Red Sox bullpen, best in baseball?

The Red Sox finished last season with a bullpen ERA of 3.80, second-best in the American League behind the Oakland Athletics' 3.54 and well below the American League average of 4.17. The same group returns intact this season and will be expected to put up similar numbers.

It's fair to wonder, though, if it will.

The Red Sox bullpen looked like one of the best in baseball last season mostly because its pitchers stranded 71 percent of inherited runners last season, second-best in the American League. Only the Yankees (73 percent) were better. The American League average was 66 percent.

That number might not be sustainable. While the American League average has held steady around 66 percent over the last few seasons, the Red Sox strand percentage has bounced around quite a bit:

2009: 71 percent
2008: 68 percent
2007: 77 percent
2006: 62 percent
2005: 61 percent
2004: 66 percent

The smart money has the Red Sox bullpen's strand rate regressing to the mean this season.

"When we had guys on base and guys in scoring position, we actually pitched really well last year," Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein told WEEI this morning. "That’s the type of thing that you can’t really count on year after year."

This is where Epstein's idea of "clutch pitching" comes into play. Stranding inherited runners often can be a byproduct of luck -- or, as Epstein made clear earlier this offseason, lousy defense. One reason Epstein made it a point to upgrade his defense was the fact that he couldn't realistically expect his relivers to pitch as "clutch" as they had last season.

ERA can be a bad way to evaluate relief pitchers because so many outside factors contribute. If a reliever enters a game with a runner on second and promptly gives up an RBI single, that run isn't charged to his record. If a reliever leaves a game with the bases loaded but the next pitcher strikes out the side, no runs are charged to his record.

As elite as the Red Sox bullpen seemed to be last season, its individual pitchers didn't exactly stand out in the statistical categories that have nothing to do with inherited runners:

Strikeout-to-walk ratio (min. 45 IP)
16. Jonathan Papelbon, 3.17
20. Daniel Bard, 2.86
23. Hideki Okajima, 2.52
48. Ramon Ramirez, 1.63
65. Manny Delcarmen, 1.29

(In case you're wondering, there were 67 relievers who qualified.)

Walks and hits per inning pitched
19. Jonathan Papelbon, 1.147
27. Hideki Okajima, 1.262
30. Daniel Bard, 1.277
36. Ramon Ramirez, 1.335
60. Manny Delcarmen, 1.642

Opponents' on-base plus slugging (OPS)
11. Jonathan Papelbon, .600
29. Daniel Bard, .690
34. Hideki Okajima, .704
36. Ramon Ramirez, .711
56. Manny Delcarmen, .796

Other than Papelbon -- and this is the same Papelbon, don't forget, who allowed more baserunners than usual -- the Red Sox bullpen was a middle-of-the-pack team in all three of the above categories. Manny Delcarmen and Ramon Ramirez both finished the season in the bottom half of the American League in WHIP and opponents' OPS, and not one Red Sox reliever finished in the top 10 in any of the above categories.

The revamped Red Sox defense, it seems, wasn't just about the starting pitchers. The revamped Red Sox defense might be a big help to the bullpen, too.

What if Bard is the one who goes?

Jonathan Papelbon has made no secret during the arbitration process that he wants to get paid what he feels he is worth. Given the propensity of Theo Epstein to let his most expensive players walk -- and given the emergence of youngster Daniel Bard as an option to replace Papelbon -- many believe the Red Sox will make little effort to re-sign Papelbon and instead hand the ball to Bard after the 2011 season.

Many have speculated that the Red Sox will trade Papelbon for prospects even before he hits the open market.

Papelbon, as far as most Red Sox fans are concerned, is a lame duck closer with little chance of sticking around after he's eligible for free agency. Papelbon is going to be too expensive for his own good, or so conventional wisdom has it, and Bard has the type of young, electric arm that could make him the next elite closer in the major leagues.

What if we have it all backwards? What if Bard is the likeliest trade chip? What if Papelbon is going to get his money and is going to emerge from the bullpen to "Shipping Up To Boston" for the next 10 or 12 years?

A reporter in Fort Myers, Fla., asked Papelbon this week what he made of the perception that he was all but gone once he hit free agency.

"I think that’s the perception, that I’m going to go somewhere else, but it’s all a perception," Papelbon said. "Right now, this is the way it’s working out. It’s that simple. It’s one year at a time. It’s working out. Both sides are happy. 'Why would you try to do anything else?' is my way of thinking. Of course I’d love to be with Boston for a long term.

"But this is the way it is right now, and I’m happy going one year at a time. This is the organization I started in. This is the organization that gave me the opportunity to play major league baseball. Of course I’d love to stay here for 15 years. Right now, one year at a time is the way it’s working. I’m happy and everyone else is happy, so why not."

Bard, on the other hand, was asked about the possibility of going back to starting pitching at some point in his career. Starting pitchers, after all, tend to be more valuable than relief pitchers.

"Right now, I'm a reliever," Bard said. "The Red Sox have a lot of starting pitching. As long as I'm with the Red Sox, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be a reliever."

The "As long as I'm with the Red Sox" part of that ought to raise an eyebrow. Bard is a smart guy. He knows what he can do is valuable whether it's as a starter or as a closer. He knows he's more valuable as a starter than as a reliever but isn't going to start any games in Boston. He also has no particular ties to the Red Sox and has no more reason to sign a team-friendly contract than Papelbon does.

Papelbon, despite all appearances, is a smart guy. He knows what he can do is plenty valuable, too. Over the last few seasons, among American League closers, he's in a class with Joe Nathan and Mariano Rivera and pretty much no one else. He also knows that he has a pretty good thing going for him in Boston.

Epstein, of course, is a smart guy, too. He knows what Papelbon can do. He knows what Bard can do. He knows Papelbon will hit free agency after the 2011 season. He knows Bard will start becoming eligible for salary arbitration after the 2011 season -- and while middle relievers don't make much in arbitration, Bard's salary would spike after a year or two as the closer.

Bard, in other words, might wind up just as expensive as Papelbon -- and he might be at least as willing to go elsewhere as Papelbon.

Papelbon has been one of the best relief pitchers in baseball over the past four seasons. Bard looked great in his first stint in the major leagues. Both know they're talented and that they can make a lot of money playing baseball. Assuming Papelbon is the one who's going to wind up in another uniform might be a little bit premature.

Daniel Bard: "My goal will be to be the best reliever I can be"

The Red Sox did all they could to make Jonathan Papelbon a starting pitcher, even going to spring training with him in that role after a rookie season in which he'd accumulated a 0.92 ERA out of the bullpen.

The Red Sox did all they could to make Justin Masterson a starter, too, stretching him out in spring training a year ago and only sending him back to the bullpen after Daisuke Matsuzaka came off the disabled list for the first time. When Masterson was traded to Cleveland, he went right into the Indians' starting rotation and even struck out 12 in a complete-game gem in his final start of the season.

Masterson and Papelbon both have the workhorse frame necessarily to be successful starting pitchers. Standing 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-6, respectively, both have the necessary physical traits to withstand the grind of 35 starts and 200 innings in a season.

Since starting pitchers inherently are more valuable than relief pitchers simply because they pitch more innings, the Red Sox did all they could for as long as they could to keep the option open of putting both pitchers in their starting rotations.

That hasn't been the case, though, with Daniel Bard.

Much like Masterson and Papelbon, the 6-foot-4, 200-pound Bard began his ascent in the Red Sox organization as a starting pitcher. He was a starter for three seasons at North Carolina and was seen as a starter long-term -- that is, until he turned in a 7.08 ERA in 22 starts in his professional debut in 2007.

The Red Sox then sent Bard off to the Hawaiian Winter League to get in some work as a relief pitcher. Upon his return, he compiled a 1.51 ERA in 46 appearances split between Single-A and Double-A in 2008, striking out more than one-third of the hitters he faced.

At that point, the Red Sox seemed to abandon the idea of making the live-armed righty a starting pitcher, fast-tracking him to the major leagues as their next power-armed reliever.

It's not as though the Red Sox need another starting pitcher next season. The addition of John Lackey means Terry Francona will go into spring training with six starters expected to be healthy and ready to go, and Bard will have far more of a chance to make an impact out of the bullpen than he would have as a starter.

