Closer's meltdown will live in infamy.

Byline: Bill Ballou

COLUMN: BILL BALLOU

BOSTON - Two of the most memorable images of 2007, the Red Sox last championship season, involve Jonathan Papelbon.

There's Papelbon on the Fenway mound, dressed in his baseball underthings, doing a jig after Boston clinched its first AL East title in 12 years.

And there he is again on a chilly night in Denver, holding his head in his hands in joyous disbelief after throwing the pitch that made the Sox World Series winners for the second time in four years.

Yesterday, though, the jig was up for the Sox' closer, who was on the mound for what can fairly be called the biggest individual bullpen meltdown in his team's long postseason history.

"Games like (yesterday)," Papelbon said, "you definitely rewind the situation in your mind. This type of game stays with you more than the type when you come into the game and preserve the win. This is definitely something I'm gonna take into my weight room in the offseason and use it as motivation."

Papelbon's performance stood in stark contrast, though, to the work done by one of his predecessors, rookie Daniel Bard. Bard arrived on the scene in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and nobody out, Boston holding a 5-1 lead. He got Juan Rivera to hit into a double play, then got Maicer Izturis on a popup, and when the inning was over, the Red Sox' lead was still a comfortable 5-2.

The radar gun can be overrated - Angels closer Brian Fuentes doesn't overpower anybody - but it showed Bard consistently at 98 mph, and Papelbon consistently around 94, and maybe it is time for the Red Sox to make a change in the bullpen.

In a brief postmortem after the game, general manager Theo Epstein said, "You can't make decisions based on any three games, but some of what happened in this series was foreshadowed during the regular season."

Epstein was not talking specifically about Papelbon, but yesterday's disaster was definitely preceded by some hairy moments during the regular season. Papelbon wound up with excellent raw numbers in 2009 - 38 saves in 41 chances, a 1.85 ERA - but he had way too many outings like yesterday, with batters making more contact than they used to, and Papelbon walking more men than he used to.

Closers tend to be like tires, with the exception of the Mariano Riveras and Trevor Hoffmans of the world. They only have so many miles on them before the tread wears out, and it looks like Bard's right arm has a lot more tread left than Papelbon's.

Pitching in the sixth and pitching in the ninth are thought to require two different mindsets, and Bard has yet to deal with one-strike-away pressure, but it could be time to try. Rivera, after all, began his career as John Wetteland's setup man.

Going into the ninth yesterday, Papelbon was on the verge of tying Hall of Fame Christy Mathewson for most scoreless innings in the postseason to start a career, but that was a little deceptive. Papelbon had not allowed a postseason run, but had a blown save, since he had permitted 3 of 9 inherited runners to score.

Yesterday, although he was charged with only three runs, he was actually on the mound when five of them scored, and his career inherited runners stat is 5 of 11 - not very good.

"I felt strong," Papelbon said. "I just wasn't able to locate when I needed to."

He looked a little worn out. There was no jump to his fastball and he seemed to lack the adrenaline to put batters away. After getting two quick outs, he was one strike away on Erick Aybar, Chone Figgins and Bobby Abreu and could not get any of them.

While that was going on, though, Papelbon had a chance to end the game without throwing a pitch. With Abreu up, the Sox had Aybar picked off second base. All Papelbon had to do with throw the ball to Alex Gonzalez.

"He can do all the dancing around out there he wants to do," Papelbon said. "With two out, I'm not gonna worry about him. That wasn't gonna affect anything I was gonna do.

"I saw the daylight," Gonzalez said, "but I think (Papelbon) was just trying to worry about the batter. He was just doing his job. That's baseball - what can you do?"

Papelbon may just have been worn out, but if he was, it was because he overworked himself. In 2006, he threw 1,028 pitches in 68-1/3 innings; in 2007, it was 910 pitches in 58-1/3; last year, it was 1,051 pitches in 69-1/3 and this year, 1,185 pitches in 68 innings.

Papelbon walked 8 in 2008, 24 this year, and the walk he issued to Figgins in the ninth turned out to be the tying run.

All season long, Papelbon lived on the edge, like Wile E. Coyote chasing the roadrunner and not realizing he was running on air until he looked down. When he looked down yesterday, Abreu was crossing the plate with the run that sent the Red Sox home.

Bill Ballou can be reached by e-mail at [e-mail].

NAME: BOSTON RED SOX