They've been able to save Papelbon
The rain was falling yesterday as Jonathan Papelbon quickly dressed for a rare early exit from Fenway.
On the field, he's had many days off, having worked only once since May 6, a sign that 1) the starters are doing their job; 2) the offense is creating big leads, which means his services aren't required; and 3) the Red Sox are trying to manage his outings so they have a dominant closer in August, September, and possibly October.
Amazingly for someone who is so competitive, there's been no frustration from Papelbon. No plea to have the shackles taken off. For despite the long respites, partly to make sure he is not overworked after being diagnosed with a subluxation of his right shoulder last Sept. 1, he has bought into the program.
He will not pitch many back-to-back games. He's done it only twice this season, and for one inning each time. He has pitched one inning 11 times, two-thirds of an inning once, and once, April 8 against Texas, he went 1 2/3. He has 10 saves in 11 chances. His only blown save came May 1 against Oakland, when Travis Buck hit a terrible 0-and-2 pitch for a tying two-run homer.
Papelbon is like every closer. When the situation presents itself, or is close to presenting itself, he wants in. But he's accepting the fact that he's not always going to be in. And he knows it's for his own good.
"It's not an easy role to manage," Papelbon said. "Or even be in. It's a tough role. You go through stretches like this. You go through stretches completely the opposite of this. It's about staying fit and ready to go."
The experts say a closer has to work regularly to maintain his rhythm, but Papelbon has been able to have three or four days off and come in and blow away opposing batters. He has struck out 17 of 52 batters. He's allowed opponents to bat .130 and owns a 1.35 ERA. He's saved 18 games in 18 tries over the last two Aprils and has pitched 23 2/3 scoreless innings in 22 career games in April.
While May didn't start well with the blown save, it didn't spill over. He's pitched three scoreless innings and has two saves in his last three outings.
"I feel stronger tenfold than I did at this time last year," Papelbon said. "It's not even close. You can't compare it, really. I feel like it hasn't even begun. I feel so good right now. Knock on wood. So, something's working."
Many of the game's great closers have had problems early this season, so the Red Sox are fortunate.
The Yankees' Mariano Rivera hasn't been able to get going. Toronto's B.J. Ryan is gone for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. We've seen the disastrous outings of Baltimore's Chris Ray against the Sox. Oakland's Huston Street is now on the disabled list. Atlanta's Bob Wickman, who will be at Fenway this weekend for an interleague series, is off the DL, but Braves lefthander Mike Gonzalez is on it after suffering from diminished velocity.
When the Sox finally made the decision to go back to Papelbon as closer after flirting with using him as a starter for most of spring training, they did so with some trepidation. After all, how would it look if they made a point of saying all winter that he had to start to protect his shoulder, only to have him break down as the closer? That's what they are trying to guard against.
Papelbon said in spring training he would be used like Rivera -- for the ninth inning only -- and he hasn't been far off. There was a game against the Angels when he was brought in during the eighth and wound up not pitching the ninth, but otherwise, he's been used primarily as a ninth-inning closer.
There have been times when he's been passed by because the team didn't want too many back-to-back outings. For instance, there was the April 20 game against the Yankees, which Hideki Okajima closed after Papelbon had pitched back-to-back games against Toronto.
On Monday night, when Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched a complete game against the Tigers, Papelbon was up a couple of times in the eighth inning, and at one point seemed to be trying to figure out whether he should be.
"It's a delicate process," he said. "I'm not going to say [what was going on] just for competitive reasons, but we have a plan for everything and a plan of attack. It's working, man, it's doing good."
There's no reason to change anything right now. The Sox have a comfortable lead in the American League East. There's no reason to overwork any reliever.
There will be big games this summer in which the Sox just might take Papelbon out of the Closer Protection Program and let him pitch three days out of four. If they're planning that, they're not saying. It may depend on how well Okajima continues in his setup role, and whether Mike Timlin is effective after returning from shoulder tendinitis.
The Red Sox have been fortunate with Okajima's out-of-the-blue success and that Timlin's injury hasn't altered their plans with Papelbon. You certainly don't want to lose games, whether they are early or later in the season, because your closer isn't available. But the Sox have had no such incidents -- Okajima, J.C. Romero, and Timlin have each saved a game in which Papelbon was not available -- which means their plan to protect Papelbon has been able to proceed.
While Papelbon feels strong now, teams usually have to put a strain on their closer at some point. What we don't know is whether Papelbon can assume a heavier workload. Papelbon is 26, and if he's going to do this job for the next 10 years, he must show durability.
The best-case scenario is that he continues the current program all season. But what if the program has to change? It's a decision the Sox hope they don't have to make.
Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com. 