It's curious, though, that a team that put so much effort into making starting pitchers out of Masterson and Papelbon -- even, in both cases, after they'd had success as relievers at the major-league level -- hasn't done the same with Bard.

"I haven’t talked to the team about it at all," Bard said on Wednesday, reached by phone while en route to the site in Georgia where he'll get married on Saturday. "As far as I know, I’m a reliever, and I’ll prepare that way. But the changes I’ve made and the things I’ve learned over the past two or three years, they’ve made me a lot better of a pitcher and could translate to being either a starter or a reliever. A lot of it is just mentality. If the day came when I was called on to start again, I think I could handle it, for sure. I would be up to the challenge.

"Right now, I’m a reliever, and I’m happy to be where I’m at. Until I hear something different, my goal will be to be the best reliever I can be. ... I don’t see it happening in the near future, but you never know."

A handful of options for the Red Sox bullpen

As much as we're all focused on who will play left field and shortstop and third base next season, it's important to remember the part of the roster with which Theo Epstein had the most success last season -- and thus the part of the roster he'll undoubtedly try to tweak once again this winter: The bullpen.

Jonathan Papelbon almost certainly will be back. Hideki Okajima has been as consistent as it gets over the last few years. Daniel Bard is an up-and-coming flamethrower -- though no one in this particular neighborhood is completely convinced he's not going to be a starting pitcher at some point. Manny Delcarmen endured his rockiest season. Ramon Ramirez was untouchable in April and May but very touchable in August and September. Takashi Saito has been outrighted off the 40-man roster and likely won't be back. A endless cast of characters rotated through the final spot in the bullpen once Justin Masterson was traded to Cleveland.

(Postscript: And now Billy Wagner is gone, on his way to Atlanta to become the Braves' new closer.)

All of that means Epstein has to be surveying the free-agent market -- between phone calls to Jason Bay's agent, of course -- to see who might be an upgrade on what he has:

Kiko Calero: Even including a miserable season in 2007, the 34-year-old righty has a career 3.24 ERA in 312 appearances out of the bullpen. A year ago, he had a 1.95 ERA and struck out better than a batter an inning and allowed just one home run in 60 innings pitched. His career walk rate is a tick above the major-league average, but so too is his strikeout rate.

Even better: He won't cost a draft pick.

Octavio Dotel: The 36-year-old righty isn't a closer anymore, but he had a 3.55 ERA in 129 1/3 innings spanning two seasons with the White Sox, striking out more than a hitter an inning in both of his years in Chicago. The injury issues that plagued him in Oakland, New York, Kansas City and Atlanta seem to be behind him, and he's evolving as a pitcher: He added a cutter to his repertoire last season.

The downside to Dotel is that he's a Type A free agent who would require the forfeiture of a first-round pick -- though if the Red Sox signed both Dotel and Marco Scutaro, one of the two would mean forfeiting only a second-round pick. Heck, if the Red Sox sign Matt Holliday, they'd only lose a third-round pick for either Dotel or Scutaro.

Mike Gonzalez: Like Wagner, this lefty almost certainly will be looking for job where he can close. (The Pirates, the team with whom he had an All-Star caliber year in 2006, reportedly are interested.) If he doesn't find that, though, he could be a perfect replacement for Wagner in front of Papelbon in the Red Sox bullpen. Gonzalez had a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.85 in his last two seasons in Atlanta, and both righties and lefties have OPS'ed less than .650 against him in his career. Like Dotel, he's a Type A free agent.

Kevin Gregg: Another Type A free agent, the former Cubs and Marlins closer endured a rocky season (4.72 ERA) en route to losing his job at the back end of the bullpen. He has, however, allowed just 14 percent of inherited runners to score in the last two seasons -- even if his walk rate has been above the major-league average in each of the last three seasons.

Brandon Lyon: The righty once traded for Curt Schilling had a 2.86 ERA in setup duty with Detroit this season thanks in large part to a ground ball-to-fly ball ratio well above the major-league average. He allowed inherited runners to score at a less-than-impressive 36 percent clip last season, but his strikeout rate has increased in each of the last two seasons.

Justin Miller: The former disappointment with Toronto has a 3.65 ERA and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.15 over his past three seasons in Florida and San Francisco. His 3.18 ERA last season might be something of a mirage, though, given his K/BB ratio of 1.33, his BABIP of .248 and his inherited runners strand rate of 30 percent.

Chan Ho Park: At one time a devastating free-agent signing in Texas -- the Rangers gave him a $65 million contract after the 2001 season -- Park reinvented himself as a relief pitcher with the Dodgers and Phillies. His strikeout rate is right around the major-league average (7.9 per nine innings last season) but his walk rate is impressive (3.6) and has dropped significantly since his lousy years as a starter. One possible snag: Park told The Korea Times earlier this month that he wants to be a starting pitcher again.

B.J. Ryan: The closer cast off by the Blue Jays last season saw his strikeout rate plummet and his walk rate skyrocket during his years in Toronto, a warning sign for any team interested in him. During his heyday, however, he had a strikeout-to-walk rate around 4.0 and had a sub-3.00 ERA as recently as two seasons ago. The Blue Jays still owe him $10 million next season, so he might come cheap as a flier if he's interested in a chance to redeem himself as a setup man.

Rafael Soriano: There are reports that the Red Sox have requested medical records on the Braves' hard-throwing closer, a 30-year-old with a career 2.92 ERA and strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.51. A year ago, he struck out 12.1 batters per nine innings, and he's flirted with 10.0 and 11.0 several other times during his career. He endured a heavy workload (75 2/3 innings in 77 appearances) a year ago and found himself hit hard by lefties (.746 OPS, though a .330 BABIP didn't help). Still, though, there's a chance he could do what the Red Sox have waited three years for Delcarmen to do -- be the team's primary shut-down reliever against righties.

Claudio Vargas: Another former starter who resurrected his career as a reliever, Vargas had a 1.78 ERA in 30 1/3 innings after being traded to the Milwaukee Brewers a year ago. He's not a pitcher who will miss bats much, though, and he's more of a fly-ball pitcher than a ground-ball pitcher. It would be easy to attribute his success, in fact, to a spectacularly low .202 BABIP a year ago -- a mark he's not likely to replicate.

Bard passes first postseason test

Much will be made, probably, of the contrast between the way Daniel Bard pitched on Sunday and the way Jonathan Papelbon pitched on Sunday.

Bard bailed Clay Buchholz out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning, inducing a double-play ball from Juan Rivera and a pop fly to shortstop from Cesar Izturis to retire the side with only one run scoring. He then set down the side in order in the seventh inning, striking out Mike Napoli and Chone Figgins in the process.

Papelbon, of course, did not fare as well.

The Red Sox, though, are unlikely to do what fans (and some analysts) already are calling for them to do: Unload Papelbon and replace him as closer with Bard, the rookie with the electric arm.

For one thing, it's not absurd to speculate that the Red Sox might still try to turn Bard back into a starting pitcher. The righty came out of college as a starting pitcher and failed miserably in his first season as a pro, but his struggles had plenty to do with changes to his mechanics -- and might not have had much to do with an inability to be a starter. Considering how much more valuable a starter is than a reliever, it might be worth a shot.

For another thing, Papelbon still has a sensational track record. He now has made 18 appearances in the postseason and has held opponents without a run in 17 of them. He has a 1.84 career ERA in the regular season -- including a 1.85 ERA in what many believed to be his worst season. He issued three times as many walks this season as he did last season, but he managed to allow four fewer earned runs then he did a year ago.

And one disaster doesn't have to become a trend: The season after Dennis Eckersley gave up his famous home run to Kirk Gibson, he had a 1.56 ERA in 57 2/3 innings. The season after that, he had a 0.61 ERA in 73 1/3 innings and won the Cy Young Award.

With the way Bard pitched on Sunday, though, it's hard to blame fans for starting to imagine him as the team's future relief ace.

He relieved Buchholz after the Red Sox's No. 3 starter had loaded the bases with a four-pitch walk. It was far from the best situation for a rookie reliever to make his second career postseason appearance.

That's not, however, how Bard looked at it.

"A lot of people say they don't like bases loaded and no outs -- but you can really only succeed," he said. "You're expected to give up two or three runs there. To get out with zero or one, you're kind of set up to succeed."

