Notes: Foulke gets fitter
Injured closer says he feels new crispness to pitches
By Mike Petraglia / Special to MLB.com
Keith Foulke (5-5, 6.23 ERA) will throw another session from the mound on Saturday. Any improvement is a victory to Keith Foulke. So when the injured Red Sox closer addressed reporters in front of his locker following his latest bullpen session before Wednesday's finale against the Rangers at Fenway Park, he was happy to explain why he was wearing a smile. "The bullpen session actually went much better today than it did the other day, so that's a positive," said Foulke, who began throwing off a mound Monday. "After my bullpen session on Monday, I wasn't real happy. I wasn't real happy with how I felt or how I threw, but today I go out there and pretty much from my first pitch off the mound, I had a little crispness on the ball. Breaking balls were good, and I'm starting to mess with the forkball again. And I'm happy."
Foulke had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee July 7 and began working on a strengthening program shortly thereafter. "Post-surgery, I've definitely come a long ways. I went from not being able to walk upstairs to throwing off a mound in three weeks, so that's a good thing. "The doctors are happy and the [physical] therapists are all happy, so I guess we're going in the right direction. We're kind of pushing it now. I bust my tail every day when we come in here." Foulke, who hasn't placed a timetable on his return to the bullpen, threw 34 pitches off the mound, following a warm-up that included long toss.
"I do long toss and then throw about 30 pitches or so," Foulke said. "I feel it. I'm not as ready as I thought I was. There are still times where I don't do things right, and I still feel my knee a little bit. Until we get that stuff [worked] out, and working on mechanical things, and when we get that figured out, that's when we'll be back." The right-hander was scheduled to throw another bullpen session Friday, but instead will throw off flat ground before throwing from mound again Saturday.
"I was putting so much pressure on myself at the beginning of the year, it can't be any worse than that," said Foulke. "We're taking this opportunity to work on a lot of things. The team is doing well, so that makes it a lot easier, and I don't have to rush back due to us falling apart." Curt Schilling's effectiveness at the end of the bullpen has also taken some pressure off the need to rush Foulke back. "Curt's doing a great job," Foulke said. "It's going to allow me some time so when I do come back. It's the pitcher I used to be, not the one we saw at the beginning of the year."
Foulke is anxious to show he's better than the hurler who posted a 5-5 record with a 6.23 ERA prior to the knee surgery. "I know I'm a better pitcher than what I was showing. If that guy comes back, you'll be talking to someone else next year," Foulke said. "Hopefully, when I come back, you'll see in the way that I pitch and how I come off the mound, you'll see that I feel better and stronger."