That was before he hitched up his baseball trousers and punched out seven saves in seven chances, before he catapulted himself into instant stardom in this fickle baseball vortex.
There will be no more quiet, uninterrupted meals. Papelbon has been told by his veteran locker mates to buckle up and hold on tight. The ride of his young professional life is in full throttle, like one of those scary yet thrilling carnival contraptions that spin you upside-down and twirl you around and jolt you as high as the treetops, then send you spiraling into a nose dive. It can be a jarring experience, being a pitcher in this town, so you'd better hope the nuts and the bolts are screwed on tight enough to survive any sudden drops.
The best advice anyone can give him: don't look down.
That, in essence, is what Curt Schilling told Papelbon after the youngster closed out last night's 7-4 win over Tampa Bay.
The kid jogged out of the bullpen in the ninth to a sea of flashbulbs and preserved his glittering 0.00 ERA, but it was hardly a routine outing. After dispatching Joey Gathright on three pitches (including a 95-miles-per-hour fastball on strike three), Papelbon gave up just his third hit of a season, a Carl Crawford single.
He needed nine pitches to finish off Jorge Cantu (another strikeout, another fastball, this time clocked at 96), and threw 10 more pitches to Travis Lee before walking him on a fastball that just missed the corner.
''Our scouting report told us they were good hitters in the zone, so I was nibbling a little bit," Papelbon revealed.
For the first time in his brief Red Sox career, Papelbon actually looked mildly flustered after walking Jonny Gomes on five pitches to load the bases.
''He was overthrowing," said Schilling. ''That correlates into a short splitter and a high fastball."
After Papelbon fell behind, 0-and-2, Damon Hollins whacked one of those high heaters to center field. Adam Stern charged the ball, dived, and scooped up the snowcone catch to end it.
''If that ball gets past Stern, they might win that ballgame," Papelbon mused. ''They might have all come across.
''I've got a really big gambling debt with Stern. He owns me right now."