Bard actually immediately got behind Rivera, the first hitter he faced with the bases loaded. But he painted the corner with a 98-mile-per-hour fastball down and away, a confident pitch in a tough spot, and he came back with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball in on the hands that Rivera grounded to Mike Lowell to start a double play.

Bard then hit 101 miles an hour -- on the TBS gun and the MLB.com Gameday gun, anyway -- on his first pitch to Macier Izturis. His second pitch came in at a meager 99 miles an hour, and Izturis popped it to short left field. Inning over.

Bard then set down Mike Napoli, Erick Aybar and Chone Figgins in short order in the seventh inning, fanning Napoli and getting Aybar to ground out before Figgins strode to the plate.

At that point, Kevin Youkilis wandered over from first base for a word or two with Bard. A piece of advice about attacking Figgins, perhaps?

"I was going to my mouth too much," Bard said. "The umpire, I think, said something to him. The ball was so dry, I was doing everything I could to get some moisture on it."

Bard, chastened, proceeded to get Figgins to wave at a changeup and wave at a fastball and, three pitches later, to strike him out looking on a nasty back-door slider. He finished his first career postseason with a 0.00 ERA and four strikeouts in three innings pitched -- and that's on top of a regular season in which he compiled a 3.65 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 49 1/3 innings.

Still, though, he wasn't exactly doing cartwheels. He has higher aspirations than a solid year as a middle reliever.

"I tend to have a higher expectation of myself than other people do," he said. "Especially being a pitcher -- we're all perfectionists. I expect a lot out of myself. But it was a good year, and I learned a lot."

Picking your spots with the Red Sox bullpen

Theo Epstein constructed perhaps his most impressive bullpen this winter and this summer, acquiring Ramon Ramirez, Takashi Saito and Billy Wagner and promoting Daniel Bard from Triple-A to supplement a group that already had experienced quite a bit of success. Among American League teams, only the Oakland Athletics had a better bullpen ERA during the regular season than the Red Sox.

The postseason, though, is where it counts -- and for all of the group's individual ups and downs, the postseason is where the group's reputation will be made.

But it's not just about talent and execution. It's about Terry Francona and the way he employs his bullpen. Certain relievers thrive in certain situations, and for the Red Sox to get past the Angels (and beyond), he'll need to pick and choose his spots for each of his guys. Here's a primer on how Francona might go about doing that:

Daniel Bard
The rookie went the entire month of July (and beyond) without surrendering an earned run, ripping off a string of 14 innings with an ERA of 0.00. He endured some ups and downs in August and September -- he allowed at least one earned run in six of his 10 appearances in August, for example -- but remains an electric arm with the ability to strike out just about anyone.

Use him: In Games 3 and 4 at Fenway Park. Opponents hit just .207 off the rookie in home games this season, and his 30-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio is astounding. His ERA this season was 1.46 at home and 5.84 on the road.
Don't use him: Against lefties who can go deep. Lefties slugged .488 against him this season and hit four of the home runs he gave up: Johnny Damon, Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira (twice) hit home runs off him from the left side, but Evan Longoria is the only hitter to have gone deep against him from the right side.

Paul Byrd
The veteran righty came out of retirement this summer to contribute a handful of starts down the stretch, and he'll fill the same role in the playoffs this year that he did last year: Long man out of the bullpen. Byrd made one appearance a year ago, relieving Jon Lester in a Game 3 against Tampa Bay that got out of hand quickly. He gave up an eighth-inning home run in that game to -- you guessed it! -- Rocco Baldelli.

Use him: When a game already has been decided in the early innings. Byrd probably wouldn't even be on the roster if not for the diminishing effectiveness of Manny Delcarmen down the stretch, and his primary use now will be to save the rotation in case of a disastrous start by one of the other starters -- or to make an emergency start if someone gets hurt.
Don't use him: Against lefties, if at all possible. Lefties hit .405 off Byrd in his seven starts -- including seven doubles and three home runs.

Hideki Okajima
The lefty endured one of his most bumpy seasons -- but if you believe in trends, that could be a good omen: He had a lousy ERA in April, June and September but a great ERA in May, July and August. Maybe he's due for another run of being unhittable.

Use him: Against the toughest lefties. Billy Wagner had a slightly lower batting-average-against with lefties (.125 to Okajima's .167), but Okajima had a much better strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.71 to Wagner's 2.67).
Don't use him: When he's inheriting runners. Opponents hit .305 and OBP'ed .380 against Okajima this season with runners on base this season, but they hit just .199 and OBP'ed .259 against him with the bases empty.

Jonathan Papelbon
The closer has seen opponents hit just .189 and slug an amazing .264 against him in the second half, the result of a change in his set position that made him more comfortable even if it increased the wear and tear on his shoulder a little bit. He's well aware he's thrown 25 straight scoreless innings in the playoffs, a run of success he intends to maintain.

Use him: In the game's biggest spots. Opponents hit .128 against Papelbon this season in 86 at-bats with runners in scoring position -- and with the bases loaded, opponents were 1 for 15 this season with 10 strikeouts.
Don't use him: On three days' rest, the only time his control really starts to evaporate. His strikeout-to-walk ratio dipped from 16-to-1 on two days' rest to 13-to-9 on three days' rest, and opponents slugged .409 against him in that situation as well. That makes for a tricky situation in Game 1 -- he'll be on three days' rest after having pitched on Sunday -- but he should be all set to go on a more normal schedule during the rest of the postseason.

Ramon Ramirez
"RamRam" scuffled in the second half but not to the extent of some of his counterparts: His first-half ERA was 2.33, but his second-half ERA still was just 3.48. He throws like a power pitcher but doesn't miss bats like a power pitcher: His strikeout rate is just 6.7 per nine innings, lowest among the relievers left in the bullpen.

Use him: In Games 1, 2 and 5. No Red Sox pitcher has had as much success away from Fenway Park this season as Ramirez: Opponents are hitting .182 off him and slugging .295 off him when the Red Sox are on the road. At home, though, Ramirez has seen opponents hit .285 and slug .477 off him.
Don't use him: Against lefties who can go deep. Lefties slugged .452 against him this season but hit six home runs and eight doubles. When he got hit by lefties, he usually got hit hard.

Takashi Saito
The former Dodgers closer often was used as one of the last relievers out of the bullpen and seemed to benefit from it: His ERA was an impressive 2.43 despite relatively unimpressive peripherals -- including a WHIP of 1.35 and 25 walks issued in 55 2/3 innings.

The Red Sox call him "Sammy," but no one knows why.

Use him: Againstlefties and against switch-hitters with better numbers from the right side. Saito has a pretty severe reverse split -- lefties hit just .195 and slugged just .257 off him -- and that makes him a good weapon against switch-hitters who would prefer to hit righthanded. (This is not the case, however, for the Angels' Kendry Morales or Chone Figgins, both of whom hit better than .300 against righthanded pitchers this season.)
Don't use him: Against righties in a high-leverage situation. Righthanded hitters hit .304 and slugged .500 against Saito this season, including four home runs. No Red Sox reliever allowed more home runs to righthanded hitters.

Billy Wagner
The veteran lefty has terrible career numbers in the playoffs: In his years with the Astros and Mets combined, he has a 9.58 career ERA. It's hard to know what to make of that, though: You can't predict this season's results based on what he did in 1997, can you?

Use him: When you have some righties sandwiched in with a run of lefties. Wagner pitched effectively against lefties, of course, but he actually had just as much success against righties in his short run in Boston -- a .200 batting average against and a 3.5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. In his career, Wagner actually has held righties to a lower batting average (.186) than lefties (.200).
Don't use him: When a walk would be disastrous. Wagner has fought control issues off and on since his arrival, and no reliever on the postseason roster has a higher walk rate than Wagner's 4.6 per nine innings. Then again, the times when a walk would be disastrous are the times a strikeout would be great, and Wagner is averaging 14.5 strikeouts per nine innings since the Red Sox acquired him.

Masterson starting to thrive as a starter; could Bard be next?

Justin Masterson was a terrific relief pitcher in his one-plus years for the Red Sox, a sinker-throwing righty who could induce double play after double play out of the bullpen.

