Axford's performance is tied almost 100% to his command of the curveball. When he can locate it, he's devastating. When he can't, he becomes almost exclusively a fastball pitcher (aside from trying to sneak a float-y CB in early in the count, up-ish in the zone). And, while he can run the FB in pretty fast, it's also pretty straight. The PA against Hosmer in the top of the 9th inning of the US-Canada game -- US up 6-4, bases loaded & Hosmer wound up clearing them with an oppo-field 2B -- captured this perfectly. I can't recall the order in which he threw them, but Ax missed with a CB & threw a nice FB on the low-outside boundary of the zone & the count was 1-1. He then missed the zone with another errant CB (neither CB 'just missed', his command clearly wasn't there). On that 1-1 pitch, you could see Hosmer's hands were really twitchy early... just sitting dead red on the FB, chomping at the bit to let it fly. He didn't commit to swing, but you could just see it. Then, on 2-1, Ax was basically forced to throw a FB since he couldn't command the CB -- it was either throw the FB now, or on a 3-1 count. He kept the FB away, but it was a bit up, and Hosmer just went with it & mashed it into the left-center gap to clear the bags. I realize this was just one PA in a relatively meaningless game, but like monty57 noted, Axford was certainly giving his all. And to me, that one exchange just perfectly captured what Ax is as a pitcher. If the CB isn't working, he's just too hittable. I completely agree that, if there's an opportunity to sell high on his Proven Closer™ label, Melvin should be jumping all over it.