Little did Byrd know, note contained a tip
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The note, penned by an opposing player, just might have saved Paul Byrd's season.
Byrd, then with the Indians, got a message around the All-Star break that told him he was tipping off his pitches. Since he was mired in a stretch from May 21 to July 9 in which he went 1-7 with a 7.08 ERA, the information was invaluable for the 37-year-old Byrd.
"I wasn't getting away with anything," said Byrd, who faces Toronto for the fifth time in eight starts tomorrow.
"When you play on - I don't know - seven or nine different teams, you make friends with people and they feel sorry for you. They say, 'Hey, you're about to lose your job and your family.' Somebody sent over a note and said, 'You're tipping your pitches really bad.' I actually beat them, I actually won the game. He said, 'Hey, good job,' but it was really bad."
Byrd changed his glove, his delivery, and since the break has gone 8-2 with a 3.09 ERA. But that doesn't mean he's not still showing his hand. It was something Byrd said pitching coach John Farrell picked up on in Byrd's second start with the Red Sox, and it's something he's worked to correct.
In fact, there is a video posted on the Sons of Sam Horn website demonstrating the differences between Byrd throwing his fastball or changeup and Byrd throwing his breaking pitches. Byrd said he might check it out.
Essentially, when Byrd throws his fastball or changeup, he taps his pitching hand into his glove. On his breaking pitches, he does not.
"I turn it a little, too," Byrd said. "Like I'll turn on a breaking ball, then on a fastball I just swing [my arms]. So it's not just the taps, there's some other stuff involved.
"When you learn something like that, there's a part of you that feels a little violated, and then there's another part of you that feels appreciative that you figured it out before you're sitting at home in the living room saying, 'What happened?' and you don't have a job."
"We've addressed something that I think was apparent with pitches of different velocity," Farrell said, declining to get into specifics.
Byrd said that with his results in Cleveland, he started to wonder if he was just getting old. "Am I washed up?" Byrd said he asked himself. "Is this it? Do I not have it anymore?"
That wasn't it, as Byrd has turned around his season.
And he continues to work on eliminating those bad habits, because that's clearly an issue.
Wrong number
The third inning, in which the Rays scored three runs off Tim Wakefield, Devern Hansack, Javier Lopez, and David Aardsma, was even tougher for the Red Sox than it appeared. "We couldn't get the phones to work," manager Terry Francona said. "We were late with [Lopez] because we couldn't get the phones to work. Not only could we not get them to work, we were getting calls from the outside. It was getting frustrating. The phone's ringing, we can't get our guy up, and then it's ringing." . . . The Rays took the season series, 10-8. The last time that happened was 1999, when they went 9-4 . . . The multihomer game was David Ortiz's third of the season and 33d of his career.Wherever he's needed
Mark Kotsay might be in for some additional work in light of Mike Lowell's continuing hip problems, with first baseman Kevin Youkilis moving to third. Though Kotsay was needed in the outfield last night with Jason Bay still in Boston and J.D. Drew still coping with back problems, Kotsay might be headed to first for a few more games.And though Francona said he had no reservations about putting Kotsay at first, Kotsay has been slumping at the plate. Kotsay was 0 for 4 last night and has just one hit in his last 23 at-bats. "It gets magnified," said Francona. "He doesn't have a ton of at-bats with us. I have no intention of not playing him."
Swinging for the fences
Drew took batting practice on the field yesterday, in yet another attempt to return to the lineup. Drew said he doesn't have trouble swinging - and it showed, as he hit a number of batting practice home runs - but has difficulty bending over and running. Francona said after the game, "Swung the bat great. Said he felt a little tighter than he did yesterday." Francona said he wasn't sure what, if any, treatment Drew would get today . . . Instead of throwing a side session, Bartolo Colon headed to the Dominican Republic. Francona said Colon would rejoin the team tomorrow in Toronto after dealing with some personal issues. This continues a stretch in which Francona has had trouble finding a time to sit down with the pitcher after he came on later-than-expected buses twice in this series . . . Francona has not spoken with Bay after the birth of the left fielder's daughter, but expects him to meet the team in Toronto. Francona got some nasty e-mails suggesting that because the child wasn't Bay's first, the team didn't have its priorities in order in allowing him to return to Boston for a few days. That idea drew a laugh from the manager . . . Julio Lugo (quadriceps) worked out at about 80 percent, though there's no return date in sight.