Projo Sox Blog

By KEVIN McNAMARA
Journal Sports Writer

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - As the Red Sox were on their way back from a 5-0 hole Wednesday night in Cleveland, the excitement was quickly building on the team's bench.

After closing to 5-2, manager Terry Francona could sense his team's rally. He also started shuffling bullpen possibilities through his head. The Red Sox' bullpen has worked overtime over the last week to 10 days and performed very well. But a manager is always conscious of over-working particular pitchers, especially early in the season.

"As fun as that game was (Wednesday), I wasn't enjoying it as much because I could see that game getting tied and then, uh-oh," Francona said. "It seems like you never have enough (pitching)."

The Red Sox relief corps shut out the Indians over the game's final four innings. None of the four pitchers who followed starter Jon Lester to the mound enjoyed an easy inning but the results speak for themselves. The Sox' bullpen leads the major leagues with a 2.26 ERA and is first in the American League in keeping inherited runners from scoring.

Francona has done a good job juggling his relievers. Hideki Okajima leads the team with 12 appearances, while Manny Delcarmen, Javier Lopez, Ramon Ramirez and Jonathan Papelbon all have pitched in 10 games each.

"The one thing we've done is we've never pitched anyone who when we go into a game saying, 'We're going to stay away from this guy,' we've never gone to him," said Francona. "Even on some of those long nights. One or more of those guys have risen to the occasion. We haven't overdone anybody. And we're not setting out to be on top of any of those lists."

 Tags  Hideki Okajima Javy Lopez Jonathan Papelbon Manny Delcarmen

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