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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Sixteen starts into his first season with the Boston Red Sox, David Price isnt under any illusions about the quality of his performance.Its not acceptable, he said.Not by Prices standards, at least, and certainly not for his price tag. Along with his seven-year contract worth $217 million, the richest ever for a pitcher, comes an expectation of consistent excellence. Instead, Price has delivered a 4.68 ERA that ranks 33rd among 40 pitchers who qualify for the American League ERA title, and he has allowed at least six earned runs in four starts, more stinkers than in any of his seven full big league seasons.But Price is nothing if not self-aware, a quality he learned during his formative years with the Tampa Bay Rays. While his natural ability made him one of the leagues best pitchers, it was his desire to continually evolve that enabled him to maintain that status.In 2012, when Price went 20-5 with a 2.56 ERA and won the Cy Young Award, his fastball averaged 95.5 mph, making him the hardest-throwing pitcher in the majors that year. Yet he insisted on working with Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey to refine his changeup, so much so that he felt comfortable increasing its usage from 12.3 percent in 2012 to 16.8 percent in 2013 at the expense of that blazing heater.Hickey always had confidence in me to be able to make adjustments throughout the season to go out there and try new pitches, Price said the other day at Tropicana Field as his former team took batting practice. He always had my back in that sense. He never said, Hey, what youre doing is working. Lets just stay the course. He understood that I want to evolve, always. And it wasnt even to the point where I thought velocity was going to leave. It was me wanting to be a complete pitcher, being able to locate my fastball on both sides of the plate with velocity and then be able to throw the other pitches for strikes as well. That was something I wanted for myself and something I worked really hard at.It also made Price slightly less of a risky proposition to some teams that considered signing him as a free agent last winter.Price turned 30 last August, an age at which many power pitchers must begin thinking about changing their style. Mid-90s velocity doesnt last forever, after all, and because Price was seeking a contract that would take him into his late-30s, scouts were looking to see that he understood how to get hitters out without merely overpowering them.Sure enough, Price threw his changeup a career-high 22.7 percent of the time last season, according to FanGraphs. And although his fastball still averaged 94.2 mph, seventh-best among AL pitchers, he used it less frequently than ever, 53.4 percent of the time.Prices evolution, or at least his recognition of the need to evolve, helped sway Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who witnessed it up close. Dombrowski acquired Price with the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline in 2014, and although he dealt Price to the Toronto Blue Jays last July 31, he pushed hard to talk risk-averse Red Sox principal owner John Henry into shelling out big bucks to sign him last winter.David had the intelligence and the instincts to [evolve] before he had to, Dombrowski said in spring training. Nothing is for certain, but you look at him now and see a pitcher who can be successful over years to come.Said one National League talent evaluator: Ill give Price credit. He started to show his changeup, with a purpose at times for the right reasons. The fundamental thing for me with guys like him that are power guys is what kind of pitcher are they going to be without their fastball. Do they have a definite feel for what theyre trying to do with the baseball, and do they have enough imagination to get to that second career? Because all the great ones, all those Hall of Famers or close-to-Hall-of-Fame types, they go into their second career and become better pitchers.None of that is any consolation, of course, to Red Sox fans who care only that Price pitches better for the remainder of the season, beginning with Wednesday nights series finale against the Rays.Price insists hes healthy, even though his average fastball velocity is down to 92.4 mph, according to Fangraphs. Although he recently put together an eight-start stretch in which he posted a 2.47 ERA, he has not yet had a scoreless outing. Based on game score, his best performance of the season -- a 14-strikeout, eight-inning start April 26 in Atlanta --was tied for the 153rd-best start by any pitcher this season and the fourth-best by a Red Sox starter.And last Friday night in Texas, Price got rocked for six runs on 12 hits in only 2? innings, which statistically is the third-worst start of his career.The Red Sox signed Price to be the ace they havent had since Jon Lester was traded midway through the 2014 season. If anything, though, he has fallen in line with a rotation that isnt nearly good enough for a franchise that has designs on returning to the postseason for the first time since winning the World Series in 2013.In early May, with help from second baseman Dustin Pedroia, Price identified a flaw in his mechanics that was causing his legs to not be in sync with his arm. The problem now, Price says, has been finishing off hitters. He has allowed 51 batters to reach a full count, and of those, 25 have reached base (10 hits, 15 walks). But the best strategy against Price has been jumping on first pitches. Hitters who have put the first pitch in play against him are 24-for-48 (.500) with six homers.And while Price has projected a sense of calm, even after his roughest outings, he wants you to know he hasnt been satisfied with the way his season has gone. If his years in Tampa Bay are any indication, he will continue to evolve to stay ahead of hitters.Just because I dont display my frustration in front of everybody, it doesnt mean that I dont care, by any means, Price said. Its not that youre OK with it or you accept it. Its just you learn how to move forward. Thats what Ive done. Ive had some tough games, absolutely. Ive definitely had more tough games this year than I have in any other year, and thats tough, for sure. Ive had too many of those bad games, and its not acceptable.