BoSox, Halos relievers will be stressed in Game 4

Monday, October 6, 2008 | Feedback | Print Entry

The Red Sox wasted some late chances against the Angels, Michael Silverman writes, and so they will play Game 4 today, coming off a five-hour-plus marathon that had both managers asking their bullpens to contribute in ways they haven't all season. And unless Jon Lester and John Lackey pitch into the late innings tonight, the relievers who follow them will be running miles they haven't had to run this year. The Angels' bullpen kicked in 130 pitches Sunday, the Boston bullpen 109, and consider that:

Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon threw 31 pitches over two innings Sunday night. During the regular season, there were only two instances in which he threw that many pitches -- and in both cases, he was not asked to pitch the next day. He presumably will pitch today, barring a blowout.

Angels reliever Scot Shields threw 2 1/3 innings Sunday, the longest outing of the season for him.  
 

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  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

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