I know  he wasn't as good as we're used to this year but are we really gonna give up on Papelbon after 1 blown save. True it came at the worst possible time but it was his first blown save in 27 POSTSEASON Innings. Translation: After today his postseason ERA is 0.96.

How many closers in the league are seriously as good as him? Nathan, Mariano, Soria, K-Rod, Valverde maybe.

I know Bard's got great stuff and could be a great closer you need the mental make up. Ask Calvin Schiraldi. Also how durable is Bard's arm. He hasn't even thrown 100innings. We've seen many flamethrowers arms burnout quickly

Would you rather have a closer by commitee like 2003. Okajima or Saito? Would the Sox have won in 2007 if Joel Piniero was closing like they planned? You don't realize how important a closer is until you don't have one

Lets look at the closers for each of the teams that won the world series this decade:

2000- Mariano Rivera

2001- Byung Hum Kim

2002- Francisco Rodriguez

2003- Braden Looper

2004- Keith Foulke

2005- Bobby Jenks

2006- Adam Wainwright

2007- Jonathan Papelbon

2008- Brad Lidge

2009- Mariano Rivera/Brian Fuentes (No NL Team can beat LA or NY)

All of them had top closers (Except Arizona who won despite Kim blowing 2 games in the world series)

So let's not give up on Papelbon after 1 game.

Edit- My mistake. I remember K-Rod being dominant during the 02 playoffs. Forgot he was a setup guy to Troy Percival not a closer. My mistake but Pericival was an elite closer too