Calm Papelbon still pitching in
As the Red Sox offense clawed its way back into the game, manager Terry Francona placed his trust -- and very likely the season -- in the right arm of 24-year-old Jonathan Papelbon.
Working his 93-mile-per-hour fastball -- with an occasional slider and splitter in the mid-80s -- Papelbon cruised through 2 2/3 scoreless innings, setting down the Blue Jays without a serious threat. The only hits he allowed were a pair of doubles -- to right fielder Alex Rios in the seventh and Eric Hinske in the ninth.
Papelbon (3-1), declaring the outing the greatest moment of his young career, lowered his ERA to 2.70 and has not allowed a run in his last four outings (5 1/3 innings).
And while the huge crowd focused on the offensive heroics of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, Papelbon remained unflustered.
''It's awesome," Matt Clement said of Papelbon's pitching. ''He's very under control. That was the best, to me, the best he's thrown all year, and he's had some great outings. Just was dialed in and got some huge outs for us in a game where a mistake here or there could have gone the other way."
Papelbon relieved Mike Meyers with one out in the seventh, got catcher Gregg Zaun to ground out, and struck out left fielder Gabe Gross after Rios's double.
He was flawless in the eighth inning. Aaron Hill grounded to short, Russ Adams lined to short, and the most dangerous Blue Jays hitter, Frank Catalanotto, grounded to short.
In the ninth, he finished the job, getting Vernon Wells to ground to -- where else? -- short. Then Corey Koskie grounded to third, and, after Hinske doubled, Zaun popped to first.
''I felt very confident," said Papelbon, ''I knew my side [session] went well before I was called, and I just took it from there and tried to be simple and not do too much. Every outing that I have I keep learning at the big league level. Hopefully, down the road, I can learn every time I go out there and just get better and better."
Johnny Damon theorized that Papelbon is so new in the majors, he is somewhat oblivious to the pressure.
''Every out, everything that was going on in the game -- I knew that everything was going to matter," said Papelbon. ''So I knew that getting the first out of each inning was a big role for me. I knew with the lineup that we had and going late into the ballgame -- I knew we had a chance the whole time. I just kept that in the back of my mind and knew I was going to be all right."
''We got the future Roger Clemens in the house," said walkoff hero Ortiz, adding he was thankful Papelbon gave him a chance to take the winning swing.
''That kid . . . man, he's something else."
Said manager Terry Francona, ''Papelbon's stuff was so good tonight. It's not just going to be stuff in this situation, but he is so beyond his years. Now that he is starting to get comfortable, we are starting to see some of his personality. We are starting to see some emotion. He knows he belongs. I used the word extraordinary about three times. That's what [his pitching] was."
