There’s no bigger rivalry in American sports than Yankees-Red Sox (or as we like to call it around here, Dodgers-Giants with a tenth of the titles). So we wonder how Yankee fans will take the news that without a little encouragement from their closer Mariano Rivera, Red Sox All-Star reliever Jonathan Papelbon wouldn’t be as effective as he is today? This is a fan base we’ve seen them spit on Sox fans in broad daylight just for wearing a hat. There’s no telling what they may do when, you know, they actually get angry.

If it wasn’t for a little encouragement from Yankee closer Mariano Rivera, Jonathan Papelbon may not have developed into the type of pitcher capable of finishing a World Series game with a save for the Red Sox.

“Even though he plays for the Yankees, I sat down and talked with him for about an hour after the All-Star Game was over and just tried to pick his brain,” Papelbon said.

“At the end of our conversation, he said, ‘Pap look, you’re going to follow me, but you are going to do it for a different team and just always remember that closers have to have a short term memory. You have to walk into the office the next day (after you blow a save) and act like nothing happened.’ I’ve kind of taken that approach.”

Unless you blow the save against the Yankees. It’s kind of hard to take that approach when you’re being told you like things in your rectum and dodging Molotov cocktails trying to get to work.

Smith: Papelbon can thank a Yankee for advice [Commercial-Dispatch]
Image [babeslovebaseball]