But the Red Sox devoted spring training to preparing Masterson as a starting pitcher, and when Daisuke Matsuzaka landed on the disabled list for the first time, it was Masterson who assumed his spot in the starting rotation. Had Masterson remained with the Red Sox, he would have finished out the season as a reliever but almost certainly would have gone to spring training as a starting pitcher once again.

Starting pitchers simply are more valuable than relief pitchers. Part of the reason the Indians traded for him, in fact, was his potential as a starting pitcher in the mold of Derek Lowe. He's not an ace, certainly, but he certainly could develop into a middle-of-the-rotation starter on a contending team.

It's insane to trade a catcher in the mold of Victor Martinez for a package prominently featuring an eighth-inning reliever no matter how much salary a team has to slash. A trade for an innings-eating starting pitcher, on the other hand, is a different story entirely.

Masterson justified the Indians' interest with a solid second half, capping it off with a complete-game gem against the White Sox on Wednesday in which he struck out 12 and surrendered just four hits and a single earned run.

"He was meant to be a starter," said Red Sox reliever Daniel Bard, a close friend of Masterson since their tenure on Cape Cod four years ago. "He could have been a great reliever, but he's a big workhorse, a big-bodied guy who's going to be able to eat up a lot of innings.

"That pays some good money down the road once you hit arbitration and free agency. It'll end up being a good opportunity for him."

Oh, yeah, that's part of it, too: Because there's so much more demand for starting pitchers than relief pitchers, the salary structure for starting pitchers starts at a much higher level. Mike Timlin, one of the best middle relievers in baseball for more than a decade, earned more than $5 million in a season just once in his career. Lowe, on the other hand, hasn't earned less than $5 million in a season since 2003.

That brings us, in a way, back to Bard.

The rookie has emerged this season as a future lights-out closer, a flame-thrower with a 100-mile-an-hour arm.

But he came out of college as a starting pitcher and only moved to the bullpen after a disastrous first full year in the minor leagues. It could be argued, though, that his terrible year had more to do with adjustments to his repertoire than any issues with starting.

And like Masterson, he's a big guy -- 6-foot-4, 200 pounds -- who likely would be able to hold up to the rigors of throwing 200 innings. He wouldn't throw 100 miles an hour as a starter, certainly, but he has a slider and a changeup and still ought to be able to throw somewhere around 94 or 95.

Starters are more valuable than relievers. Starters earn more money than relievers.

As impressive as Bard looked as a relief pitcher this season, you can bet both he and the Red Sox will think long and hard about making him a starting pitcher in time for spring training next year.

Delcarmen still stranding runners, at least

Earned run average isn't the only way to judge relief pitchers. Takashi Saito, for example, turned a one-run lead on Sunday into a one-run deficit -- and his ERA for the season actually dropped from 2.36 to 2.35.

With that in mind, here's a look at the month-by month ERA for the Red Sox bullpen so far this season:

April: 2.88
May: 3.04
June: 3.82
July: 2.99
August: 4.69
September: 5.09

But, again, ERA isn't the only way to judge relief pitchers.

Even as the Red Sox bullpen ERA has skyrocketed, its rate of stranding inherited runners actually has plummeted. To wit:

Before Aug. 1: 35 for 115 (30.4 percent)
Since Aug. 1: 16 for 71 (22.5 percent)

One reliever is almost individually responsible for that drop, too -- and it's not who you'd think. Hideki Okajima and Ramon Ramirez actually have seen their inherited-runners-scored numbers increase since Aug 1.

Not so for Manny Delcarmen.

While some relievers tend to thrive most in bases-empty situations, the much-maligned Delcarmen have thrived in the most pressure-filled situations. Check out these splits:

Bases empty: .857 OPS
Runners on base: .703 OPS
Bases loaded: .404 OPS

And even as his ERA in September has climbed all the way to 16.20 entering play Monday, he's stranding inherited runners at an incredible rate. He allowed seven of his first 18 runners to score (38.9 percent), but since Aug. 1, he's allowed just one of 15 inherited runners to score (6.7 percent).

Five times in that span, he's come into a game with either two runners on or the bases loaded -- and he's wiggled out without surrendering a run.

Most Red Sox fans start to pull their hair out when Terry Francona calls upon Delcarmen in high-pressure situations with runners on base. Francona, though, might know just what he's doing.

Bard gets upper hand on Teixeira -- this time

Daniel Bard was waiting for Mark Teixeira on Saturday.

"I wanted him," he said.

Most relievers know ahead of time, as they're warming up, which hitter they're probably going to face. Billy Wagner had walked Nick Swisher, fanned Robinson Cano and hit Melky Cabrera in the hip with a fastball -- and that meant Bard had to start throwing.

Derek Jeter was at the plate and Johnny Damon was on deck, but Bard had a pretty good idea of who he was going to face if he got into the game.

"I can't remember who was hitting, exactly," he said from the Red Sox clubhouse after the game. "It lined up where I was going to face either Damon or (Teixeira). I figured they'd let Wagner pitch to Damon, left on left. But I wanted one of those guys."

Bard had a rough go of it the last time he pitched at Yankee Stadium, retiring Jeter and Hideki Matsui on groundouts but surrendering back-to-back solo home runs to Damon and Teixeira, home runs that turned a 2-1 lead into a 3-2 deficit.

Teixeira in particular had been of some annoyance for Bard. Two weeks after he hit his home run, he rolled a single through the right side of the infield -- and that made it two hits in four career at-bats against Bard. He was on the verge of starting to feel pretty good about his ability to hit the hard-throwing righty.

"I feel confident facing him, and I want him to know that," Bard said. "I just don't want that home run to be the last thing on his mind when he walks up to the plate."

That home run on Aug. 9 came on the second of back-to-back sliders. The seeing-eye single on Aug. 22 came on a changeup, a pitch Bard only pulls out in rare circumstances.

When Damon blooped a two-run single into right field, Francona summoned Bard -- and Bard this time brought the heat.

"I just wanted to challenge him," he said. "I don't know if he was sitting on (the slider) last time or not, but he was able to lengthen the bat out and get the barrel to it. I didn't want to give him a chance to do that this time."

The first pitch he threw to Teixeira was a 99-mile-per-hour fastball up and in. Teixeira fouled it back.

The second pitch he threw to Teixeira was a 97-mile-per-hour fastball up too high. Teixeira let it pass.

The third pitch he threw to Teixeira was a 98-mile-per-hour fastball up and in. Teixeira fouled it off.

The fourth pitch he threw to Teixeira was a 100-mile-per hour fastball in on the hands. Teixeira got a little bit of it but not enough to do anything, grounding it softly to second base for the third out of the inning.


Bard now has seen Teixeira five times. Teixeira has seen Bard five times. Bard is learning how to get Teixeira out. Teixeira is learning how to hit Bard. Given the prominent role the Red Sox expect Bard to have in their bullpen for the next six years, at least, it's a one-on-one showdown that promises to get more and more fascinating.

"You could argue for hours whether facing a guy more times favors the pitcher or the hitter," Bard said. "You've got to constantly change the way you approach a guy unless it's proven you can constantly get him out the same way and he can't adjust.

"But (Teixeira) is too good of a hitter. He'll adjust, and I'll have to keep pitching him different sequences."

Postscript: Teixeira adjusted. Bard had to face him again on Sunday and threw him the same up-and-in heat -- and Teixeira hit it into the right-field stands.

Highlights of hazing

Because the Red Sox are departing on their final road trip, that means the team's group of rookies are enduring the indignity of dressing up in costumes for the trip to Baltimore. It's immature and it's juvenile, sure, but it's still relatively tame.

This year's theme? "The Wizard of Oz." The cast:

Dorothy: Junichi Tazawa, in a blue and white dress with knee socks. Daisuke Matsuzaka helped him zip up the dress in the back, a true example of a teammate helping a teammate look totally ridiculous.

Scarecrow: Dusty Brown, who put his costume on first and thus was probably the best sport about it. The outfit came with a tiny green hat, but there was no way he was going to get it to stay on.

Tin man: Michael Bowden, whose costume was more ridiculous -- and more revealing in the, shall we say, low-cut department -- than any of the others. He even had a little silver hat with a heart imprinted on it.

Lion: Daniel Bard, who even wore a little headband with ears.

