Phillies Notebook: Papelbon grabs save

Two weeks ago, Jonathan Papelbon blew a save and grabbed his crotch in the general direction of the fans booing him behind the Phillies dugout at Citizens Bank Park.

He has said repeatedly since that he didn't not make the gesture intentionally. He called it an equipment adjustment.

Papelbon, who received a seven-game suspension for his actions, has also said repeatedly in the last 2 weeks that he doesn't even hear the boos. Which is in complete contradiction of his words from 2 months ago.

"I enjoy it," Papelbon said in late July. "I just think it's fun. It brings a little bit of energy and life to the ballpark . . . I mean, you have to be able to take it if you want to dish it out. I think that goes both ways for me and the fans. It's kind of like a big brother-little brother relationship."

Last night, big brother returned to the mound in South Philly in the first game since Crotch Gate. The reception didn't disappoint.

But neither did Papelbon.

Papelbon jogged in from the bullpen to Meek Mill's "Bout That Life" and a cacophony of boos. On a scale from Bobby Abreu to J.D. Drew, the boos weren't too loud, but they were persistent.

Papelbon quieted them fairly quickly, however, by retiring three of the four batters he faced to nail down a 5-4 victory over Atlanta. When the last out was recorded, Papelbon kept his right hand above the belt, celebrating with a fist pump.

The fans that remained from the announced crowd of 33,121, meanwhile, stood on their feet and cheered when he clinched a win.

"That's the way it is," Sandberg said.

Your thoughts, Pap?

"I couldn't hear it," the closer said, continuing his odd habit of selective hearing. "I didn't hear nothing. I don't hear nothing out there when I'm pitching."

The save was Papelbon's 39th of the season. The victory helped the Phillies (73-87) avoid finishing a season with 90 losses for the first time since 2000, Terry Francona's last season as manager.

Papelbon's return to the scene of the crime was clearly the most anticipated moment of the night. But it wouldn't have happened if the Phillies hadn't been able to erase a four-run deficit.

Atlanta scored twice off Phillies righthander Jerome Williams in the first and fourth innings. Ervin Santana, meanwhile, had retired eight straight - and 12 of 15 through four innings - to begin the night.

After putting their first run across in the fifth, the Phillies scored three times in the sixth to tie the game.

Marlon Byrd, Domonic Brown and Freddy Galvis pieced together four straight hits in the inning. A wild pitch from Santana brought Asche across the plate with the game-tying run.

"The guys battled back," Sandberg said "Good stuff up and down the lineup to create the rallies."

In the seventh, Carlos Ruiz led off with a walk and scored on a hard, bouncing ground ball to second base off the bat of Byrd to give the Phillies their first lead of the game. It was a lead they wouldn't surrender, thanks to Papelbon and Co.

"He's a professional about going about his business and being ready to close for us," Sandberg said of Papelbon, who entered after both Luis Garcia and Ken Giles pitched a pair of shutout innings. "He had pretty good stuff tonight."

Sandberg spoke in support of his closer before the game, too - although he also said he does not condone obscene gestures made toward the fans.

"We can't have that in baseball, and we definitely can't have it from the players here," Sandberg said. "So that's the bottom line. He's put together a good year, very consistent as the closer. It's something he'll have to learn from and really everyone will have to learn from that that can't be tolerated in the game, especially from the Phillies' players.

"He's our closer and in a perfect world, if he came in and closed three games and we got three wins, that'd be the best scenario going forward. If we're leading three games and we're in the ninth inning, that'd be the best."

In the first game of the final homestand of the 2014 season, Sandberg got his wish. Papelbon's own wish goes beyond his return to the mound last night and this weekend, too.

Although he clearly wanted to be traded to a contender in July, Papelbon said yesterday that he hopes to return to the Phillies next season.

"I've said the perfect ending to this equation would be me on this team righting this ship and possibly closing out a World Series or getting in the playoffs and making a nice run and seeing what happens from there," Papelbon said. "I think that would be a fairly tale ending."

Since he is owed $13 million next season - and has a reachable vesting option that could pay him another $13 million in 2016 - Papelbon will likely get his wish in returning to Philadelphia. His contract makes him untradeable; and his charming personality doesn't exactly make him attractive to other teams, either.

Which is something else the closer would like to work on - the perception of what he brings to a team.

"I've always hoped that the perception of me is that I'm a hard worker, I'm a team player and that I come to win every night," Papelbon said. "And I do everything possible to make that happen. To me everything else kind of falls on the back burner. At end of the day you play to win the game."