The guy had a rubber arm and was part of so many great/entertaining bullpens in the early 2000s… Mike Timlin days left until Opening Day

19 comments

  1. Loved Iron Mike thanks for putting that up there been a Sox fan for 60 years I forget a lot of the players through the years

  2. Name a better 8th inning / closer pitcher song combo.

    Black Betty + Mother = Win

  3. Him and Embree always seemed prime to blow the game when they came into it late innings. If Timlin or Embree was headed to the mound it was a guarantee at least one hitter from the other team was getting on base. I’m talking circa 2003/2004.

  4. He threw a ball to me while they were celebrating the 08 ALDS walk off. I’d recently sprained my knee so I stood there helplessly while a kid ran over and took it.

  6. Career year in 2005 at the ripe ol age of 39… ***81 games***, 80.1 IP, 7-3, 13 SV, 2.24 ERA, 203 ERA+, 2.9 bWAR… ate a shit ton of innings on the ’04 team as well. One of my favorite relief pitchers.

  7. Fine career. I think of him so much as a member of those 2000s Red Sox teams; I have to remind myself he started out on the stacked early ’90s Jays teams and got two World Series rings very quickly. He pitched in 46 postseason games overall (inclusive of his stops in Seattle and St. Louis).

  8. Interesting stat I saw a couple months ago and verified: he’s the only pitcher to pitch for the winning team in 4 World Series without having ever played for the Yankees. 1992 and 1993 Blue Jays and 2004 and 2007 Red Sox.

    There are other pitchers who’ve been on the World Series *roster* for four championship teams without ever being a Yankee (including another member of the 2007 Red Sox, Javier López who was also on the roster of all three of the Giants’ championships in the early 2010s), but none who actually got into a game in all four of them (in López’s case, the Giants didn’t call on him in their 2012 sweep). And there have been position players who’ve played for the winning team in 4 World Series without having ever played for the Yankees, including some from the Red Sox’ *first* dynasty back in the 1910s (Harry Hooper was the only constant across all four of the titles from 1912-18, but for the 1915-18 trio we had some players picked up from the 1910-13 Philadelphia Athletics).

  10. I went to see a game in ’03 in Tampa and we sat in-between the sox dugout and the bullpen. There was a drunk mets fan that kept chanting, “1918.” After hearing this for 3 or 4 innings, a lot of the section was pretty perturbed. Mike Timlin walked by and the guy seemed to direct the chant at him. Mike stopped and said, “If you don’t shut up right now I’ll break your fucking neck!” Dude slid back into his seat and didn’t speak up for the rest of the game. I loved the guy before that, but he became a legend in my family after that game.

  13. Really under-the-radar piece for the team in the 2000s. Not the most elite stats, but an absolute workhorse out of the bullpen.

  18. Worked at Petsmart in highschool and he came in one time and bought cat food in 2005. Had his ring on and I thanked him for his service. Wish I had asked for an autograph.

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