Papelbon is trying to re-locate

There it was again. Fastball, fastball, fastball, fastball. The pitch the same, the location different, the results devastating for the Red Sox. But, even though it clearly didn't work out last night, with Jonathan Papelbon beaten by fastballs to Dan Johnson, Fernando Perez, and Dioner Navarro, the reliance on the fastball is by design.

While Papelbon at times has an excellent split-fingered fastball, it's his four-seamer that has been his bread-and-butter. And dedication to improved location of that fastball, as well as improved efficiency, has led to a plan Papelbon has been carrying out over the past couple of months. But location is especially critical to the new strategy - without location, it doesn't work.

And that was the case last night.

In the ninth inning of a 5-4 loss to the Rays at Fenway, Papelbon threw three straight balls to start out the Johnson at-bat, and had to battle back to 3-and-2, showing Johnson fastball after fastball. It took six pitches, but on that sixth pitch, Johnson let it fly right out of the park.

But the pitch that caused Papelbon more consternation was the one on which Navarro doubled to bring in the winning run.

"I think that I probably could have gone to a different pitch to Navarro there," Papelbon said. "He's probably sitting heater there. That was probably his whole approach, to slap something the other way. Lately I've been throwing my fastball a lot. It's been working, it's been successful. I went to try to go do that same thing tonight, and just mislocated, misfired some balls tonight."

So did that make him more vulnerable with the lengthy at-bat to Johnson?

"I wouldn't say so," catcher Jason Varitek said. "He's got deception, he's got life. He's going to mix in his other stuff at different times, and he can. It's just a matter of he got beat with two swings."

The point of throwing so many fastballs is to cut down on Papelbon's pitch count. That's one reason Papelbon has been used in situations the Red Sox wouldn't have put him in last season. Last night's outing was his third straight, and his save Monday night was his 10th of more than three outs, the most of anyone in the majors this season. He's pitched more than an inning 12 times, as opposed to just four last year.

Papelbon has lowered his pitches per plate appearance, and pitches per inning. While strikeout pitchers generally have higher pitches per plate appearance, Papelbon is down to 3.86 this season, from 4.07 last year. His pitches per inning have decreased to 15.0 from 15.6. With that, his strikeouts per inning are down (12.96 in 2007 to 10.14 this season), but it has allowed him to pitch more.

"Yes, they may be sitting on a fastball, but when he has the command that he can show and the ability to throw it to four quadrants of the strike zone, you can say at 95-96 miles per hour, that's like four different pitches," pitching coach John Farrell said before the game. "Because he goes to those areas by design, he can begin to spread the strike zone a little bit more, which has the same effect if you're using a split or a slider off the plate."

Farrell said the more Papelbon uses his fastball, the greater the consistency is in terms of power and velocity and command.

As Papelbon said before the game, "I don't feel there's a reason for me going to my second-best pitch when I'm effective with my No. 1."

And, almost all the time, that is true. But not last night.

Working man

David Ortiz was initially given the night off, just his second since coming back from the disabled list July 25. In those 39 games, Ortiz batted .295 with five home runs and 30 RBIs. "Just a day off," Ortiz said before the game. "Not a big deal." But by the seventh inning, the day off was over. Ortiz pinch hit for designated hitter Jeff Bailey, flying to right field. Then Ortiz came up again in the ninth, with Mark Kotsay on first base and one out, but he again sent a fly ball to right field, leaving it up to Coco Crisp, who popped out to end it . . . Mike Lowell's home run was his first at Fenway Park since June 12 against Baltimore. His last five homers had come on the road . . . Jason Bay hit a home run in his third consecutive game, the second-longest streak of his career. He hit homers in six straight from May 22-28, 2006 . . . Crisp singled in the fifth inning to bring his hitting streak to 11 games. His career-high is a 14 gamer . . . Kevin Youkilis reached base again, marking the 43d straight game in which he has reached safely. That's the longest streak in the majors this season, as he passed Albert Pujols (42) . . . David Aardsma pitched an inning for Lowell in a rehab outing. He struck out two batters in a 1-2-3 fifth inning for the Spinners in Game 2 of their first-round series with Batavia. Batavia won, 13-9.

High school musical

The Red Sox had a bit of pregame fun at Papelbon's expense. In a video given by Papelbon's parents to Comcast SportsNet - which will show it tonight on "Sports Tonight" at 6:30 and 10 - the closer demonstrates just how well he'd do on "Dancing with the Stars." Ortiz assembled the team and the media for a showing of the video in the afternoon. It began with Papelbon, in a long dress, dancing around a stage, partially to "Barbie Girl." Then came the mother lode: Papelbon and a male friend from high school recreating the final dance scene from "Dirty Dancing" with Papelbon in the role of Patrick Swayze. There was much laughter at the expense of Papelbon, who didn't seem to know this was coming. "The senior girls had a talent show and we were making fun of them," said Papelbon. "Probably the first time I've seen it since high school. Actually, I think that's got a lot of talent. You see those moves?" Papelbon has already turned down the show, but he might be willing to accept after his career.

Manager's decisions

Jacoby Ellsbury sat against Scott Kazmir last night, with manager Terry Francona inserting Kotsay, also a lefthanded hitter. Neither has had a lot of at-bats against Kazmir, but Ellsbury's quadriceps muscle was the determining factor. Ellsbury pinch ran for Kotsay in the ninth and stole his 45th base of the season . . . Bartolo Colon was recalled from Triple A, bringing the roster to 33 players, and ending the September call-ups (other than those for injuries). Colon was on the disabled list from June 17 to Sept. 7 with a back strain, and he will pitch in Saturday's doubleheader, though the Sox haven't determined which game . . . The Sox will have an online drawing for ticket-buyers for the Division Series. To register, beginning tomorrow at noon, go to www.redsox.com. The drawing is Monday.