Jonathan Papelbon closes out the first save of the season
As expected and as I predicted (the Red Sox fan), Jonathan Papelbon recorded the first save of 2010. He faced four batters and looked great giving up only a hard single to Jorge Posada.
Great start for Papelbon and throwing an effective splitter will make Papelbon that much better. Tonight, all his splitters looked great.
The key observation I noticed about Papelbon's first appearance of the season, he threw three splitters. Last season he threw splitters rarely (9.3% according to fangraphs.com). Tonight he threw it far more and that was part of the plan coming into 2010. He did record the final out on the splitter with a ground ball from Curtis Granderson.
Labels: Jonathan Papelbon
