For Red Sox, it's case closed with Koji Uehara

Another one in the books. (Jim Rogash)

Smiles and high-fives have become commonplace around Fenway Park these days, but nobody has grinned wider and slapped hands more enthusiastically than the guy most often on the mound at game's end.

Koji Uehara, the 38-year-old Japanese import acquired by Boston as a free agent in December, has been near-perfect during the past two months as a closer for the surprising Red Sox. He compiled a 0.00 ERA in both July and August, and after blowing a save against the Angels on July 6 allowed just six hits in 23 innings over his next 20 appearances.

Uehara now has 15 saves on the season, and has been perfect in 13 of the 15. He is so reliable and so economical with his pitches that last week he was twice called upon by Boston manager John Farrell in the eighth inning to register four-out saves (converting both perfectly).

Sometimes Uehara gets a hand in the dugout.

As a result of his brilliant run, which came after three blown saves in his early days in the role, Uehara has lowered his season ERA to 1.17 and his WHIP to 0.630 -- numbers that along with his 82 strikeouts and 9 walks over 60.1 innings compare very favorably to Jonathan Papelbon's stats during his All-Star career as Boston's closer from 2005-2011. In fact, Uehara's stretch of 20 scoreless games in relief is just one behind Papelbon's best (21 in 2011) and five short of Daniel Bard's club record (set the same year).

In contrast to Papelbon, who had a blazing fastball that neared 100 miles per hour in his heyday, Uehara relies primarily on a forkball and a four-seam heater that tops out around 90. Like Mariano Rivera's cutter, batters know the forkball is usually coming but can do little with the knowledge. Batters swing and miss Koji's offerings 17.2 percent of the time, the top mark in the major leagues.  

Certainly nobody has as much fun finishing games as Uehara, who was primarily a starter during an excellent 10-year career in Japan. Each time he completes the final out of a contest, he pumps his fist, lets out a shout, and then sprints over to his teammates to dole out his high-fives. 

Uehara has a bit of the Bird in him.

For those of us old enough to remember, he is a throwback to Mark "The Bird" Fidrych -- who displayed similar mannerisms during his all-too-brief heyday with the Tigers in the late 1970s. But unlike Fidrych, who was a 21-year-old rookie when he emerged on the national scene, Uehara is grabbing the spotlight with his boyish energy at an age most pitchers are winding down.

Making his run even more impressive is that Uehara -- more often a setup man during four previous big-league seasons -- was Boston's fourth choice as closer this season. Joel Hanrahan and Andrew Bailey both suffered injuries, and fellow Japanese League veteran Junichi Tazawa struggled in the role.

Now that he's gotten his chance to do his hand-slapping on the field at game's end rather than primarily in the dugout after the seventh or eighth innings, Uehara would like to keep doing so as long as possible. 

Pedro Persevered -- and Sox Hope his Pupils Can Too

Pedro talks, and pupils listen.

News Flash: Pedro once struggled.

One of the delights of Red Sox spring training this year has been the return of former ace-turned-special instructor Pedro Martinez. In addition to working with young and veteran pitchers on their mechanics, Pedro has been a media darling -- smiling his way through numerous radio, TV, and print interviews.

Of all the sound bytes and quotes, however, the one that struck me as the most poignant has been largely ignored. During an early-morning interview on WEEI's Dennis and Callahan show on Feb. 19, Martinez was asked by Gerry Callahan if he thought he could help Daniel Bard regain his form as one of baseball's best setup men. "Yes," the future Hall of Famer said, before adding that he understood exactly what Bard had gone through during a disastrous 2012 campaign that included a demotion to the minor leagues.

Martinez, the Sandy Koufax of his era, relate to an epic slump? How could that be?

As a young Expo, Martinez doubted his abilities.

It was during his early career, Martinez said, and he was struggling as a starting pitcher with the Montreal Expos. He went to manager Felipe Alou and told him he didn't think he could cut it as a big-leaguer.

"Felipe said, 'Are you quitting?' and I said, 'No, I just don't feel I'm performing at the level I should,'" Martinez told Callahan and WEEI listeners. 

Pedro didn't specify exactly when the exchange took place, but looking at his career stats on baseball-reference.com, I figure it was most likely 1996, when Martinez endured a two-month stretch in which he went 3-5 with an ERA above 5.00 and appeared headed to a sub-.500 record for the season. 

In the midst of his travails, Martinez explained, came an incident that as he described it sounded like something out of "The Natural" or "Field of Dreams." 

Tommy Harper: Sage advice saves an ace.

"I was sitting down on the bench after a game, and [coach] Tommy Harper came up and sat down with me," related Martinez. "He said, 'You know what? The game's over.' I said, 'Yeah...' and he said, 'You know, I always come and sit here and listen to the organ after the game. The game is over, but the organ continues to play.'

