Eight-plus innings is too little to make a lasting impression about a player, but Jonathan Papelbon hasn't looked right so far. Sure, he hasn't blown a save yet and his ERA is a sparkling 1.08, but there is some reason for concern.

Papelbon's K/9 mark this season (6.48) is a bit off his career average of 10.42. He's also walking more hitters, averaging a 1.20 K/BB ratio, instead of his career average of 4.76. So, he's allowing more walks and striking out less hitters. That's never a good combination for a pitcher.

Papelbon's early-season numbers are something Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe has recognized.

Though Papelbon has maintained an exemplary ERA at 1.08, it's his WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) that's looking slightly shakier. After three straight years in which his WHIP has been below 1.00 (.776 in 2006, .771 in 2007, and .952 in 2008), it's at 1.20 this season. That's more men on base and more pitches. After three consecutive seasons in which Papelbon has thrown between 15 and 15.6 pitches per inning, he's at 20.9 this year.

"I've changed my delivery, kind of added a little bit more power to it," Papelbon said. "When you make adjustments in this game, you're going to have to take the good with the bad, and maybe right now I'm throwing a little bit more pitches than I have in the past. To me, I'm still not overworking myself because by changing my mechanics, it's able to take some of that pressure off my arm. So throwing 15 pitches the old way is the same as throwing 25 the new way."

But what might be most troubling is that batters simply aren't swinging and missing as they once did. Since 2006, the first full year Papelbon spent in the bullpen, no pitcher made batters swing and miss at a higher rate. Batters whiffed on 27.6 percent of their swings, followed by Rudy Seanez at 27 percent, and Eric Gagne at 26.2 percent.

Now? It's not so automatic. Batters have swung at 85 of Papelbon's pitches this season, and missed 18 times for a 21.2 rate. That leaves him tied with Manny Delcarmen for 29th in baseball.

"I don't think his location is where it will be," manager Terry Francona said. "I think the power behind his fastball is probably better than it was last year. I just think he's not quite locating yet. Some good hitters are making him work really hard. His ERA is good. It's not like he's walking people. He's got some deep counts because they are fighting balls off. When he locates and he gets ahead, then he elevates, then he can throw this, it will fall back into place quicker."

It's definitely too early to wonder about Papelbon's 2009 season, but perhaps this falls under the category of things to keep watch upon.

While I agree with Sean McAdam that the Yankees-Red Sox Rivalry has lost some steam (actually, for me, it was pretty much over after the 2004 World Series win for Boston), today's matchup of Josh Beckett vs. A.J. Burnett held a lot of promise.

But instead of a pitching duel, it's a slugfest that unfolds before the eyes of the fans in Fenway Park. Beckett gives up six runs in the first four innings, up the Red Sox came back against Burnett in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game at 6-6. After a scoreless fifth for Beckett, his teammates even gave him the lead when Bay double in a pair. Then, Francona allowed Beckett - already in line for the win - to return to the mound to start the sixth, even though Beckett had already thrown 104 pitches. Beckett promptly walks Jeter and gives up a homer to Johnny Damon.

Why? Why did Beckett return to the mound??? He was over 100 pitches and wasn't exactly cruising through the first five inning (although he retired the bottom three of the Yankees lineup in order in the fifth). It's completely beyong me.

In one of his latest useless information columns, Jayson Stark has something to say about the cycles we witnessed last week:

4. It's all cyclical
Are cycles infectious? Jason Kubel of the Twins became the third player in just five days to hit for the cycle Friday. But here's what separates Kubel from all the other cyclists in history: He's the only cyclist to finish off a cycle with a go-ahead grand slam (in his case, an eighth-inning game-winner). The only other cyclists since 1900 to top off a cycle with a slam of any kind, according to Elias Sports Bureau, were Tony Lazzeri on June 3, 1932, and Miguel Tejada on Sept. 29, 2001. But both their teams were leading at the time.

5. Three for five
As we mentioned a few sentences ago, we had three cycles in five days last week (from Orlando Hudson, Ian Kinsler and Kubel). The insatiable Eric Orns reports that this is only the second time since 1885 when three cycles have been bunched so close together. Amazingly, the only other time was this past September (Cristian Guzman, Stephen Drew and Adrian Beltre). So we went 123 consecutive seasons without this happening once. Then it happened in back-to-back baseball months. What a sport!

...

10. He ain't heavy
After 218-pound Jason Kubel hit for his cycle, the sight of Kubel's legging out his triple inspired loyal reader Dusty Schuett to ask: Who's the heaviest player to hit for the cycle? Well, if we go by official weights, the answer is: 230-pounder Daryle Ward, who heavyweighted his way through one as an Astro on May 26, 2004.

I especially love the last one. How many active players are there who could break this record? One more reason to root for the Prince Fielder triple. By the way, did you know he once hit an inside the park home runs? And he didn't even have to slide into home (Video).

The next time I think I’m having a bad day I am going to think about Major League Umpire John Hirschbeck.  Then I am going to get up from my desk and go behind the building where I work to the alley in back.  I will stand about three feet from the wall in the alley and hit a baseball into it as hard as I can until I get hit with four ricochets. In essence, that is what happened to Hirschbeck on Thursday during a game in Cleveland between the Indians and Royals. Not once, not twice, four times!

I don’t know if there is a stat or category for umpires being hit but there should be. Hirschbeck was hit with a foul tip, a foul ball, and a passed ball; if he would have been hit with a bat he would have had an “Umpire’s Cycle”!  So close, being hit by the bat is always the hardest one to achieve.

Hirschbeck has been in his share of news outside the foul lines during his 25 year career as a Major League Umpire.  He was in the center of the 1996 Alomar spitting incident as well as the 2004 Gabe White – Barry Bonds controversy.

On Thursday though, for the first time in a long time, a couple of people may have felt sympathetic for him.  I don’t think any ballplayer would wish this bad of a day on him; 4 times? Maybe twice, but four is just ridiculous.  It wouldn’t surprise me to see him on the DL in the Umpire Fantasy Leagues tomorrow.