Rough going for Papelbon

NEW YORK - Jonathan Papelbon paid a steep price for daring to suggest he was a worthy choice to close last night's All-Star Game, even though he made it clear in a mass interview session Monday that he was prepared to defer to Mariano Rivera, then told the Globe, "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."

The back page of yesterday's New York Daily News ran a full-page photo of Papelbon, accompanied by the headline "Papelbum." Then, during yesterday afternoon's red-carpet ride down the Avenue of the Americas, Papelbon was on the receiving end of some rough treatment from the crowd lining the boulevard. "Brutal," he said of the coverage. "They missed the point I was trying to make. What kind of closer would I be if I didn't want to close? But I said I was willing to step aside.

"The whole shebang was messed up. My wife was really upset. We got threats, everything. I wish I hadn't taken her."

All of the Sox were booed. "I learned two things," manager Terry Francona said of the parade. "They want Rivera to pitch, and I [stink]."

Papelbon worked the eighth in the AL's 4-3 win and gave up a run. Rivera came on with one out in the ninth and struck out the Cardinals' Ryan Ludwick, and Rays catcher Dioner Navarro quickly gunned out Cristian Guzman trying to steal second.

Schilling's salute

Curt Schilling is a six-time All-Star. Twice he started for the National League, and each time the American League starter was a Red Sox pitcher.

In 1999 at Fenway Park, Schilling was the losing pitcher to Pedro Martínez. While Martínez was striking out five batters in two innings, Schilling was touched for a couple of runs in the first on RBI singles by Jim Thome and Cal Ripken Jr., and the AL All-Stars made that lead stand up in a 4-1 win.

In 2002, Schilling was the starter in the infamous tie game in Milwaukee's Miller Park, in which Derek Lowe of the Sox started for the AL. Schilling pitched two scoreless innings, striking out former Sox third baseman Shea Hillenbrand, Alex Rodriguez, and Jason Giambi.

The last All-Star team to which Schilling was selected was 2004, but he did not pitch because of a bruised right ankle, the one that would become famous that October in the "Bloody Sock" game.

Interestingly, Schilling did not reference that AL Championship Series contest when asked for his enduring memories of Yankee Stadium. Instead, the injured Sox pitcher harkened back to 2001, and the epic World Series staged by the Diamondbacks and the Yankees, the one in which Schilling mocked Yankee mystique and aura as "a couple of nightclub dancers," then watched the Yanks stage three consecutive memorable wins in the Bronx, including comebacks in Games 4 and 5, before Arizona won the last two back home.

"I have a couple of lasting memories," Schilling wrote in an e-mail this week. "One is watching Tino [Martinez] and Derek [Jeter] hit home runs to beat us in Game 4, thinking that there was just no place in the world that bred players the way the Yankees and Yankee Stadium did.

"The other was my first time there, walking out to first base and circling around the area, thinking all the time I was standing in the place that Lou Gehrig played and that maybe there was just one piece of dirt still in that part of the infield that remained from when he was there. Weird, I know, but I still scooped some up and saved it.

"Then, walking out to the monuments and seeing those plaques, and realizing those guys had played literally feet from where I was standing. My dad told me that Mickey Mantle was the greatest athlete/player he ever saw, including Bo Jackson, so I have always had a special fondness for anything Mantle, and hearing and seeing his history. Almost surreal to stand out there and know he played on that field.

"Yankee Stadium is the first sporting venue I ever felt should have been or should be declared a national treasure. You can hate them all you want, but you cannot deny some of the greatest athletes that ever walked the planet and most famous players to ever put on a uniform wouldn't exist without the New York Yankees."

Injection for Francona

Francona revealed that upon his return to Boston, he will go to Massachusetts General Hospital for an injection in his neck today. Francona said he has had little feeling in his left arm for the last couple of months, and that last week he dropped his pen because he was unable to grip it properly. The condition, Francona said, is a consequence of an old disk problem that required surgery . . . The Sox promoted hot pitching prospect Michael Bowden to Triple A Pawtucket . . . There was speculation that with Julio Lugo out (torn quadriceps), the Sox would have interest in Giants shortstop Omar Vizquel, but a Sox official shot that down, saying the team is content with a combination of rookie Jed Lowrie and veteran Alex Cora . . . The Sox will hold a workout tomorrow night in Anaheim for players who did not participate in the All-Star Game, though Francona said he expected many of the Stars would show up.

Lincecum sidelined

Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum was a late scratch after he was taken from the host hotel to New York Presbyterian Hospital, where he was diagnosed with flu-like symptoms and dehydration . . . Francona said he wasn't certain whether Oakland's Justin Duchscherer would be able to pitch because of a throat infection. Duchscherer came on in the sixth . . . David Ortiz had another round of batting practice, sending several balls into the upper deck, in advance of his rehab assignment to Pawtucket. The PawSox said only standing-room tickets remain for the games (tomorrow, Friday, Saturday) in which Ortiz is scheduled to serve as DH. Ortiz is scheduled to take Sunday off, then play three more games for Double A Portland before his projected return to the Sox July 25.