[Boston] is definitely a tough place to play, and I knew that coming in. They have high expectations, and I definitely have high expectations for myself. I want to go out there and throw the baseball the way that I know I can and the way that I have in my career. I know I will do that. Im healthy. I know Im going to throw big games for us this year and the rest of my career. I know good things are going to happen for me.The sooner the better for a Red Sox team that needs Price as much as ever. Cheap NBA Jerseys . - After leading the Saints to a fourth playoff appearance in five seasons, Drew Brees expressed confidence in the direction of his team and, perhaps more importantly, showed a willingness to listen to contract proposals if the team needs his help getting under the NFLs salary cap. Wholesale NBA Jerseys China . -- Adam Snyder returned to the San Francisco 49ers this season because the offensive lineman thought it was his best opportunity to win a championship. http://www.cheapbasketballchina.com/cheap-charlotte-hornets-jerseys-china_134r.html . At a news conference Tuesday where it was thought that the fiery Schallibaum may be shown the door after a dismal finish to the Major League Soccer season, team president Joey Saputo said no decision has been made on whether the Swiss Volcano will be back in 2014. Wholesale Basketball Jerseys . Miikka Kiprusoff had just announced his retirement after a decade-long run in Calgary and it would be up to Berra and Ramo to fill the void. Discount Nike NBA Jerseys . After taking two big hits this week -- losing at home and dropping back-to-back games for the first time all season -- Indiana struck back by playing its most complete game of the year. AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State coach Steve Prohm said last month that forward Deonte Burtons goal should be to get a double-double every game.Burton got his first one out of the way Monday night, helping the 20th-ranked Cyclones through their first bout of minor adversity this season.Monte Morris scored 18 points, Matt Thomas added 13 and Iowa State beat Mount St. Marys 73-55.Burton had 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Cyclones (2-0), whove won their first two games by an average of 30 points.Hes made such great strides. Im very, very proud of him. But now hes got to continue to push himself to make the next step, Prohm said.Mount St. Marys (0-2) got within 10 early in the second half, but six Cyclones scored during a 15-1 run that put the game out of reach.Iowa State outrebounded Mount St. Marys 50-38, but it also shot an uncharacteristic 4 of 16 from 3-point range.Nick Weiler-Babb scored 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting and pulled down five rebounds for the Cyclones.It was a win. It probably wasnt our best performance offensively. At times defensively also, Morris said.Elijah Long, the brother of Iowa States Naz Mitrou-Long, had 19 points to lead the Mountaineers.BIG PICTUREIowa State: Through two games, its clear the rebuilt Cyclones have a ton of talent -- and theyre much deeper than they were a year ago. But fans wont start to find out if that will translate vs. top competition until next week, when the Iowa State travels to Orlando for a tournament that could include a matchup with No. 14 Gonzaga.Mount St. Marys: Long finally got to play against his brother with roughly 20 family membeers in attendance -- and Elijah helped his team keep it respectable.dddddddddddd The Mountaineers showed some fight too, pushing the Cyclones after falling behind by 17 at halftime.POLL IMPLICATIONSIowa State jumped up four spots on Monday simply by throttling Savannah State on Friday. A few more blowouts and a few more losses by teams ahead of the Cyclones could help Iowa State inch further up the poll.SIMEONS SUSPENSIONIowa State announced before the game that reserve Simeon Carter had been suspended three games for violating team rules. Its yet another setback for the once-promising recruit, who appears to be out of Prohms rotation for the second year in a row.HONORING DEJEAN-JONESIowa State honored former player Bryce Dejean-Jones, who was killed over the summer after a promising rookie season with the New Orleans Pelicans, by wearing warmup shirts with his number. A lot of people that didnt know him probably had their own opinion of him. But me personally, starting with the guy and seeing how he carried himself and preparing for games, it was big time, said Morris, who played with Dejean-Jones in 2014-15.UP NEXTIowa State hosts The Citadel on Sunday, and theres little doubt ball movement will be on the agenda in practice this week. The Cyclones had just 14 assists on 30 baskets.Mount St. Marys continues a brutal stretch of nine road games to start 2016-17 when it plays Minnesota on Wednesday.---More college basketball at www.collegebasketball.ap.org ' ' '