Hanrahan continues up and down spring training

It is no small feat to be a successful closer in baseball. Every closer has their highs and lows of a season. Hopefully Red Sox closer Joel Hanrahan is currently leaving his struggles in the past. The spring has been a rough spring training for Joel who has been hit hard quite often. In his fifth outing of the spring Hanrahan finally had a 1-2-3 inning striking out 2. During his prior appearances he had given up runs in each outing. During the post-game interview Hanrahan said "It's always nice to have a clean inning. It is Spring Training and we're still working on things, but to be able to go out there, especially after the last two outings where I didn't finish my inning, just to be able to finish my inning was pretty exciting".
Hanrahan is expected to be the teams everyday closer for the Sox this season after he was acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates in the offseason. Last season with Pittsburgh he had a record of 5-2, saved 36 games and blew only 4 save opportunities. He had an ERA of 2.72 last year. This last outing Hanrahan had is a step in the right direction. If Hanrahan expects to get the majority of save opportunities he needs to not give up runs in his outings. Boston is a very different city than Pittsburgh, both with expectations and media attention. Im sure that Hanrahan will need time to adjust but will quickly be saving games almost every night with the Sox.

Follow on twitter @Ryanthahawaiian