Wakefield engineered a mechanical beauty

TORONTO -- It's too early to judge most things in baseball after the 13th game of the season.

It's too early to judge Coco Crisp's hitting or Manny Ramírez's power or Josh Beckett's reliance on more than just his fastball. It is, most of all, too early to judge whether Tim Wakefield is preparing to go on one of his streaks, continuing the dominance of his first three starts. Because inconsistency remains the benchmark of the knuckleball. Feast or famine. Win or lose.

Throw the ball with the proper mechanics and retire the side in order, or move the head ever so slightly in the wrong direction and walk three straight batters.

Perhaps more than any other pitcher, the knuckleballer relies on mechanics to make sure the pitch induces a wild and ugly miss (rather than a dead-on, over-the-fence beauty).

That's why it made sense that, in praising Wakefield after his seven innings and the Sox' 4-1 win last night over the Blue Jays, all three of the principals -- catcher Doug Mirabelli, pitching coach John Farrell, and the man himself -- lauded his mechanics first and foremost as the reason behind his current status as the star of a much-heralded pitching staff. Or at least the starter with the lowest ERA (1.35).

"I think his success is mechanical," Mirabelli said. "When he has good mechanics, the ball comes out of his hand very well and it does what he wants it to do."

Simple as that. Or not. So it was that when Farrell visited Wakefield on the mound in the fourth inning after he had walked three straight batters (Frank Thomas, Lyle Overbay, Aaron Hill) to load the bases, the pitcher needed only the slightest adjustment before he came back to catch Jason Phillips swinging at a flutterball to end the inning and the threat.

"I think, regardless of the knuckleball, it's still pitching mechanics, it's still body position, where a pitcher releases the ball," Farrell said. "With Wakefield, it's more accentuated because he deals with so much movement with the knuckleball, so if his timing and his delivery are off a little bit, it will make a bigger difference where his pitch location ultimately lands or is received.

"Tonight, his head and upper body were just getting out there a little quick and, like any pitcher, his arm drags a little bit. And with Wake's knuckleball, he ends up pulling across his body and not getting to the side of it, which is why a lot of those knuckleballs were finishing in the lefthanded hitter's batter's box."

Mirabelli blamed the lapse on Wakefield "jumping a little bit, hurrying to the plate," and Farrell added that he had to "sit back over the rubber a little longer and to keep his head in a more proper position," but it was all corrected with that mound visit, quelling the uprising and the best chance for the Blue Jays -- other than a minor seventh-inning offensive burst consisting of a Royce Clayton double and John McDonald single that resulted in the only Toronto run.

"You could see by the amount of balls that were going past [Mirabelli] how much it was moving," manager Terry Francona said. "It was bouncing all over the place. He was getting some awkward swings."

Three solo home runs, plus an RBI single by Mirabelli, gave Wakefield room to maneuver. And in all likelihood, if his catcher keeps hitting home runs every time he gets the start, Wakefield will give even more kudos to the man who can catch the knuckler. Or, conversely, if Wakefield were to continue to allow just one earned run in each of his starts, his manager might see it in his heart to hand out some of that bonus money -- given by some Japanese managers to pitchers after particularly impressive starts -- that Francona so scoffed at the day before.

It's not likely. That's the nature of the knuckler. One day it's brilliant, another day it's blasted out of the park.

So, he's not Daisuke Matsuzaka or Curt Schilling or Beckett. Though, to be honest, he has matched the production of each of those more talked-about pitchers through three starts (though just two wins) this season.

Let's just say that it's impressive when, after a seven-game stretch in which the starters combined for a 1.69 ERA, Wakefield can bring that number down.

Can it continue? If he keeps his head down, his body position right, it's possible. Not that the understated and unassuming Wakefield was willing to go quite that far.

"It's too early," Wakefield said. "I'm feeling good now. The ball feels good in my hand. I've got my mechanics down good. And, hopefully, I can keep it going."

Gordon Edes of the Globe staff contributed to this report; Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com.