Category: Clay Buchholz

D-Day 2009

"Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint."

How often have you been told that, with respect to the baseball season, no single day nor no single event matters more than the collective performance over a 162 game season? When looking at individual performance, I follow that perspective to a fault. Until a slump reaches the proportions of David Ortiz in the first months of 2009 or Jason Bay in the most recent, I feel confident that a player will regress or progress as the case may be back to their mean. "Water seeks it's level".

With respect to the team at large, a season is made of peaks and valleys, winning streaks and lulls. As a fan, every multi-game streak in either direction can feel like a precursor to the fate of the season, but as Terry Francona and his players will tell you time and time again, they don't get caught up in such momentum as easily as we do. They head to the park day in and day out to play, and try to win, a game against the team lining up against them on the field that day.

7/27: Here’s to you Jim!



Let's hang Rice's #14 with a W! Congratulations to Jim Rice on a career worthy of this honor!

Trade watch: Theo ‘burning midnight oil’

All the recent trade rumors around the Sox have your head spinning? No worries. Evan summarizes everything you need to know leading up to the trade deadline and handicaps the Sox's chances.

TEX 3, BOS 1: Slumping Sox swept

Boston has made a couple of moves before the trade deadline but the best move to break this slump will be a day off and a return home.

7/22: Youth shall be served



Adam LaRoche and Chris Duncan in, Julio Lugo and prospects out....but none of them will be an impact in today's game. With the Yankees win today already in the books, tonight is all about Clay Buchholz.

Wake to the DL, Buchholz recalled

Looks like Clay Buchholz' most recent start has earned him a stay in the Red Sox rotation as Tim Wakefield fell victim to some lower back pain as a result of a recent side session pushing Buchholz back to the bigs for tomorrow's game.

Theo has been well versed in using DL stints to create roster flexibility and I'll have a hard time being convinced that Wake's "extended vacation" is anything serious or anything more than a way to keep Buchholz at the Major League level. Given the shaky outings from John Smoltz and the trade deadline and Brad Penny's whereabouts within looming, I am not surprised that Buchholz is "in play".

BOS 4, TOR 1: Buchholz debut

When Clay Buchholz gets a definitive spot in the Boston Red Sox pitching rotation it's going to be exciting to watch.

7/17: Out with the old, in with the new



The second half starts with a bang and without Julio Lugo to kick around. Clay Buchholz gets the nod tonight in a cameo appearance with the big club. With Mike Lowell back, and Lowrie on the way tomorrow, the Red Sox will get a good look at what their potential defficiencies are heading into the deadline.

In honor of the departed:

Breaking News: Clay Buchholz promoted, six man rotation in effect

Leave it to the Red Sox to give us some news to keep us amped up through the break. They have recalled Clay Buchholz from AAA and he will be starting on Friday at Toronto. This also means that they will be moving to a six man rotation (Buchholz, Penny, Lester, Smoltz, Beckett, Wake) in the second half of the season.

Questions abound.

- Does this mean that a deal is somewhere in the making to push the rotation back to 5? - What does this signify about Daisuke Matsuzaka's status the remainder of the season?

Thoughts, concerns, speculation?

Throw it at us.

UPDATE: It appears it will be a single spot start for Buchholz and then he'll be back to Pawtucket.

I don't buy it...I think this is some posturing in advance of the 7/31 deadline. I smell smoke...and when there is smoke....you know the rest.

Halfway Home

Red Sox vs. OriolesThe 2009 Boston Red Sox are halfway through their season, 49-32 through their first 81 games. The Red Sox not only hold a 1.5 game lead over the New York Yankees in the American League East, but also the best record in the American League, trailing over the Dodgers and their .634 winning percentage for the best record in baseball.

The halfway point marks an interesting time to not only take stock of the season that has come to pass, but also to look out at the road ahead and evaluate the terrain that lies between here and the ultimate destination.