The Fenway Park clock read “9:36” Monday night, just like it had two years before.

And, as was the case 712 days prior at almost that identical time, Jonathan Papelbon emerged from the Red Sox’ bullpen ready to save the game and day for his team.

But while the figure which jogged to the mound in the Red Sox’ 7-4 win over the Orioles might have appeared to be the same player, the incident that transpired in the minutes leading up to 10 p.m. two years before helped present a different person and player.

Two years from the time Papelbon was called upon to claim his 35^th save of the season, Monday night, almost to the minute, the pitcher’s career was pushed down a detour that landed him in his current lot in life.

On the 1,027^th pitch of his first full season in the major leagues, Papelbon experienced a subluxation of his right pitching shoulder. It would end his 2006 campaign, along with the old way he viewed the life of a professional pitcher.

“Of course it was scary,” said Papelbon of the season-ending injury. “It’s scary. It’s your career and your livelihood, and anytime that is jeopardy you’re scared.”

To say it scared Papelbon straight wouldn’t be inaccurate in the least, a fact confirmed by the man who was first to the pitcher’s aid on the mound that night on Sept. 1, 2006, Red Sox trainer Paul Lessard.

“The problem is with young guys, because they are better than guys at their level, they get here and all of a sudden they realize they are the same talent-wise. That’s why young guys sometimes don’t know how to work to maintain at this level,” Lessard said. “That being said, (Papelbon) never had to do shoulder exercises or total body strengthening because his talent level was so much higher. Now, all of a sudden, it was the same.

“He’s learned how to maintain once he got stronger in terms of what he needs to do to maintain his body. It’s hard for any young guy to understand that you have to maintain.”

It is a notion that Papelbon has come to fully comprehend, partly because of the shock that came with that night in ’06, and also due to the constant reminders from the Red Sox training staff.

Every single day, Sox assistant trainer Mike Reinold makes certain that Papelbon’s shoulder is run through a series of strength tests to see if the conditioning work done by the pitcher to that point has continued to take root.

Papelbon said that he has never allowed the doubts regarding a return to reliability creep into his head (“I’m not a doubtful person”), but that can at least partially be attributed to the due diligence by all participants throughout the past two years.

“The fact he got through last year unscathed and without interruption gave us some freedom to use him like we have this year,” said Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell. “You look at his ability to maintain his power of his stuff, and the command of his fastball clearly indicates his shoulder is healthy and he is staying committed to the work plan that he needs.”

It is a reality that the numbers bear out.

Papelbon is pitching more than a year ago, but getting stronger as he advances through the season’s final months. He hasn’t given up an earned run in his 15 appearances since the All-Star break, a span in which he also hasn’t walked a batter.

This after the 27-year-old had already entered the game in the eighth inning three more times than a year ago (10 games), while pitching on back-to-back days almost double the instances of ’07 (15-7). 

Papelbon’s swings and misses are down this year – getting whiffs just 25.2 percent of the time compared to 33.6 percent in ’07 – but his ERA is lower after having come within one-third of an inning of his total workload for last regular season.

Monday night offered another one of those reminders -- one more save and one more chance to prove the more things have changed the more Papelbon has remained the same. 

“You always, as a player, get content at times when things are going well, and for me my job is to not be content and satisfied, and keep plugging along,” Papelbon explained. “I think satisfaction and contentment are an athlete’s worst enemy. I try to remind myself of that.”

Rob Bradford is the Site Editor for WEEI.com. He can be reached at rbradford@weei.com.