Cinco Ocho Makes His Phillies Debut, Earns Save

PITTSBURGH, PA -- "He was out there," Jonathan Papelbon said of his alter ego, Cinco Ocho. "Did you see him?"

Personally, I haven't figured out Cinco Ocho just yet, and to answer Papelbon's question, no, I did not see Cinco Ocho today at PNC Park. It's hard to see something when you aren't sure exactly what you're looking for.

But what I did see was a very confident closer pitch a shutdown 1-2-3 inning for the Philadelphia Phillies to help Roy Halladay and his team earn an opening day win by the score of 1-0. While Brad Lidge had that perfect magical 2008 season, it wasn't without its near-heart-attacks on a weekly basis. Ryan Madson was very effective in his role as closer last season, earning 32 saves while only blowing 2, but he was early on in his transformation in to being a shutdown closer.

Papelbon was certainly lights out in his first opportunity for the Phils on Thursday.

Halladay was pitching brilliantly all day, and his performance was the star of the day, but his pitch count after eight innings was higher than any number he put up in the spring. The most pitches he threw down in Florida in any one start was 88. Today he reached 92. So it wasn't a total surprise that Charlie Manuel opted to bring in his new closer.

Roy didn't argue with the move today, but in two weeks when he's stretched out a bit more he might push back a little.

"I didn't fight it," Halladay said of being pulled for the new guy. "I understand at this point. In a couple weeks from now, I'm going to fight them. It was a good game for us, everything went the way we wanted it. Papelbon came in and did a nice job, got his feet wet, and got that out of the way. All in all I think that's a good way to do it."

Papelbon was asked if he was sitting out in the bullpen late in the game wondering, like the rest of us, if Roy was going to go the distance or whether his own services may be called upon.

"No. I just stayed within myself. I stayed within my routine. Whatever Charlie wants to do, that's up to his discretion. I wasn't sitting there wondering if I was going to go in or not. Just wait for the phone to ring and if it's me, I do what I do."

[more on the Phillies Opening Day win here]

Charlie Manuel said the decision to go to Papelbon wasn't a tough one. "He's good. He's everything that he's built up to be," Manuel said.

Papelbon got today's save by throwing all fastballs. He was asked post game if that is the best kind of save for him.

"No," Papelbon said. "The best kind of save for me is any save."

Hopefully he'll be getting lots of those in a Phillies uniform.

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Other Papelbon Quotes from Today

on the opening day pressure of saving a Roy Halladay game...

"That pressure is something that makes me tick. I enjoy big types of games. Roy went out there and did a phenomenal job, kept us in the ball game. When the Pirates had a chance to get him early they didn't."

"I think it's going to be fun for me to shut the door for this staff. That's the reason I came here. Hopefully we can feed off that the rest of the year."

on whether saving a game for the Phillies felt different than saving a game for Boston...

"No. Not really. To be honest with you I felt the same as I have the past seven seasons in Boston. It really was no different. I enjoy all my saves just as much."

on whether this helped him turn the page from Boston...

"No, man. I turned that page a long time ago. I finished reading that book before the year started."