Jonathan Papelbon News

The Boston Red Sox continue to surpass expectations, and it is getting close to the point where we can realistically call them playoff contenders.

The decline of one of the most promising pitchers in recent Red Sox history has been epic.

Daniel Bard walked five batters on Wednesday night in a Double-A game. He is now walking roughly three times as many batters as he is striking out, with 17 walks against six punch outs in 12-2/3 innings.

Very rarely can you determine the winner of a baseball trade after five months or call a trade a bust in such a short period of time.

As Paul Prims wrote here , the Sox bullpen is in a state of flux, filled with injury, inexperience and inconsistency.

From 20-8 to 2-8. And if not for a gritty comeback and a pitching masterpiece, that latter stretch would be something really ugly.

With the Red Sox suffering through a frustrating slide and the bullpen being bit by the injury bug, there has been some retroactive second-guessing of the decision to let Jonathan Papelbon walk.

When Andy Bernard became manager of the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin, he decided it was time for a change.

At the end of April, the Red Sox were in first place at 18-8, which projects to a 112-win pace over a full 162-game season.

Mariano Rivera is 15-for-15 in save opportunities in what he's said will be his last season.

Definately not the way I wanted my time here with the Red Sox to go, hopefully ill get a chance to show #RSN the real pitcher I am someday The Red Sox have suddenly gone from having one of the deepest bullpens in baseball to having a big question mark there.

Ryan Howard looped a two-run single to right field in the 10th inning after Philadelphia scored twice in the ninth to tie it, lifting the Phillies to a 4-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.

If timing is everything in life, Junichi Tazawa's could not have been worse than it was yesterday, when he gave up a game-winning, solo home run to Toronto's Adam Lind in the top of the ninth of a 2-2 game, blowing another strong effort by Clay Buchholz and coming only a few hours after the Sox' original closer, Joel Hanrahan, announced he was done ... (more)

Just a week ago, all the talk was "best record in baseball" and everything that goes with it.

Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks, who went 2 for 4, breaks his bat while grounding out in the seventh inning.

This is a maddening Bruins team - likable in so many ways, and yet frustrating in its inability or unwillingness to sustain its intensity, its focus.

Papelbon has been, well, Papelbon since he left Boston. He has appeared in 83 games and has a 2.28 ERA with 100 strikeouts in 83 innings.

The failure to pay the dependable closer after the 2011 season looks worse every day.

The Boston Red Sox got off to a terrific start, with the best record in baseball through the first month of the season at 18-8. However, issues in the bullpen could pose a major problem moving forward, as the closer position appears to be up in the air.

Having reliable pitchers to insert into the eighth and ninth innings of a close game is essential for Major League Baseball teams that have World Series hopes.