yankees. Last night was no exception when the Red Sox watched the Orioles scored 10 unanswered runs in the late innings to take an 11-10 victory. The best part, Jonathan Papelbon blew the save and allowed the game-winning run to score.

According to NESN, a nine-run lead was the largest lead the Red Sox have blown and lost the game since 1989.

It was a thing of beauty to watch the Red Sox blow the lead at the exact same time the Yankees regained the lead for good in the eighth inning.

Papelbon/Posada Featured Yankee Card of the Week!

This might be the only time Jonathan Papelbon and Jorge Posada ever have a meeting on the mound, especially after Papelbon’s latest ramblings about signing with the Yankees. If you are still wondering why these two are together on the mound, it is because they were battery mates during the 2007 All-Star Game.

 

It is a 2007 Topps Update Classic Combos card that I found in a 2007 Topps pack. It is valued around $4.00, which is the highest price among this Classic Combos collection.

Check out all of the previous featured cards on this blog here.

Papelbon tries to make amends

I know what you’re thinking.  I don’t want to read about Red Sox players too often on this site, but I don’t mind when they dig themselves into a deeper hole.  Here’s how Jon Papelbon “clarified” what he said yesterday:

"I said I would go to any team I felt was best for my situation, whether it's the Yankees or whoever," said Papelbon. "But the thing that you have to understand is that's three years away. OK?"

Oh, only three years away? Gotcha.  I’m sure Brian Cashman will be asking for your phone number any day now…

UPDATE: Via MLBTR:

“I just think that when people hear what I said or people read what I said sometimes they can only see certain things. I want to make that clear, I don’t want to go (expletive) for the Yankees,” Papelbon said. “Believe me, I’ve got a ring here and I’m playing for a manager and general manager who are going to protect me. I’ve been on a team in baseball who has been in first-place more than any other (expletive) team in baseball. It’s just a simple fact for me that what I was stating that guys nowadays don’t necessarily get the opportunity to be with a team for a long period of time. Do I want to be with the Red Sox for as long as I can? Of course. There is no question about because I know I’m playing a manager and general manager who are going to protect me and to me that’s all that matters.”

Wow. That’s all I have to say.

Papelbon says he would consider being a Yankee

Jonathan Papelbon said on Sirius XM Radio that he would consider the Yankees an option if he had to leave the Red Sox.

"Not only the Bronx, but anywhere. I think anywhere is a possibility. You always have to keep that in the back of your mind because you can't just be one-sided and think that, "Oh, I'm going to be in a Red Sox uniform my entire career" because nowadays that is very, very rare and hopefully we can because there's no question I would love to stay in a Boston Red Sox uniform but I have to do what's best for me and play in an atmosphere where I'm wanted."

I understand what he’s saying about not being close-minded, but to mention the Yankees like that is a little appalling to me.  Not only that, but another Red Sox player was linked to the Yankees today.  What is this world coming to!?

I understand Johnny Damon is a Yankee now, but he’s an “idiot.”  Papelbon is hated by all Yankees fans.  I’m sorry, but if No. 58 ever dawns pinstripes, I may have to move to another club myself.

Defending Gardner

From ESPN's Rob Neyer's Blog, people are trying to make the argument to move Derek Jeter to center field, bring in Orlando Cabrera for shortstop, which would lead to Brett Gardner being sent back down to the minors.

Come on, was I imagining things when Gardner got a walk-off hit against Jonathan Papelbon last year? I don't think so. He is an extremely valuable stolen base threat, especially if he came off the bench and acted as a defensive specialist. I strongly believe that Gardner needs to stay in the majors and become a better hitter in the majors. The pitching is just not the same in Triple-A as it is in the majors.

I see Gardner splitting time with Melky Cabrera pretty evenly during the season.

Photo from The New York Times