Door might be shut on closer for AL

Many argue the AL's Mariano Rivera should close tonight's All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

NEW YORK - Jonathan Papelbon spent the better part of an hour yesterday afternoon explaining why he couldn't merely step aside and concede that Mariano Rivera should be Terry Francona's closer in tonight's 79th All-Star Game.

But after filling reporter's notebooks, Papelbon stepped outside of a hotel ballroom and did exactly that.

"This is Jonathan Papelbon, closer of the Boston Red Sox," he said, using a reporter's tape recorder like a microphone. "Mariano Rivera will be closing the 2008 All-Star Game in Yankee Stadium.

"I'm making a statement right now, saying I don't want it, I want him to have it. I said all that earlier, but that's the way I feel about it."

If the game holds to form - the American League is unbeaten in the last 11 All-Star games (10 wins and a tie) and has won 16 of the last 20 since 1988 - Francona, who selected Cleveland's Cliff Lee to start against Milwaukee's Ben Sheets, will likely be handing the ball to someone to register the game's final three outs.

He has an extraordinary collection of closers from which to choose: Joe Nathan of the Twins, Francisco Rodriguez of the Angels, Joakim Soria of the Royals, George Sherrill of the Orioles, and, of course, Papelbon, one of just four Sox players chosen to the All-Star team in each of his first three seasons (Frank Malzone, Carlton Fisk, and Fred Lynn are the others).

Ordinarily, an All-Star manager would exercise the prerogative of choosing his own players, especially one who closed out the previous October's World Series.

But this is Yankee Stadium, which is being torn down at the end of the season, and Rivera has a claim to pinstriped greatness equal to those immortalized by the monuments and plaques beyond the center-field fence.

The only fitting ending, the argument goes, is for Rivera to get last call.

Francona wasn't tipping his hand. "We're not going to announce our rotation yet," Francona said yesterday. "That wouldn't - Clint [Hurdle] doesn't need our help."

Hurdle, manager of the NL team because his Rockies made it to the Series last fall, grinned when asked if he thought he'd be seeing Rivera at the end.

"I'm going to stick my neck out there and say we'll prepare for him a little bit," Hurdle said. "Watch a little video."

Papelbon is not immune to the significance of the occasion. And for a hometown crowd that already has to swallow hard to support a team that has seven Sox on it (David Ortiz can't play because of injury), imagine the reception Papelbon would get if he emerged from behind the bullpen door in the ninth.

"We have an awesome relationship," Papelbon said of Rivera. "I saw him this morning. We were hanging out with [Sox bullpen coach] Gary Tuck, who was with Mariano here.

"We have a great relationship, just from the fact that we understand each other and have that mutual respect for each other. I've always referred to him as 'The Godfather.' He's the godfather of closers. He obviously has done a lot of great things for this role. He's done so much to make this role what it is today. I have a lot of respect for him, from that aspect.

"I'm a big believer in paying your dues. If I have to step aside for an elder statesman, I'll do it.

"At the same time, I'm going after it. There's no question about it. One day, I might surpass him. If I said I didn't want to do that, I'd be questioning myself, my own character."

Papelbon said he'd talked about it with Francona a couple of days earlier, but insisted that no decision had been reached. "He said he'd get back to me," Papelbon said. They could have talked about it plenty Sunday night - the train the Sox had arranged to take their All-Star contingent from Boston to New York had a rough ride. "Never taking a train again," Papelbon said. "The engine must have broken down five times. It took us over five hours. We just played cards the whole time."

But after making a case for why he should be the man, Papelbon reversed course on his way out the door.

Rivera, naturally, said he hoped he'd get the call.

"It would be special," he said.

So, he added, is Papelbon.

"We met in Pittsburgh," he said, alluding to the 2006 All-Star Game. "I was sitting in the lounge with Bobby Jenks [of the White Sox] and Papelbon. We were talking nonsense stuff, then we talked about baseball.

"To me, they're competitors, young boys with a lot of talent. Francisco Rodriguez, Nathan, Soria, all these great relievers with the opportunity to be great closers. When I have a chance to talk to Papelbon, it's great, because I love to share things.

"This conversation was nice and serious. They were paying a lot of attention to what I was talking about."