Lester cruises through seven, if the Red Sox can just get to Paps the game will be over. This scenario from last night’s game has shown a key difference from last year’s team. Last season if the starter could go seven innings and the Sox had the lead the game was an almost guaranteed victory; Oki would dazzle in the eighth and Papelbon would close the door in the ninth. Yesterday Delcarmen got the call in the eighth because Okajima was just plain awful on Sunday. 
Manny gave the Orioles base runners they needed to get back in the game and Papelbon had to come in at an irregular time for him and gave up a big double. Who is the go to guy in the eighth? It is getting to be late August and we still don’t know. Okajima is not the same pitcher he was last year, Delcarmen, and Lopez are inconsistent and Timlin is showing his age. Tito usually has Aardsma go into the game in the early innings along with Masterson. Could Buchholz become an eighth inning guy? It seems unlikely because he has had problems with dealing with pressure this season. If the Red Sox want to repeat as World Champions they need a pitcher to step into the role of setup man and pitch well down the stretch. The Red Sox did not make the deal at the break for a reliever so they have faith that one of these guys can get it done. My question is which guy?
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