Glinda, the Good Witch: Josh Reddick, who wore a fluffy blue dress and who was given a wand that had three -- that's right, three! -- light-up settings. Hours of entertainment for the plane right.

Bullpen well-rested -- but not too well-rested

Manny Delcarmen, Ramon Ramirez, Billy Wagner, Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon all haven't pitched since Wednesday. They're all well-rested for the doubleheader today.

But Hideki Okajima hasn't pitched since Monday. Takashi Saito hasn't pitched since last Friday. Both could use the rest, but both still wouldn't mind staying a little bit sharp.

With an off-day, a rainout and a rain-shortened complete game all in a row, the Red Sox bullpen has found itself increasingly underworked in the last few days.

That, though, is not a bad thing.

With Clay Buchholz (3.03 ERA at Fenway Park this season) and Jon Lester (3.44 ERA in any park this season) on the mound, it might have taken some effort to shoehorn his relief pitchers into games.

"We're at the point in the year where we don't need to do that," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "They've got a lot of innings under their belt. We don't need to do that."

Okajima, even with his lengthy layoff, has appeared in more games (62) than anyone on the Red Sox staff. Only 11 pitchers in the American League have appeared in more. Ramirez has appeared in 60 games, tied for 16th in the American League, and closer Jonathan Papelbon has appeared in 59 games.

As a team, the Red Sox have the best bullpen ERA (3.66) in the American League -- and they've actually managed to stay well behind the pack in terms of innings pitched. Here's how it breaks down to this point in the season:

1. Baltimore, 478 2/3 IP
2. Oakland, 475 1/3
3. Cleveland, 478 2/3
4. New York, 451
5. Minnesota, 445 1/3
6. Seattle, 440 1/3
7. Toronto, 428 1/3
8. Los Angeles, 422 2/3
9. Texas, 418 2/3
t-10. Chicago, 416
t-10. Detroit, 416
12. Boston, 410 1/3
13. Kansas City, 408
14. Tampa Bay, 404

Francona has a well-rested bullpen, and he intends to keep it that way. He's not going to force-feed his relief pitchers into the game, and he's not going to pitch any of his relievers twice in the same day if he can help it.

"I wouldn't say that we'd rule it out," he said, "but I don't think that's in anybody's best interest. To sit for three days and then pitch twice in one day -- I know it appears that the guys are rested, but I don't know if pitching them like that makes sense. We try not to do that.

"Saying that, it'll probably happen. But we'll try to stay away from it."

Daniel Bard throws a changeup

Daniel Bard had thrown five fastballs and two sliders to Cesar Izturis in Wednesday's eighth inning, and four straight foul balls had left him searching for answers a little bit.

He then threw a changeup down and in that Izturis waved at and missed. He threw another changeup to Brian Roberts before walking the second baseman on a fastball inside.

Bard came out of college as a starting pitcher with three pitches, but he's all but ditched the changeup this season to focus on his 98-mile-per-hour fastball and his biting slider that disappears against righthanded hitters.

According to FanGraphs' PitchF/X stats, Bard this season has thrown 72 percent fastballs, 26 percent breaking balls and just 0.6 percent changeups. His changeup doesn't even show up on his game-to-game charts.

"I throw it every day in my warm-ups and my side sessions," Bard said, "and I keep it in my back pocket for whenever I need it. The main time it comes into play is when I get deep into an at-bat with a lefthanded hitter and I’ve shown him two or three fastballs and two or three sliders."

The reason it works so well against lefties is because it tails away from lefties, a screwball-type effect that's a stark contrast to his slider. Bard used that movement effectively in striking out Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins back in May, but he hasn't yet done it in four appearances against the New York Yankees. It'll be interesting to see if he breaks it out later this month against the Yankees' lefty-heavy lineup.

Daniel Bard starting to dominate

Trivia answer: Elvis Andrus, Billy Butler, Orlando Cabrera and Ryan Sweeney.

Trivia question: Who are the only hitters to have recorded hits against Daniel Bard since July 1?

With his scoreless inning on Saturday night against the Orioles, the Red Sox reliever now has not allowed an earned run in his last 14 innings -- a span that dates back more than a month. He has struck out 23 in those 14 innings. He has walked no one. He has allowed only those four hits. (One of those, even, was only an infield hit.)

He's done everything the Red Sox ever could have dreamed -- and more. He's become more exciting than Jonathan Papelbon. He's become more untouchable than Clay Buchholz. He's become perhaps the best relief pitcher the Red Sox have.

His game-ending strikeout of Melvin Mora epitomized the type of pitcher he's become. He actually missed with two of his first three pitches -- a 99-mile-an-hour fastball sailed inside, and he left a slider above the letters. But he threw a 2-1 fastball almost right down the middle, 98 miles an hour, and Mora swung right threw it. He then threw an 82-mile-an-hour slider, as nasty a breaking pitch as you'll ever be, that wound up in almost exactly the same spot. Mora swung right through that, too. Game over.

The big difference lately has been that breaking ball, a hard slider that pitching coach John Farrell tweaked for him in late May so he could throw it with a little more velocity. The evolution of that breaking ball, though, is a process that has taken years. In the spirit of celebrating the pitcher whose relief appearances have become the most exciting thing about watching Red Sox games, here's a look back at a story that appeared in the New Hampshire Union Leader in late May, right when he was starting to put it all together:

***

Plenty of baseball players have an out-of-body experience upon reaching the major leagues. Daniel Bard had his out-of-body experience two years ago at Single-A.

Just two weeks removed from his big-league debut, Bard has a 1.80 ERA in four appearances and is regularly hitting 97 miles an hour on stadium radar guns. If the wildest dreams of the Red Sox player development department come true, he could grow quickly into one of the league’s most dominant late-inning relief pitchers.

Two years ago, though, he couldn’t get outs at the lowest levels of the minor leagues.

“I was at 90 to 93 with a crappy curveball and a changeup I couldn’t locate,” said Bard, one of the most electric arms to emerge from the Red Sox system in years. “There were times I went out there and felt like I was pitching with someone else’s mechanics and someone else’s repertoire.”

The then-starting pitcher had performed well in three years of college baseball but never quite dominated the way many expected him to dominate. He had a 3.47 ERA as a junior and pitched North Carolina to the College World Series, but he still endured an occasional disaster. He allowed nine earned runs in 5 1/3 innings in one March start, in fact, and issued six walks in 3 2/3 innings a week after that.

But the raw stuff still was there. The results just weren’t. The Red Sox, then, drafted Bard in the first round and set about trying to turn all that potential into an elite big-league pitcher. They changed the arm slot in his delivery, shifting it from three-quarters to a pure over-the-top delivery. They shelved his slider and taught him a 12-to-6 curveball, a better fit for his new delivery.

It only made everything worse. He had a 10.12 ERA in five starts at Single-A Lancaster in 2007, and he had a 6.42 ERA in 17 starts at Single-A Greenville. He walked far more hitters (78) than he struck out (49). He even threw 27 wild pitches.

“There were two-month stretches there where I didn’t even look at my stats,” he said. “I didn’t care. I knew they were bad. How bad? It didn’t even matter.”

Everything about his delivery felt wrong, and it showed in the results.

“When you throw that hard, you can be off just a hair and it looks like you’re really off because you throw so hard,” Hall of Fame reliever Dennis Eckersley said. “It’s not easy to control that kind of gas.”

But Bard wasn’t even throwing gas anymore. He’d lost five miles per hour off his fastball.

That’s why, after that season, Bard threw out the changes he’d made to his delivery. He went back to his three-quarters arm slot to get more torque on his fastball. He started throwing his slider again. If it again led to disaster, well, at least it would be a disaster of his own making.

“If I was going to fail, if I was going to be done with pro ball, I was going to go out on my terms,” he said. “I’m not going to say, ‘Well, I tried to please people for two years and I was terrible, and I’m out of the game.’”

He also started pitching out of the bullpen for the first time in his life. It began with an offseason stint in the Hawaii Winter League in which he pitched exclusively out of the bullpen just to get more innings – and when he allowed just two earned runs and struck out 15 in 16 2/3 innings, the light bulb went off.

“I could just see the reactions of the hitters,” he said. “They didn’t want to be in the box. I was like, ‘All right, I’ve still got this. I can still dominate.’”

