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| (Kathy Willens/AP) |
Koji Uehara is pitching like it's 19.28—not the year, the ERA. Over his last six outings, that's how bad the formerly untouchable closer has been—giving up 14 hits, 10 earned runs and 4 HRs over just 4.2 innings! Admit it, you've always wondered
how he got guys out—it seemed almost like magic. The answer to his recent failures is, according to Manager
John Farrell, inconsistency on his famed splitter, "
It's the finish (to the split-finger fastball), whether it's the intensity behind the delivery of the pitch on occasion he's shown. The first one to Teixeira (last night) had good depth to it for the swing-and-miss. But the consistency to it, that's lacking." There's talk now of
shutting down the soon-to-be 40-year-old for the balance of the season. He is a free agent starting in October, so it will be interesting to see how his poor performance impacts any talks with the Red Sox.
