Bard still comfortable with his workload

When Daniel Bard pitched two innings in Saturday's 11-inning victory over Toronto, it wasn't as rare as one might expect.
Bard, who threw only 13 pitches while giving up nfl jerseys
a hit and walking one, had done so twice before this season. After Wednesday's 12/3-inning appearance in Game 1 against Seattle, he's now pitched an inning-plus 11 other times.
So when Red Sox manager Terry Francona was asked how rare a trick this was, giving his young setup man so much work, he said, "It might not be. We'll see. We try to monitor guys all year so when we get to this point we can do what we need to do. We're not going to hurt anybody. I think he threw 13 pitches. I mean, 13 pitches. You've got to be pretty good to do that."
Bard is pretty good at what he does, which is why he and Jonathan Papelbon are the go-to guys when a game is on the line, and Francona is hoping their services will be valuable this weekend in Tampa Bay.
Bard is fifth in the AL in appearances (57) and amongst relievers he's seventh in ERA (1.82), sixth in innings pitched (59.1), eighth in hits allowed (32), 11th in earned runs (12) and third in strikeouts (60). He also leads the AL with 28 holds, having broken Hideki Okajima's 2007 club record Wednesday. His ERA in his multiple-inning stints: 0.81 with eight holds.
Perhaps one measure of his effectiveness is his ability to go multiple innings and look so good. In his first two-inning appearance, April 21 at Texas, he struck out three. In the other, July 5 at Toronto, he struck out two. He didn't give up a hit, a run or a walk in either of those two-inning stints.
"Yeah, as long as it's not every day," he said. "They get spread out. There are Bills jersey
certain times if I hadn't thrown in two, three, four days and we need something in the seventh or eighth or whatever the case may be, I'm up for it. I just have to spread those out, I guess."
"I feel good," he said. "I'd like to finish strong and just be healthy down the stretch and hopefully be used as much as possible, as much as they need me. They've monitored it pretty closely the past month or so. I wasn't used as heavily as I was through May and June. So, yeah, I feel good, ready for the last month here."
This is Bard's first full season (he pitched 49 games in 2009) as a major leaguer, and he's been good enough that many fans have called for him to be closer instead of Jonathan Papelbon, who picked up Saturday's win.
"I'm not worried about it," Bard said. "He's here. He's one of the best in the game. As long as he's here that's the way it's gonna be. I'm gonna be throwing the seventh and the eighth and getting the ball to him with a lead, hopefully, so it's worked well all year. I think we're both comfortable in our roles and I wouldn't change it."
He says that he would like to be a closer. "It all depends on what his situation is over the next few years. A lot of factors go into that but ultimately that would be my goal."
There's little doubt, though, that as impressive as Bard was last season, he's come back even stronger for 2010.
"He stayed healthy last year," said the manager, who added Bard should be able to handle the workload for the last five weeks. "Well, we're not there yet, but I don't anticipate any problems. He's a pretty sharp kid. He's a hard worker. He prepares. I don't see any drop-off coming. He's been pretty consistent all year. You get pretty much the same stuff every time you go out. There's been a couple times where we've dug deep, we got right around the 25-pitch mark and you see his arm slot lower a little bit, but he's been pretty solid."
For now, Bard is content with his holds record, following in Okajima's 49ers jersey
footsteps. "I mean, he did it his first year, '07. He had an unbelievable year. I think he made the All-Star team, so that's pretty good footsteps to follow. He's had a great career here.
"It's just something I've worked hard for. I think as a relief pitcher all you can do is try to be as consistent as you can. All I try to do is keep things simple, and if you're as consistent as you can be, the results will be there in the long run."