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| AP Photo/Chris O'Meara |
Fans at last night's
"End Of The Fake Sellout Streak" game sensed doom as soon as their new closer's walk-on music video blared throughout Fenway. It was head-banger metal music (by the band
Slipknot according to my 17-year old son) and the jagged images of "The Hammer" flashed on the video screens as
Joel Hanrahan trotted out to nail down a 5-3 lead in the ninth. It just seemed a little weak—certianly not up to the production values of
Jonatahn Papelbon's "Shipping Up To Boston". Then, the red flag that's been draped all over Hanrahan (walking 14% of the batters he faced in 2012) came to horrific fruition. A few minutes and a couple of home runs later and the Birds had an 8-5 lead. Will this "base on balls" problem continue to haunt the new closer, or was it just a 2012 aberration? One thing we do know is that another guy in the pen—
Koji Uehara—
has best career walk-to-strikeout ratio ever. Closer controversy anyone?
