Papelbon ejected after meltdown in Phillies' loss

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It was a picturesque Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park and the Phillies were three outs away from a sweep of the Miami Marlins.

That was until Jonathan Papelbon trotted out the bullpen doors and graced the mound.

That was when pure mayhem broke loose.

The enigmatic closer was handed the ball with a 4-1 lead in the ninth inning and imploded, allowing four runs on four hits, a walk and a wild pitch to deal the Phillies a disheartening 5-4 loss (see Instant Replay).

But that, believe it or not, was just the beginning.

After mercifully finishing his inning of work, Papelbon, a common culprit for stirring the pot, made what appeared to be an obscene gesture directed at booing fans by grabbing his groin area while walking to the dugout.

Second-base umpire Joe West saw it and wasn’t having it.

“I saw him gesture to the fans, and that’s not good,” West, who ejected Papelbon, said. “That’s what I saw, and so did the plate umpire (Sean Barber). You can’t do things like that.”

An incensed Papelbon stormed out of the dugout and met West face to face before having to be restrained and separated. According to Papelbon, he was simply adjusting himself like all ballplayers do.

“Ryno (Ryne Sandberg) went and talked to him and [West] said that I did an inappropriate gesture and something about grabbing myself,” Papelbon said. “And Ryno looked at me he said, ‘I have no idea what he’s talking about.’ I mean this is baseball, I had to make an adjustment and I did it.

“By no means was I directing anything at any fans. I mean, I’ve got a 4- and 5-year-old son and daughter, I’m not out here to be doing inappropriate things. I mean, c’mon, this is baseball, it’s what we do. Go look at the game and see how many people do that just in today’s game.”

Regardless, Papelbon turned a drama-free game into a wild, unforeseen one.

Another solid outing from David Buchanan and some two-out production from the offense went up in the air.

Papelbon, who hadn’t blown a save since July 22 and came in with a 1.56 ERA, lost his grip on the ninth one batter at a time. He allowed a leadoff double followed by a walk and an infield single to load the bases. After giving up a run-scoring ground out, Papelbon allowed another infield hit tapped over his head and just out of the reach of his outstretched arm, plating another run.

Pinch-hitter Justin Bour then delivered a single up the middle to tie the game before the wheels came completely off when Papelbon fired a wild pitch to give up the go-ahead run.

It was a meltdown of epic proportions by the closer who’s been pretty darn good — but also controversial.

After rebounding from a couple of rough nights in July, Papelbon said he heard boos and relished every one of them.

“I enjoy it,” he said on July 24. “I just think that it's fun. It just brings a little bit of energy and life to the park and gives me a little bit of something to look forward to do every day."

On Sunday, he was humming a different tune.

“I don’t even hear the fans out there,” Papelbon said. “The fans, when I’m out there and I’m in the moment, the fans are irrelevant to me. I don’t even see them, I don’t even hear them.”

Papelbon said he wasn’t upset with the fans — it was the ejection for an “inappropriate gesture,” he said, that he “had no clue” about.

“To me, it’s … it’s pretty stupid to be totally honest with you,” Papelbon said. “The fans come, they pay their money, they wanna see a good game and they have the right to boo and do whatever they wanna do. But when an umpire gets caught up in that and starts trying to look for extra things that he may think are going on, just umpire the game.

“I don’t know, I just think [West] took something to a whole new level that didn’t even need to go there. It’s unfortunate that he took it there because by no means did it have to be like that.”

But it was, with Papelbon smack dab in the middle.

“So we have a long flight to the West Coast,” Sandberg said. “I’ll talk to Pap firsthand and see exactly what happened and go from there.”

At this point, there may not be anywhere to go.

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