I've ranted about closers before, from the perspective of the manager who uses them only when they get their money stat, regardless of whether they could have been used earlier in a more crucial situation. It makes no sense to use a closer just so they can generate a stat. Unless you are the closer, since the save stat is what gets you the big contract.
Closers are viewed (by managers, fans, themselves) as the studs of the bullpen. Is it really that studly if you can't pitch more than two innings?
Francona pulled Papelbon after 33 pitches (not counting the three intentional walk pitches). Perhaps the rationale is that you have to use relievers more often; however, tomorrow is a day off. Why use the yet-to-be-effective Gagne?
Interestingly, Papelbon threw more than 30 pitches in a game only once this year. He averaged 15 pitches per appearance. But...he appeared on consecutive days only 8 times in 59 appearances! He is certainly being handled with kid gloves.
In 1974, Mike Marshall threw more than 200 innings. In relief! We don't have a reliable pitch count for Marshall that year, but he faced 857 batters. That's more than Papelbon has faced in his three year MLB career...and if Papelbon faces the same number next year as this year, he'll will have faced the number of batters in his career that Marshall did in 1974 alone.
And that year was only a little flukey for Marshall. From '71 to '76 he threw: 111, 116, 179, 209, 109 and 99 innings. Not a single game started. He got a lot of saves (for the time), but I bet he was used whenever the Dodgers and Expos really needed an out, regardless of whether he would get a save. In fact, he made 40 appearances in the 7th inning or earlier.
Final Marshall stat from 1974: he pitched on no rest 53 times that year. As mentioned above, the figure for Papelbon this year was 8.
