No, I am not talking about the headache Pap gave all of us yesterday after watching him get completely shelled in his outing. Papelbon has had a history of chronic and debilitating migraines. Pap says that he gets 4 or 5 throughout the season and does the best he can to manage it with rest and medication.
Yesterday, was one of those days. It was reported in the Boston Herald that Papelbon took some meds about 90 minutes before the ball game yesterday…trying to stave off one of his migraines. Pap said the medication worked…however, it left him without much energy at all. Pap felt he was ok to play and wanted to get his work in, but well…we know how well that goes.
“He took his medication and thought he was going to be fine and really wanted to get his work in,” said manager Terry Francona, who wasn’t aware of Papelbon’s problem until after the game. “But you could tell just watching him out there he wasn’t himself.”
Hearing that Pap was suffering from pre or post migraine business, it puts my mind to ease a little and I hope it does for the rest of Red Sox Nation. We all know I am a fan of Papelbon. Sure, he needs to learn some lessons in the STFU arena, but when it comes to what he does on a mound…I am a fan. He’s one of the best closers in the league…and I feel we are lucky to have him and would be smart to lock him up (I know it’s not going to happen…still…). However, the panic button gets pushed with RSN when it comes to Pap pretty gosh darn quick. One, with his increase in walks last season and seemingly not being as sharp…and well, for how he left use last season. He had a horrible outing yesterday, but well…it’s Spring Training. The kid had a migraine and worked through it the best he could.
My only critique…I think he should have told Tito and the rest of the staff. Baseball players seem to have an adversion to speaking up when they are sick, hurt or not feeling well. Tito should have been aware that Pap had a migraine, took meds and he felt ok to pitch. It would have given Tito the info he needed to make the right call when he say that Pap was just not his usual self out there on the mound. But other than that…just looks like Pap had a painful, piss poor day…that he decided to share with the rest of us by getting up on the mound and allowing 7 runs.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
