He threw a fat 0-2 splitty that got hammered 400 feet but coco crisp should of still made the play.
and no, he will never be moved to a starter and why should the talk ever happen again..he is still one of the best closers in the game. He just needs to adjust a little more, the league is starting to get enough tape on him to figure things out like you can run on him all day long because he wont throw over, and he always follows a first pitch fastball with a splitty, and his splitty hasnt been as sharp this season and is getting hit.
But still he just gave up his first walk today at Fenway, and only his 5 of the year, compared to 43 K's in 33.3 IP, for 33 appearances. The last 2 years the sox have controlled him closely on IP and app (59 app in both 06 07, 68.3 IP 06, 58.3IP 07) but with the sucess of his arm strengthening program they are going to stretch him farther this season and already have. Its only normal he will get hit a little more. Yes 4 blown saves in the first half of the season is not the norm when he has only had 3 the past 2 seasons each. But If you look at Paps info from his short career you see his numbers improve after the ASB.
19 games till the ASB, and sitting at 47-31 ,2 games over the rays and 5 over the yankees, and tied with the..uhm..Cubs? for the best record in baseball. All while Big Papi sits, Dice K has been on the shelf for the month shut down for a month, and Colon is now getting his rest for a month after over swinging the bat in an inter-league game. DOH, Depth from the youngsters has shown great talent...things look to be going good.
looks to be a great showing in the second half of the season
Btw....YYOOOOOOOOOUUUKKKKKKK!!!!