You see: Papelbon IS throwing the ball differently

I noticed something appeared "off" about Jonathan Papelbon's pitching in his second appearance. this season vs. the Angels. I wrote about my observations in this blog -- That his fastball lacked "late life" and hitters were not swinging and missing. This pattern continued until his appearance in the first game this week against Cleveland, when he gave up three singles.

What's amazing, to me, is that it took until Sunday's April 26th Boston Globe for a reporter to acknowledge Papelbon's different approach, look and results on the mound. Amalie Benjamin's 4/26 article, finally, reported that Papelbon had changed his delivery and mechanics to take pressure off his arm.

"I'm using my legs more so all that torque and stuff is going to be on my legs and not on my arms, Papelbon told the Globe. He said he felt comfortable with the new mechanics, which feature driving more with his lower body.

Amalie Benjamin's article mentioned that, so far, hitters were not swinging and missing as often against Papelbon, and he'd been forced into higher pitch counts. Michael Silverman wrote an article in the April 29th Boston Herald about Papelbon and reported that his inconsistency was due to the new leg drive in his delivery.

I think the Globe and Herald may be scratching the surface with this Papelbon story. Why did he change his delivery - apparently during Spring Training? Was it due to the team's concern about strain in his arm? Don't forget Papelbon finished the 2008 season feeling completedly wiped out - and that was his description. The team already has closely monitored the frequency of his outings to prevent any recurrence of the subluxation of his shoulder that occurred in the fall of 2006.

It seems there is more to this story. It seems what Papelbon is suggesting is that while he got more "late life" from his previous delivery, he (and maybe, the team) feels that now, he must learn to pitch this new way that puts the stress on his leg drive more.

The question is: Will he be as good a pitcher with the new approach? So far, he's not, but, he may improve over time.