Cheered in Boston, the closer left town and is now criticizing the fans.
Philadelphia Phillies' Jonathan Papelbon threw a shot or two at his former fans in Boston Thursday.All of a sudden, it's open season on Boston Red Sox fans.
Luke Scott had nothing better to do in his new Tampa Bay Rays digs that to take swipes at Red Sox Nation. There are reports from Fort Myers that Twins people are irked at the way JetBlue Park and its glamorous tenants are overshadowing Minnesota's own spring training site down the road - though the gripe would be more with town fathers than town visitors.
Now Jonathan Papelbon has chosen to impart his own brand of observational wisdom on the fans who adored him for seven years.
The Phillies closer was on a CBS radio station, where he called Boston fans "a little bit more hysterical'' than the faithful in Philadelphia.
He also said Phillies fans have a better grasp of the game,
"The Philly fans tend to know the game a little better, being in the National League, you know, the way the game is played,'' he said as quoted by ESPN.com"
You can listen to the entire interview here:
Red Sox fans should know that around America, the mood toward them has changed. Once they were generally admired for their loyalty despite years of disappointment - Cubs East, so to speak.
They are now envied and reviled not just as much as Yankees fans, but probably more.
That's the price of winning a couple of titles, rooting for a team that flashed a wad of dough around at free agents until this winter, and sending more fans to root for the Red Sox as visitors than teams like the Rays and Orioles could draw at their own parks.
The nation (the U.S., not Red Sox Nation) also tends to think Connecticut-based ESPN treats baseball as a two-team entity, the Yankees and the Red Sox. Sometimes it does seem that way.
But Red Sox fans deserve a thank-you from Jonathan Papelbon, not a snub. And now they deserve an apology, though it's safe to say they won't get one.
He did say he enjoyed the climate in Boston. Apparently, hysteria is a motivating force for Papelbon.
"It's a religion (in Boston). It's a way of life," Papelbon said of baseball, Red Sox style. "(Fans) come to the field and they expect certain things out of players. ... It's an environment where you put up or shut up. I enjoyed that. That's what got my motor running every day.
The last time we saw Papelbon, he was blowing a save in Game 162, costing the Red Sox a chance to play for a playoff spot.
He had a very good year, though, and with the exception of 2010, a very good career in Boston. Unlike several others, he remained accountable last year, and that is to his credit.
He got credit, too. His every entrance was celebrated with wild cheering and grand music, even on those rare nights he was pitching just to get work and his team was getting pounded.
I am not sure how Papelbon has become an expert on Philadelphia fans so quickly. This is the same fan base that, according to Terry Francona, slashed his tires when Tito was managing the Phillies in the late 1990s.
According to Francona, that was done on Fan Appreciation Night. Welcome to the City of Brotherly Love.
As for a greater knowledge of the sport, you get that opinion throughout the National League. Papelbon is apparently feeding right in before pitching his first game as a member of an NL team.
A belief apparently exists that once you uncover the mysteries of the double switch, you are blessed with insight no DH-addled dummy could possibly comprehend.
The most galling part of Papelbon's statement, though, was that it comes from a man who was showered with adoration in Boston. Sure, the talk shows debated his performance when he blew a save, especially in 2010, when he blew eight of them.
But the Fenway Faithful, the same people he is backhanding now, never turned on him. And if Pap thinks the talk shows in Philly will be any kinder if he falters, he does not know Philly as well as he thinks.
How can he? He just got there, yet he's enough of an expert on fan base to make a comparison that frankly was pointless in the first place.
Red Sox fans should understand one thing. Because there are so many and they are so ubiquitous, they can come off as overwhelming and yes, sometimes boorish.
The Red Sox and their public have been glorified in song, film ("Fever Pitch,'' anyone?), literature and even poetry. People elsewhere take exception when Red Sox fans elect themselves the best in America, just as Chicago fans dispute Fenway Park's designation-without-vote as "America's Most Beloved Ballpark.''
Red Sox fans often consider themselves special. That might be true, and it might not, but nobody wants to hear it from them.
That does not lessen the tastelessness and needless nature of Papelbon's comments. You don't hear Albert Pujols compelled to make derogatory comments about Cardinals fans, just because another team wooed him away with more money.
Nobody has ever asked Papelbon to pose for a recasting of Rodin's "The Thinker,'' but in spite of his periodic off-the-wall statements, he is not an unintelligent man.
If he wanted to rub noses with his new fans, he could have done so without taking a potshot at his old fans.
Luke Scott can posture all he wants to his new fans in Tampa Bay, and it would probably work if there were any fans in Tampa Bay.
Papelbon did not need to do that. But hey, maybe he's right. Maybe Red Sox fans are a little bit hysterical, irrational, even cuckoo.
For seven years, after all, they idolized him. Imagine that.