Papelclown Wants To Close

From PA’s Blog:

Terry Francona has literally said all the right things when it comes to the Yankees, even to the point of saying he’s hitting Derek Jeter second “because that’s where he deserves to be.”

Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz, J.D. Drew, Dustin Pedroia … the same. Respectful of the Stadium, the Yankees, the tradition, everything.

Then we have Jonathan Papelbon, who thinks he should close tomorrow night.

“If I was managing the team, I would close. … But I’m not managing the team,” he said today.

Sam Borden and some of the other writers there asked Papelbon whether Mariano Rivera had earned the right to close.

“I think we both earned that right.” he said

After acknowleding Rivera’s status, he said he earned the right to close by winning the World Series last season.

Talk about delusional. It’s Yankee Stadium, he’s having a Cy Young year, Mariano closes. Period, end of story.

Terry Francona wouldn’t bite when asked what he would do. But Joe Girardi seemed to have idea.

“Terry is a wise man,” he said. “He knows what to do.”

Everyone in baseball knows that a new season is a new season. You don’t get rewarded for the previous year’s achievements and Papelbon’s reasoning is just dumb. Mariano has earned his right to close the game after years (multiple) of consistent work in Yankee Stadium (a legacy), however, this year he’s been untouchable in save situations. Papelbon hasn’t been nearly as good as Mo (this year), so he shouldn’t expect the call in the 9th inning of today’s AS Game. It’s as simple as that.