By: Dan Podheiser, YawkeyTalkies Staff Writer

I pulled off the impossible Friday night.

My girlfriend is the biggest Red Sox fan I’ve ever met. She worships Bill Mueller, owns about 37 different Sox “player T’s” and even has a Dice-K poster that reads “The Gun from the Rising Sun.” She’s dedicated.

But like anyone who has followed the Red Sox this year, she has absolutely no confidence in their bullpen.

And on Friday night, with Boston leading 2-1 heading into the ninth inning and Jonathan Papelbon on his way into the game, something very weird happened.

Her: “I bet you [Papelbon] blows it.”

Me: “OK, you’re on. Loser buys a six-pack.”

Her: “Deal. Get ready to pay up.”

I actually got my girlfriend to root against the Red Sox — with beer on the line.

But can you really blame her? After all, once you get past Daniel Bard — who has 21 holds and a 1.71 ERA — in the Sox bullpen, the game essentially becomes a free-for-all.

Thursday night was the perfect example.

John Lackey was pitching his best game of the season, and one of the best of his career. He had a no-hitter through seven and two-thirds, and left the game after eight innings with a 6-1 lead. Against a team like the Seattle Mariners — who have scored an MLB-low 321 runs entering play Saturday — the win was as much of a lock as possible.

Enter Manny Delcarmen.

From 2007 to 2008, Delcarmen was one of the most reliable arms in the Boston bullpen, posting a 3.07 ERA in 117 appearances during that stretch.

Since then, he’s been miserable. In 2009, Delcarmen’s ERA skyrocketed to 4.53. This year, it’s an unforgivable 5.05 in 36 games.

His outing on Thursday did not help.

Entering the game with a 6-1 lead, Delcarmen gave up a single to Mariners second baseman Chone Figgins. Then, Franklin Gutierrez blasted one 381 feet into the left field stands. A five-run lead was cut to three. No big deal, right?

Delcarmen then walked Jose Lopez. After an error by Marco Scutaro — which, to Delcarmen’s credit, should have been a double play — the M’s had the tying run at the plate with nobody out in the ninth.

OK, no worries. Terry Francona came to the mound and brought in Papelbon. Game over, right?

But 2010’s version of Jonathan Papelbon is not the same as the 2006 to 2009 version, when the Sox closer made four straight All-Star teams. This year, Pap’s ERA is 3.07 — 108 points higher than his career 1.99 mark. He has four blown saves, which has a lot to do with his strikeout-to-walk ratio, which is down to an unimpressive 2.40 (it was 9.63 in 2008).

And on Saturday, Papelbon’s disappointments continued. After striking out Justin Smoak, Papelbon gave up a double to Casey Kotchman. It was now a two-run game, with Bradley on third and the tying run on second.

Josh Bard walked, putting the winning run on base but also setting up a double play scenario with Jack Wilson coming to the plate.

Wilson hit a slow grounder to short, and what should have been a fielder’s choice turned into a tie game, as Red Sox second baseman Bill Hall threw the ball past Kevin Youkilis at first, allowing pinch-runner Ryan Langerhans (who was on second in place of Kotchman) to score.

It was yet another blown save for Papelbon.

The Red Sox did end up winning the game in 13 innings. Nevertheless, the elephant in the room is still the poor overall performance by the Red Sox bullpen, minus Daniel Bard.

Boston has a 4.38 bullpen ERA, which ranks 10th in the American League. Last time I checked, that kind of ‘pen does not carry a team into October.

Papelbon could figure it out. So could Delcarmen, Ramon Ramirez (4.73 ERA) and even Hideki Okajima (5.34).

But what the Sox really need is another arm, or maybe even two.

There are plenty of guys out there, and Theo Epstein has the prospects to move to make it happen.

Whether it’s Blue Jays pitchers Scott Downs, Jason Frasor or Kevin Gregg, A’s relievers Michael Wuertz or Craig Breslow, or a flashier name like Royals closer Joakim Soria, the Red Sox need to get a quality arm for the back of the bullpen.

And even though Papelbon closed the game on Friday — netting me some frosty beer and giving my girlfriend a bittersweet feeling (she hates losing) – it’s never a good sign when a team’s biggest fan bets against them for a seven dollar pack of Michelob Ultra.

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