Note to Papelbon, C.J. Nitkowski, and other keepers of the "Unwritten Rules of Baseball": How about remembering the most important rule of baseball, written or unwritten?:
Don't Suck.
Enough about "playing the game the right way". Jesus Christ, there are 300 million fucking people who would love the chance to play the game the right way - but they all suck. You, Papelbon, have a 98 mph heater that you paint like Picasso and a split that drops like Scott Walker's poll numbers. You are getting paid $13M, and were contractually given the Closer's position, and then you sucked.
So instead of focusing inward on just how badly you sucked in the month of September, you instead go after All-Stars like Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, who are playing the game magnificently. They play the game the right way: they do not suck.
Just how bad does Papelbon suck? The average hitter he faced in September 2015 hit him to an OPS (.867) like the careers of David Wright, Carlos Gonzalez, Ryan Howard, and Jose Bautista. Slugged him (.510) like the career of Troy Tulowitzki, Nelson Cruz, Josh Hamilton, and Chris Davis.
Deflect, deflect, deflect. Not surprised of the keeper of the Unwritten Rules - C.J. Nitkowski. Former #9 draft pick overall, career 5.37 ERA, traded 4 times, released 8 times. The only thing consistent about him was his complete, perennial suckitude. What a fucking bum!!!
Oh by the way, the fans in DC who actually see Bryce Harper play on a daily basis are overwhelmingly behind him. Mostly, they think he plays TOO hard, he takes extra bases, runs into walls, plays his ass off.