Good Banking, Bad Bullpen Pitching

Unless you've been living under a rock or buried in NFL Fantasy homework since April, you no doubt have seen or heard the Citizens Bank commercials during Phillies games that brag that "good banking is good citizenship."

That may be true, but its ballpark is not conducive to good bullpen-pitching, especially in the case of $50 million man Jonathan Papelbon, whose numbers at Citizens Bank Park are nowhere near those he has put up in road stadiums. For instance — ERA: 4.05 vs. 1.52 ... WHIP: 1.39 vs. 0.76 ... Opponents batting average: .278 vs. .159 ... and Home Runs: 5 vs. 0.

Here are some other Papelbon stats to chew on ... Eighth-inning batters are 0-for-12 in 14 plate appearances against him (two walks, seven strikeouts) ... Batters facing him in a tie game are now 13-for-32 with a .406 batting average, a .472 on-base percentage and a .719 slugging percentage ... To that end, his ERA in save situations is 2.03; non-save situations, 4.19.

Papelbon's home/road breakdown after Tuesday's loss is below.