A tale of two bullpens

Picture from Boston Globe

There was a plan at the beginning of the year for the Red Sox bullpen.

Then the season started, fate took over.

Two closers were not enough, with Joel Hanrahan now out for this season and Andrew Bailey sidelined more than he was available.

The bullpen had to adapt and overcome.

They have done the job, bridging the gap until their sick bay emptied out. Over 6 games of the last 9 game road trip, the bullpen has pitched 20 innings and only allowed 1 run. They have struck out 21 and only walked 7 hitters.

The entire bullpen is full of closers according to pitching coach Juan Nieves. He considers each reliever a closer of an inning, like a 6th inning closer, a 7th inning closer, and so on. These are where you win games, by stopping the best parts of the opposing teams line up.

One inning at a time.

Take a closer look at the picture at the top of this post. It is just one example of the starter John Lackey yesterday congratulating reliever Koji Uehara. The bullpen seem to be having a lot of fun getting it done, don't you think? This is what we missed most in the last season with the Red Sox not having fun, not being a team.

I for one am tickled pink to see this kind of camaraderie, how about you?

Post a comment or hit me up on twitter @ericschabell with your thoughts.

More by Eric D. Schabell