Projo Sox Blog

As the regular season wound down, Red Sox manager Terry Francona tried to manage his bullpen not only in ways to bring a victory to Boston, but also to give relievers some work and build their confidence.

That was the case especially with right-hander Eric Gagne, obtained from Texas on July 31. Gagne faltered badly when he first came to the Red Sox and, after a bout of tendinitis in his right shoulder, he has gotten some innings. He hasn't exactly been called on for pressure-packed innings, but he was unscored upon in his last five outings, totaling 4 2/3 innings.

Hideki Okajima, meanwhile, was given almost a two-week rest to regain the strength that the left-hander lost over the second half of the season. He had a pair of one-inning outings over the final weekend of the regular season, blanking the Twins in each appearance.

Now, though, as MLB likes to say, "This Counts."

The postseason is no time for Francona to call on relievers for confidence-building sessions.

"It's time to win," said Francona.

So while he still will be calling on Okajima and Gagne, as well as Manny Delcarmen, Mike Timlin and Javier Lopez, Francona said he's going to let the score and situation dictate his moves, not the reliever's confidence level.

As a result, Francona said he will be summoning Papelbon, his fire-balling closer, quicker than normal, presumably for more than just a three-out save, partially because of the importance of the games in a five-game series, but also because there are days off tomorrow, Saturday and Tuesday if the series goes five games.

-- Steven Krasner

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