He went back to Single-A Greenville as a reliever and struck out 43 hitters in 28 innings; his ERA was 0.64. When he was promoted to Double-A Portland, he struck out 64 in 49 2/3 innings to go along with an ERA of 1.99.

When he got to spring training this spring, everyone there knew who he was and what he could do.

“You see 98, 99, and it’s always exciting to see guys who throw that hard,” fellow reliever Manny Delcarmen said. “I would get into a couple of (spring training) games before he threw, and I’d be inside and watching the TV just to see if I could see it, see the 97 or 99.”

And at Triple-A Pawtucket this season, Bard put together a 1.12 ERA and struck out 29 hitters in 16 innings before the Red Sox called him up.

The next step for Bard, of course, is dominating in the major leagues the way he did in the minors. He struck out Angels catcher Mike Napoli on a 97-mile-per-hour fastball in his big-league debut, but he hasn’t struck anyone out since.

He’s even allowing more than a hit an inning – including two line-drive singles on fastballs he left up on in the zone against the Blue Jays on Wednesday.

But Bard is well aware of how important it is for him to keep the ball down in the zone. When he warms up in the bullpen, in fact, he spots each of his first 10 or so pitches below the knees rather than in the strike zone just because it’s easier to climb the ladder in the strike zone than to go the other way.

“If he drives the ball down, with that delivery, that arm action and that velocity, he’s going to have a lot of success,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “I know he can elevate on purpose. But when you leave some balls up, with that velocity, in this league, they’ll take some pretty good whacks at you.”

He’s still due to take some pretty good whacks now and then as he learns how to pitch in the major leagues. But if he can endure what he endured two years ago and still reach the big leagues, not much is going to faze him.

“I’ve failed as bad as I can fail in a given year,” he said. “I’ve had as bad of a year as a pro player can have – and I’ve bounced back from it. Who’s to say I can’t have a bad month now and still bounce back from it?

“It’s probably going to happen. I’m going to have a rough stretch, a week or two, a month, whatever, but I’ve done it before, and I can do it again.”

Bard has a chance to do what Masterson did

Daniel Bard and Terry Francona sat down to chat a couple of days ago about the role Bard has filled and will fill in the Red Sox bullpen. No longer a candidate to be sent back to Pawtucket -- he likely would have been a casualty had Daisuke Matsuzaka remained healthy -- Bard has looked more and more impressive the more opportunities he's had.

The rookie looked particularly impressive on Thursday in the aftermath of the disastrous sixth inning turned in by Manny Delcarmen and Justin Masterson. By the time Bard got a chance to pitch, it was 8-5 and the Royals were threatening again. A runner was on third with two outs thanks to an RBI triple surrendered by Ramon Ramirez.

Bard needed just three pitches -- a fastball, a fastball and a nasty slider -- to fan Billy Butler and get out of the eighth inning. He then fanned Jose Guillen and Mark Teahen to open the top of the ninth before getting Mike Jacobs to hit a weak fly ball to second base to retire the side.

"I thought Bard was tremendous," Francona said.

Bard, in large part due to his inexperience, remains one of the last options in the bullpen. He was up and throwing when starter Brad Penny ran into trouble in the fourth inning -- when the Red Sox still led by a 4-0 score -- but sat down and had to watch as Manny Delcarmen, Justin Masterson and Ramon Ramirez all were summoned into the game before he was.

If Hideki Okajima hadn't pitched in back-to-back games on Tuesday and Wednesday, he'd have been in there, too.

Bard knows where he stands. Francona laid it out for him.

"He said, 'You don't have a role,'" Bard said. "He goes, 'That's the one thing you give us: A lot of flexibility. If it's you and Oki both available and we need someone to throw the eighth inning, it's going to be Oki because he's experienced right now.' I'm totally behind that 100 percent. That's what's best for the team.

"Whatever my role is that night, I'm going to try to be the best at it that I can. Times will come where I need to throw those higher-leverage innings, and I'll try to be as prepared as I can when it happens."

As patient as Francona always will be with his pitchers -- he teased one veteran writer before Thursday's game about how quickly he was to try to run Okajima out of town last season -- he's not unwilling to give some innings to his youngsters, either.

It was less than a year ago, after all, that Masterson was doing exactly what Bard is doing now. The Red Sox had recalled the sinkerballer from Triple-A in late July and gave him a chance to get his feet wet in low-leverage spots. Each of his first 11 appearances came when the Red Sox either were losing or were winning by four or more runs. He'd been in the major leagues for almost a month before he had a chance to preserve a two-run lead in the late innings.

But by the time the playoffs rolled around, he might have been Francona's favorite righthanded reliever. He made more appearances (four) than any other reliever in the ALDS and made more appearances (five) than any other reliever except Okajima in the ALCS. He earned those appearances, too: He had a 2.13 ERA in September and a 1.86 ERA in his nine appearances in the postseason.

No one ever gave him an indication he was being promoted in any way. He just started getting the call in more and more big spots -- and he just kept on getting key outs.

"It just happened," he said with a grin. "You find yourself, all of a sudden, with a few good outings -- and there you are in situations. If you show the ability to be calm and show competence in those situations, you'll be OK."

Bard, of course, has visions of earning the same type of trust that his longtime buddy -- the two pitched on Cape Cod together four years ago -- earned a year ago.

He scuffled in Washington on June 25 but hasn't allowed a base-runner in the 5 1/3 innings he's pitched since, striking out 10 hitters in the process. He looked almost untouchable in two perfect innings against Baltimore on July 1 and looked equally dominant against the Royals on Thursday night.

At this point, that's all he can do.

"You just continue to do your stuff -- execute and perform," Masterson said. "You can't really worry about what's going on. Every time you go, try and pitch well. That's what he's been doing -- and, over time, you gain faith and get in those situations. We have a strong bullpen, so as we go on, everyone's going to get time and everyone's going to be needed."

Said Bard, "If you come in and throw strikes, that's the biggest thing. If you throw strikes and keep the ball down, you'll become a guy they can rely on. That's the position I'm trying to work my way into right now."

Bailey, Bates encountering opposite emotions

Daniel Bard and Aaron Bates put aside their differences long ago.

Bard first encountered the newest Red Sox first baseman from opposite ends of Tobacco Road: Bard was pitching for North Carolina, and Bates was hitting home runs for N.C. State. In the two games in which the two faced each other, Bates went 1-for-6 with a walk and a strikeout -- and while Bates' Wolfpack won the first game by an 8-7 score, Bard threw a complete-game shutout en route to a 4-0 win for the Tar Heels.

"He didn't like hitting sinkers or sliders, so that's all I ever threw him," Bard said with a grin.

That scouting report may or may not be applicable these days. Bates overhauled the mechanics of his swing this winter, ditching his high leg kick and toe-tap in favor of a swing that doesn't leave him so vulnerable to pitches on the inside half of the plate.

The result: A year after Bates hit 11 home runs and slugged .420 in a full season with Double-A Portland, he hit nine home runs in barely 200 at-bats and slugged .505 to earn a promotion to Triple-A Pawtucket.

"The guy can hit," Bard said. "He's put up numbers everywhere he's gone. Going back to Double-A this year was frustrating in a way for him, but it was good because it motivated him to prove to a lot of people that he's better than that. He's apparently had an unbelievable year so far, and it's well-deserved."

But he still had just 24 Triple-A games under his belt as of late Sunday night. When the Red Sox summoned him to the major leagues to replace the injured Jeff Bailey, the call came totally out of the blue.

"I didn't know Bailey got hurt," Bates said, "so, originally, I was like, 'For what? What do you mean? Who am I going to go for?'"

Bates jumped a plane this morning, pausing only to call his mother -- who lives in Amherst, Mass. -- as well as his sister, who will begin her senior year at N.C. State this fall, and his brother. But when he found out he'd be in the starting lineup, playing first base and hitting ninth, he made a few more phone calls. N.C. State Elliott Avent was among the 15 or so friends and family in attendance when Bates made his big-league debut.

It all happened quickly. The Red Sox didn't even have a nameplate made out for Bates' locker. But that didn't mean the rookie wasn't going to make the most of what likely will be a brief big-league stint.

"As long as you're playing hard and having fun and playing the game the right way, the rest of the stuff falls into place," he said.

