Meanwhile, Down in the Fort...

WEEI come to us from Fort Myers with video from the workouts performed today.



The first show Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz throwing. It's not terribly interesting but the thwack of the ball into the glove is a nice sound to hear.



The second shows an interview with Clay after his workout. Maybe it's the fact that he now weighs nearly 200 pounds or maybe it's the angle of the camera (he's usually looking down but here he's looking up) but he looks different and I can't put my finger on why. Older, maybe?

A Little Bright Spot.

Admittedly, melancholy has settled in over the past few days. Baseball is over, winter is coming; it's all very depressing. The most clear evidence of my melancholy? I was planning a weekend trip to Portland and the environs and the places I planned to stop were literally cheese shop, chocolate shop, bakery, bakery, and brownie shop. Although it has been easier to get dressed in the morning when I can just pull things out of the closet without worrying about the amount of luck that was woven into the fabric. (I told you that I had issues.)

So where does one find joy when baseball is over and over rather cruelly? In the lack of suckiness from Mr. Clay Buchholz in that last game. It was a good outing for any pitcher and for a pitcher who seemed to be prone to the yips, it was a remarkable performance. And yeah, he seemed to get a little bit into his head when he loaded the bases without nobody out but other than that he seemed to be in control.

Said Clay:

"I didn't feel as nervous in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th inning. It was a good thing. It was a game that I felt like I could pitch in. I've been on this club for parts of three years now, and hadn't been able to make a postseason appearance, so it was fun for me."

And (about being in next season's rotation)

"I'll take the job, and be up here all season next year, and actually be a part of the team for a full season, and go to the postseason, and make next year better than this year. That's my goal."

I'm growing to really like that goofy looking kid.

No Wake.

Tim Wakefield has been put on the disabled list with a low back strain and Clay has been brought back up to pitch on Wednesday. Hopefully it's not too serious.

It's Dangerous Out There in L'il Rhody.

I should preface this with: I know nothing about cars or car theft. Forgive me if I mistype.

Clay Buchholz woke up this morning to find parts of his car missing; the wheels/rims (the newsgal uses the terms interchangeably; I don't know if they're the same thing) were removed from his car in the wee hours. Luckily for him, the thieves were spotted by a neighbor and the car parts returned.

Perhaps because everything turned out alright in the end or maybe because he's been on the other side of the act of thievery (c'mon it's a natural place to go with this story) he seems mostly okay with it.

He does need a haircut, though.

A Weight Off His Shoulders.

Clay Buchholz has been pitching well down in Pawtucket and caused a minor stir recently by publicly admitting that he would prefer to be pitching in the big leagues. Most probably credit the vast improvement over last year with increased confidence. I think they're missing the point. I think it has to do with the ditching of that hideous green thing he used to wear around his neck. (It was, after all, the first thing I notice in the photo.)

Happy Birthday Clay!

Today is Clay Buchholz's twenty-fourth birthday. Because of the way he showed up last season, it's easy to forget how very young he is. But no doubt about it, the boy is a veritable baby.

Some birthday wishes for Clay: A new necklace to add to his collection. Some cocky bastard lessons from Pedroia to get over his confidence issues. A big meal to put some meat on his bones. And the opportunity to pitch in Texas in September to appease his father (who was disappointed that Clay didn't pitch in Houston.)

Many happy, healthy, and productive returns of the day.

Clay Buchholz, no. 61

Birth Date: August 14, 1984 in Nederland, TX
Height/Weight: 6'3", 191 lb.
College: Angelina Junior College
Contract: League Minimum

To be filed under: You Learn Something New Everday: There were a lot of Germans who settled in Texas. I knew there were Germans in Pennsylvania and in upstate New York but I didn't know about Texas.

Around here, German surnames are a rarity-you'll run across an occasional Snyder or Holt-but Eurpean last names, on the whole, tend to be Anglo, or Italian, or French, or possibly Polish. My guess is that few people in New England would have real trouble with Saltalamacchia but Buchholz really throws us for a loop.

Buchholz threw in 4 major league games last season, one of which was his no-hitter. Clearly way too small of a sample size to be of any use (just going on those numbers he's projected to be a 29 game winner), but the numbers are impressive: Over 22.7 innings, he struck out 22 players, gave up 14 hits, and walked 10. He had 8 starts in Pawtucket, where he struck out 55 players, gave up 32 hits, and walked 13. His Earned Run Average was kind of high at 3.96. In Portland, his ERA was a stunning 1.77 and his WHIP was only .89.

The kid has amazing stuff-he has a four seam fastball in the low to mid ninties, a two seam fastball that runs from the high eighties to the low ninties, a straight changup that runs from the high seventies to the low eighties, a circle changeup, a curveball that runs from the high seventies to the low eighties, and an average slider that sits in the low to mid-eighties. He is a little guy and he's struggled with consistency in the past but he has the potential to be very, very good.

This year in baseball, Red Sox pitching was on.

Red Sox pitching has really cleaned up in MLB's This Year in Baseball awards. Josh got Starting Pitcher of the Year, Papelbon got Closer of the Year, and now, Clay has picked up Performance of the Year for his no-hitter. Good on him.

Addendum: Okajima just picked up Setup Man of the Year. So congratulations to him.