I am now officially worried about Papelbon. Yeah his recent hittability may just be good old SSS noise, but none of the offspeed pitches he threw today were impressive at all. He has completely lost any feel at all for the splitter, and a pitch which formerly dived like a rock in the last 20 feet of travel now comes in almost completely flat, and any hitter who was not catching up to the heater will be glad to see that thing floating up there.

It's a good way for him to struggle though. They still won this game and they are probably now coming to realize that everyone is on to their 'throw only fastballs' plan. He'll have a couple weeks to tune up the other stuff.

Also, this may, as you note, just be a small blip on the radar. Papelbon tends to go in spurts like this. He's untouchable for a while then has a string of a few bad games.

I think the problem with Papelbon, aside from too many fastballs is largely a result of expectations vs. reality. He was so damn good the first two seasons, that there was really not much room for improvement. His latest stretch of appearances have been singularly uninspiring, but he's still fanning more than 10 per 9 and while his 2nd half opponents OPS has swelled to .548, that increase conincides with a slight rise in his BABIP allowed. I'm thinking it's just a case of the SSS and a few bad outings in a short period of time.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say if you're worried about your closer who has a 2.11 ERA and a 72/7 K/BB, things are going pretty well.

Frankly, I was all for Lester being left in to finish it off. The bottom line is that if the 2B ump gets the call right Paps gives up the tying run (at the very least).

Here's hoping that Bard is ready to be called up towards the end of next year...

Frankly, I was all for Lester being left in to finish it off.

This.

The Blue Jays played some sloppy defense today, too.

And #### the Yankees. The only things left to root for this season was Moose getting 20, getting a protected draft pick, and the Rays winning the division. Failure all around.

The only things left to root for this season was Moose getting 20

How many starts does he have left? 3?

...a slight rise in his BABIP allowed

This tends to happen, when you throw almost exclusively belt-high fastballs...

Remaining games:

Red Sox
3 away games at Devil Rays
3 away games at Blue Jays
4 home games against Indians
3 home games against Yankees

Devil Rays
3 home games against Red Sox
4 home games against Twins
4 away games against Orioles
4 away games against Tigers

The Blue Jays played some sloppy defense today, too.

There's been a lot of sloppy "D" by the Jays of late.

Best Regards

John