***

In front of the locker next to Bates' sat Jeff Bailey, a splint on his left ankle and the USA Today crossword puzzle in his left hand.

"Who's 'A Marx brother born Leonard?'" he asked the reporters clustered around him.

"Leonard Marx," one smart aleck piped up.

"Zeppo," another suggested. "Harpo. Groucho."

"It was probably Harpo," one said.

"Probably not Karl, huh?" still another said.

(No one stumbled upon the correct answer -- Chico.)

Bailey will have plenty of time to work on his crossword puzzles now that he's spending the next 15 days on the disabled list. The first baseman suffered a high ankle sprain in the seventh inning of Saturday's loss to Seattle -- Ronny Cedeno stepped on his foot trying to beat out a double-play ball. He underwent an MRI exam on Monday morning to get a sense for how long his injury would take to heal.

He was optimistic about his progress -- he said he felt far better on Monday than he had on Sunday, and he even was putting a little weight on the ankle. But he'll miss the run of lefthanders the Oakland Athletics are throwing at the Red Sox this week, the same hitters he was brought to Boston to face.

For a guy for whom every big-league at-bat counts, the injury came at a particularly unfortunate time.

"It's only going to be a couple of weeks, but it's frustrating," he said. "They've got two lefthanders starting against us. Maybe three. That was going to be some playing time right there, and it stinks when you don't get to do what you're here to do."

Bard not caught up in pitching staff shuffle

Daniel Bard is just a relief pitcher.

He's not a general manager.

He's not, therefore, worrying too much about how he'll be affected by the arrival of John Smoltz on the Red Sox roster a week from Thursday. Red Sox manager Terry Francona announced on Tuesday that the Red Sox will go with a six-man rotation from the end of June until the All-Star Game. If no starting pitcher is going to be bumped from the roster to make room for Smoltz, Bard likely will be shipped back to Pawtucket.

"I'm not going to worry about it," the rookie flamethrower said. "I'm not working in the front office, so the thing I'm going to do is make the decision as tough for them as possible. That's all I can do. Obviously, I want to be here. If my arm feels good and I'm throwing well, I want to be helping this team.

"If that is the case, if I get moved down, I'm sure something's going to happen along the way -- whether it's soon or it's September. But I'm not worrying about that right now."

To make the decision as tough as possible, Bard first had to bounce back from perhaps his worst outing as a major leaguer. Pitching in relief of Josh Beckett in a one-run game in Philadelphia on Sunday, Bard walked Chase Utley, failed to haul in a double-play ball he could have hauled in, allowed a double to Jayson Werth and intentionally walked Chris Coste to get to pitcher Chan Ho Park only to walk Park, too.

He'd allowed just one earned run all season to that point. He was charged with four earned runs that inning. His ERA jumped from 0.75 to 3.55.

"I'm going to stick with what's gotten me here -- do the same early work and the same things between outings that I have been doing," he said. "You've got to expect, any pitcher, there's going to be bumps in the road throughout the season. There may be two or three like that -- hopefully not, but I've got to expect it. If you dwell on it and start worrying about it, like, 'This is going to turn into two or three or four bad ones in a row,' you're screwing yourself over. You just stick with it and go back out and keep doing what you've been doing."

But that was Sunday.

Bard came back strong on Tuesday, fanning Hanley Ramirez on a 98-mile-an-hour heater for the first out of the ninth inning and getting Dan Uggla to pop to first to end the game.

"I went into today thinking about slamming the door," he said. "These hitters don't know what I did my last time -- well, they may, I don't know, but they weren't there. I'm going to act like they've never seen me before and come in firing."

***

One thing to watch for: Bard and tonight's Marlins starter, Andrew Miller, pitched North Carolina to the first of its four straight College World Series appearances three years ago. The two had a chance to catch up on the off-day on Monday, traveling down to Cape Cod to see Bard's younger brother Jared pitch for the Brewster Whitecaps.

Red Sox draft Daniel Bard's brother

Luke Bard, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound righty out of Charlotte (N.C.) Christian School, was just drafted by the Red Sox in the 16th round.

If his name sounds familiar, his brother hit 100 miles an hour on the Fenway Park radar gun last night.

Luke Bard has signed a National Letter of Intent to pitch at George Tech, his brother said, and has a fastball that tops out at 96 miles an hour. He was out golfing today rather than following the draft online.

Daniel declined to guess whether his brother would sign a pro contract or go to college. He did say, though, that he warned him that signing now would mean he'd end up in the Gulf Coast League and "play in front of 10 people for at least half a season." Then again, his signing bonus might make that worthwhile.

"It's exciting," the eldest Bard said. "It's a big confidence booster. Everyone wants to get drafted -- even if you don't plan on signing out of high school. I'm happy for him. He can always say, no matter what happens from here on out, 'I was picked by the Red Sox.' It's a good day for him."

Jared Bard, by the way, is still waiting to hear his name called; the middle of the three Bard brothers just finished off something of a rough junior year at the University of Richmond (18 earned runs in 18 innings pitched). Whether he's drafted or not, he'll pitch for the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League this summer.

Red Sox draft-day stories

Projected No. 1 overall pick Stephen Strasburg has announced that he will hold a press conference to discuss his selection not at home and not at San Diego State but at the headquarters of the Boras Corporation in Newport Beach, Calif.

My, how times have changed.

With the draft now just a day away, here's a look at some of the draft-day memories of some of the first- and second-round draft picks who wear the "B" on their cap these days:

1980: Terry Francona
Francona was in Omaha, Neb., where he and his University of Arizona team were about to win the College World Series. They'd lost their first game to St. John's but wouldn't lose again; they beat Michigan by an 8-0 score the day before the draft and would beat Hawaii, California and Hawaii again to win the NCAA title. Francona, in fact, hit .458 in six games in Omaha and was named the College World Series MVP.

Francona was drafted No. 22 overall by the Expos -- right in front of future Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane.

"John McHale Sr. called the room at the hotel," Francona said. "You didn't know -- and then the phone rang. That's how I knew. There wasn't a whole lot of communication. There wasn't cell phones. My dad was basically my representative."

Francona had been one of the best college players throughout his junior season and even won the Golden Spikes Award as the nation's top amateur player. But he was only asked to fill out a couple of personality questionnaires, and he wasn't subjected to anywhere near the same scrutiny to which top amateurs now are subjected.

"I knew there were scouts around, but it wasn't quite the same then," he said. "There's a lot more money that you're paying these guys, so there's a lot more homework -- which is probably really good."

With his bonus money, Francona said, "I bought a -- what do you call it? -- a duplex as a rental property. Bad move. And I promised my sister I'd put her through school, but there were two things: One, I didn't think she'd go, and two, I didn't think I'd get drafted that high. I got shafted there.

"I actually bought a little bit of stock that did great -- great in terms of, I bought a couple of vans, but not great, like, I'm going to buy Pepsi."

1996: Mark Kotsay
Kotsay and the rest of the USA Baseball team that would win a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics two months later was in a dorm -- "a military barracks," he said -- in Millington, Tenn., the day of the draft that year. Skip Bertman, the LSU coach who would manage in the Olympics that year, was the one fielding phone calls from big-league teams and relaying the messages to his players.

"We didn't have cell phones -- we had pagers," Kotsay said. "Nobody was following the draft online. Nobody was brought in to do TV."

Bertman was a busy guy, too. Kris Benson (Pirates), Travis Lee (Twins), Braden Looper (Cardinals) and Billy Koch (Blue Jays) were the first four selections in the draft. Seth Greisinger (Tigers) and Chad Green (Brewers) came off the board at No. 6 and No. 8, respectively, and Kotsay went to the Marlins at No. 9.

That high in the draft, there were few surprises.

"Everybody pretty much knew where they were going to get slotted in, for the most part, and what teams had advanced them," Kotsay said. "There wasn't really heckling or any joking around about it."

Kotsay would hit two home runs in a mercy-rule win over Italy in the opening round of the Olympics that year, but Team USA eventually fell to a Japanese team featuring, among others, Kosuke Fukudome and Tadahito Iguchi.