"I said, 'What do you mean by that?' and [Harper] said, 'I know you're not having the best time right now, but do you know how it goes away? Just keep pitching.' I thought about it and said, 'But I'm struggling so bad I don't even want to pitch,' and he said, 'Just keep pitching. It will go away.'"

Martinez listened to Harper's advice, finished the year 13-10, and in 1997 led the National League with a 1.90 ERA -- starting his Koufaxian seven-year stretch with Montreal and Boston as the MLB's best pitcher. Harper saw much of it up close, first with the Expos and later as a Red Sox coach.

"That's baseball," Martinez told Callahan. "Everybody goes through a little funk sometimes, and he [Bard] is having one of those."

Bard follows the master.

So how can Martinez help Bard and other Red Sox pitchers rebound from last year's disaster? Pedro said that he has a good eye for mechanics, and believes he'll know when a tweak to a hurler's delivery may make a difference. This is what he did during his own career, closely watching great pitchers like Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux in developing his own physical and mental repertoire.

"I'm a combination of everything," Martinez explained. "I took a little bit of pretty much everyone and used it to build my own experience. I hope they do that the same way."

Perhaps John Lackey, coming back from a year off after Tommy John surgery, can also pick up a thing or two from Martinez. In the midst of his string of domination, Pedro suffered a torn rotator cuff in 2001 and missed half of that season. He returned the next year as more of a control artist than a flamethrower and still went 20-4 while leading the American League in ERA and strikeouts.

"I was a student," Martinez told the Boston Globe in another interview. "I wasn't just gifted. I had to study a lot."

Once the student, now the teacher.

If Lackey, Bard, and other pitchers on the Sox staff can listen to their new teacher as well as Martinez did to mentors like Harper, Pedro's hiring may be one of the best moves the Red Sox made this offseason.

What is the woeful stat haunting this year's Red Sox?

Jon Lester pitched well, but it wasn't enough.

If the Red Sox expect to be in the running for a playoff spot in the second half of the season, there is one area they certainly need to improve in: their record in low-scoring games.

After last night’s heartbreaking 3-2 setback at Oakland, the Sox are just 4-29 in games in which they have scored three or fewer runs. This translates out to a .121 winning percentage, one of the worst such marks in the majors. It also points to a key deficiency on the year's team—top-notch starting pitching.

Unlike past years—when the Red Sox always had at least one clear ace who could match up against top opposing starters—the inconsistency on this year's Boston staff has made for many frustrating nights. Even when a pitcher has a strong start, like Jon Lester Tuesday, he seldom makes it through seven innings due to high pitch counts and a quick hook from Bobby Valentine.

Adding to the angst is that the Sox still have one of baseball's best offensive clubs overall, ranking third in the AL in average (.268), slugging (.444) and OPS (.772) through Monday. They have won their share of 9-4 and 15-5 games, but have struggled along at around .500 all year because of their low-scoring losses.

June offers a perfect microcosm of the problem. While the Red Sox had a decent 15-12 record overall for the month, they were 1-9 when scoring three or less runs—including 1-0 and 3-2 losses to the lowly Mariners last week. 

Strasburg and the Nationals had the Sox' number.

 During a 1-5 homestand against Baltimore and Washington earlier in June, Boston lost games of 2-1, 4-2 and 4-3. They were swept by the Nationals—who got excellent starting performances from their terrific trio of Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Zimmerman. The Red Sox got decent pitching as well during that series, but it wasn't quite good enough.

Boston fans have been spoiled for most of the past 25 years. Even when the Red Sox didn't make the playoffs, they had a dominating pitcher who could win the 2-1 and 4-2 games. First it was Roger Clemens, then Pedro Martinez, and then Curt Schilling. To a slightly lesser degree, Josh Beckett and Jon Lester have fit this bill the last couple of seasons, but this has been an ace-less year.

Beckett (4-7), Lester (5-5) and the demoted Daniel Bard (5-6) have all been disappointments; and while Clay Buchholz (8-2) and Felix Doubront (8-4) both have winning records, their ERAs of 5.53 and 4.42 make it clear they have been the beneficiary of very strong run support.

Although closer Alfredo Aceves blew Tuesday's game, for the most part Boston's surprisingly efficient relief corps have kept them from falling even further into mediocrity. There is not much these guys can do, however, if they usually get the ball with the Sox already behind.

Pedro is gone, but the Sox need an ace.

After the end of this woeful West Coast string, Boston has four big games with the AL East-leading Yankees heading into the all-star break. Somebody on the starting staff needs to step up against New York and in the weeks that follow if the Red Sox want to be playing come October.