"The Crucial Pedro Split" Eric Van begins his discussion with this:

                    AVG   OBP    SLG

First two batters  .438  .438  1.000

Next four batters  .333  .375   .533

                    ---   ---    ---

Total 1st 6        .370  .396   .696 (4 HR in  48 PA)

 

Thereafter         .199  .276   .315 (2 HR in 163 PA)

 

Which interestingly breaks down:

 

# 9 hitter         .353  .450   .471  (21 PA)

Everyone else      .178  .251   .295

and

                    AVG   OBP   SLG

First 15 pitches   .414  .414  .862

After 15 pitches   .209  .286  .325

finnVT adds this:

Pitches  AB   H  HR  BB  SO   AVG   OBP   SLG    OPS

 1- 15   29  12   4   0   2  .414  .414  .862  1.276

16- 30   29   5   0   3  11  .172  .273  .241   .514

31- 45   29   9   0   1  10  .310  .355  .379   .734

46- 60   28   5   0   4   7  .179  .281  .179   .460

61- 75   27   6   0   2   6  .222  .276  .370   .646

76- 90   27   5   1   3   7  .185  .267  .444   .711

91-105   18   4   1   3   5  .222  .318  .444   .763

The Globe's Gordon Edes notes the ESPN split and quotes David Wallace: "Maddux went through a similar thing a couple of years ago. Could be just one of those baseball aberrations. Some of it might be due to the weather earlier in the year, when he wasn't getting a feel for the ball."

Ron Chimelis ends his game story with this sentence: "The infrequent use of [Scott] Williamson has been a bit of a mystery, but the Red Sox insist he's healthy, and he looked OK last night." ... Williamson's appearance in the eighth inning last night was his first action since last Wednesday in Cleveland. His game log:

Date Sox# Opp  Score   IP  H  R ER BB  K  PIT  IP   ERA   BAA

0404   1  BAL  L 2-7  1.0  1  1  0  0  1  17   1.0  0.00 .200   

0408   4  BAL  L 2-3  2.0  1  0  0  0  1  24   3.0  0.00 .167   

0415   8  BAL  L 7-12 1.0  0  0  0  1  1  21   4.0  0.00 .125   

0416   9  NYY  W 6-2  0.2  0  0  0  2  0  26   4.2  0.00 .105   

0420  13  TOR  W 4-2  1.0  0  0  0  1  2  15   5.2  0.00 .091   

0424  17  NYY  W 3-2  1.0  0  0  0  1  0  11   6.2  0.00 .083   

0425  18  NYY  W 2-0  2.0  0  0  0  0  2  19   8.2  0.00 .067   

0429  21  TAM  W 7-3  1.0  0  0  0  1  2  16   9.2  0.00 .061   

0501  22  TEX  L 3-4  2.0  2  1  1  0  2  40  11.2  0.77 .095   

0505  27  CLE  W 9-5  1.0  1  0  0  0  3  16  12.2  0.71 .109   

0512  33  CLE  L 4-6  1.0  0  0  0  0  0   8  13.2  0.66 .102

He hasn't thrown that many pitches in any outing, except for 40 pitches on May 1. In that game he faced 8 batters. His pitch count per hitter was:
7th inning: 3-3-3-6-6
8th inning: 7-7-5
As Chimelis says, there has been no indication that anything is wrong. It would have been nice to see Williamson instead of Malaska in some recent games.

RHP Jamie Brown was called up from Pawtucket to replace Byung-Hyun Kim. Francona called Brown "a strike-thrower who attacks the strike zone." Brown (3-1, 2.84, .199 opponents average in six starts) has walked just two batters in 38 innings and none in his last 26.2 innings. Last season, Brown walked only 22 batters in 112 innings. He was given a locker between Pedro and Keith Foulke. ... Nomar Garciaparra took batting practice for a second straight day. He plans to work out in three of the next four days and be re-evaluated on Monday. ... Trot Nixon is heading back to Fort Myers to play extended spring training games.

Thursday: Curt Schilling (4-2, 2.81) vs. Miguel Batista (0-3, 4.98)
Friday: Derek Lowe (3-3, 5.01) vs. Justin Miller (1-0, 3.00)
Saturday: Bronson Arroyo (1-1, 4.55) vs. Pat Hentgen (2-2, 5.99)
Sunday: Pedro Martinez (4-2, 3.73) vs. Roy Halladay (3-4, 3.99)