2000: Rocco Baldelli
The suspense ended quickly for Baldelli, whose Bishop Hendricken (R.I.) high school baseball team was scheduled to play in a playoff game the day of the draft. He spent the early part of the day over at a buddy's house, shooting pool and watching TV, thinking more about the playoff game than the draft. School was over and graduation was next on the horizon, so Baldelli didn't have to think about much other than baseball and hanging out with his friends.

The outfielder had gone into his senior season as a draft prospect, but he didn't expect to be drafted high enough to forgo a scholarship offer from Wake Forest and turn pro right away. As his senior season progressed, though, he became aware he'd started to climb up draft boards. By the time draft day arrived, he was well aware he'd go pretty early in the first round.

Still, though, he wasn't following along when the draft began. There wasn't any way to follow along.

"I didn't follow it at all, to be honest with you," he said. "There was definitely no TV -- the most it probably was at the time was that the top five picks probably scrolled across on the "Bottom Line" on TV. That was probably the most we were going to get."

While he was still hanging out at his buddy's house, he got a call with a hint that the Devil Rays, picking No. 6 overall, were planning to draft him if he still was available. It wasn't until he got to Bishop Hendricken for his team's game, though, that he was notified by local reporters that he'd officially been picked.

He and Bishop Hendricken then went on to win their fourth straight Rhode Island state baseball title.

2004: Dustin Pedroia
Pedroia's junior season at Arizona State had come to an abrupt end at the hands of Cal State-Fullerton two days earlier; the then-shortstop had gone 0-for-3 with a walk as the Sun Devils bowed out before even reaching the Super Regional stage. (Arizona State was the top seed in the regional and No. 7 seed overall but had to travel to Fullerton, Calif., for the regional. Don't think that didn't grate on Pedroia.)

Pedroia had hardly given any thought to the draft. He was still too upset about the defeat. Just like the year before, his Sun Devils had been beaten by Cal State-Fullerton short of the College World Series.

Unlike the players at the very top of the board, players who had a pretty good idea who might draft them, Pedroia had no idea. He'd had almost no contact with the Red Sox, and he'd done little homework on the other players with whom he was competing.

"There's so many players, you know what I mean?" he said. "There's so many players and so many picks. You can't wrap up in, 'Oh, this guy's picking here,' and 'That guy's still out there.' There's so many players -- and you don't even know the high school players. There's a ton of them. Anything can happen in the draft, and that's why it's fun."

Still, though, he and a couple of teammates gathered in the office of Arizona State coach Pat Murphy to follow the draft. Pedroia had reasonable expectations of being drafted in the first round, but it wasn't until after the 64th pick that the phone rang. It was the Red Sox. "Like two seconds later," Pedroia said, they called his name to make it official.

2006: Daniel Bard
Bard's first draft party did not go well.

The 6-foot-4 righty was a highly touted prospect as a senior pitcher at Charlotte (N.C.) Christian High School, and he had 10 high school friends over at his house to follow the draft. Based on talent, he had a shot to be drafted in the first couple of rounds -- but his commitment to pitch at North Carolina ended up dissuading far more teams than he expected.

"I didn't go until the 20th round," he said with a chuckle, "so the party didn't last long."

Three years later, there were no worries about him sliding to the 20th round. He'd had a few conversations with teams that were drafting at the top of the first round, in fact, and he fully expected to hear his name called early. He and his family went to a restaurant in Chapel Hill, N.C., and set up a laptop on a table in a quiet corner to wait for his name to be called.

But then he started to slide again.

The online ticker and audio broadcast weren't quite synced -- "The audio was way behind the ticker," he said -- and that made the draft difficult to follow. Either way, though, the first 10 teams all passed on Bard. So, too, did the next 10 teams. All of a sudden, there was a long line of teams set to pick who'd had very little contact with Bard just because they never expected him to last beyond No. 15 or 20 overall.

The Red Sox had met in the fall with Bard and North Carolina teammate Andrew Miller -- Miller was drafted at No. 6 overall by Detroit and now pitches for the Florida Marlins -- almost as a formality. Both pitchers filled out a questionnaire, but that was it.

The first time Bard's phone rang, it was an old coach who was working as a scout for St. Louis. The Cardinals had the No. 30 pick, and the scout wanted to know if Bard would sign for "slot" -- the bonus recommended by the commissioner's office recommended for each draft pick -- if he lasted until No. 30 and the Cardinals drafted him.

"Um, man, I can't really give you a definite answer on that," Bard said.

Before Bard could even finish his sentence, though, the scout cut him off.

"Whoops, sorry -- congratulations, man," he said -- and hung up.

"Congratulations for what?" Bard said, but he already was speaking to emptiness.

"I didn't know what he was saying, 'Congratulations,' for," the rookie relief pitcher said this weekend. "I looked and they were on, like, pick 18. I didn't end up going until 28, so that's how behind our (computer) was."

Talking pitching with Daniel Bard

Red Sox rookie reliever Daniel Bard has a 1.80 ERA in five appearances, but he's run into trouble when he's left his 97-mile-an-hour fastball up in the strike zone, getting himself into a handful of jams in the early going.

The Red Sox expect that Bard eventually will dominate the late innings. He just has to figure out how to harness his stuff and turn his velocity into outs.

"When you throw that hard, you can be off just a hair and it looks like you’re really off because you throw so hard," said Hall of Fame reliever Dennis Eckersley, who knows something about dominating the late innings. "It’s not easy to control that kind of gas. ...

"He’s got to get used to the adrenaline, which is something that doesn’t go away. You just get used to it, and it helps you. It makes you throw harder sometimes. But you’re going to have a tendency to get the ball up. He can get away with getting the ball up -- but everybody’s looking gas, right?"

Three lessons Bard has learned about pitching in the big leagues:

1. Big-league hitters know how to attack 99-mile-an-hour fastballs.
"The patience and the approach that they have, it's a big jump from Triple-A -- probably bigger than I expected. I've been fortunate enough to get outs, but I'm getting them in different ways than I'm accustomed to. There's a little more contact. In Triple-A, in the minor leagues, a lot of guys, they see my fastball and try to swing harder at it. That's the worst thing they can do. That works to my advantage in all ways.

"Big-league hitters face a lot of arms like mine almost on a daily basis, so their approach, I've noticed, is to just throw their hands at the ball. They shorten their swing and let the velocity do the work. It's a lot more effective than trying to swing hard. It's a better approach, and it just comes with them seeing more arms like mine. I'll take the outs however I can get them -- pop-up, line drive right at a guy, whatever it is -- but I'll try to make the adjustments as I go."

To wit: ESPN's Buster Olney produced a chart on Sunday of the 14 fastballs on Saturday that were clocked at 97 miles an hour or better. Six of those fastballs missed the strike zone. One was taken for a strike. Three were fouled off. Three were put into play; of those, only one led to an out. Only one 97-mile-an-hour fastball resulted in a swing and a miss.

And while Jonathan Papelbon wasn't on that list, the Fenway scoreboard and NESN radar gun clocked the fastball on which Omir Santos hit his game-winning home run at 97, too. That didn't do Papelbon any good.

2. There's a good way and a bad way to put a little extra on a pitch.
"There are going to be pitches when you need to reach back for a little more on the fastball, maybe try to throw that put-away breaking ball, where you're going to try to put a little more on the pitch. The difference between letting it fly when it ends up way up out of the zone or as a really good pitch is where you try to get that extra two or three miles an hour.

"If you try to get it out front, if you try to get it, as they say, out of the glove, you try to speed it up right out of the glove, and your front side is going to fly open. That's what gets you out of whack. If you can focus on getting it from (the shoulder) to the release point, that's where you get the good extra two or three miles an hour and not the bad one that soars high."

Going back to Saturday: The fastball Papelbon threw to Santos was supposed to be down and away and instead was up and over the middle.

3. It's easier to start off with the ball down in the zone and go up the ladder on certain pitches than the other way around.
"The thing I've been working on for the last week or so, and it starts in the bullpen when I start getting loose, is starting below the knees. It's a lot easier to start there and throw 10 pitches there and then work your way up when you need to rather than throw your first 10 belt-high and work down. That's very tough to do. It's a lot easier to start down and come up. That's what I'm learning."

Bard makes his debut

It's time for some full disclosure: I've been a Daniel Bard guy since way back in the day.

But did you see what Bard did to Mike Napoli with the first three pitches of his big-league career? Wow.