SarroSports

8/21/08 12:26 am

Red Sox fans are a few weeks away from the one year anniversary of Clay Buchholz’s no-hitter. That magical night ended on a nasty twelve to six curveball that left Orioles hitter Nick Markakis frozen with his bat on his shoulders. Almost one year later, Buchholz would take the mound against the Orioles in the final game of a three game series that ended with much different results. The Sox rookie fell to 2-9 on the season, allowing 5 runs on three hits in only 2 1/3 innings. Buchholz struggled with his control all night, walking three batters and hitting another. When his pitches found the strike zone, they often found the center of the plate, making it a very easy night for Oriole hitters on their way to a 11-6 pounding of the Boston Red Sox.

After the game, Sox manager Terry Francona announced that Buchholz would be demoted to AA Portland to work out his pitching issues. ” I talked to Buck and we feel we need to give him a renewed start, said Francona who also indicated he thinks Buchholz will respond. Buchholz has never been able to find the command of his fastball that he had last season, this may be due to the team changing his arm angle in his delivery. The team has not announced who will take Buchholz’s place in the rotation, but AAA pitchers David Pauley and Michael Bowden seem to be the likely candidates. Pauley has major league experience and has been very impressive boasting a 13-4 record with a respectable 3.45 ERA. Bowden has been getting very little run support lately, comes in at 0-3 with a 3.21 ERA. Even though Bowden has the mental mindset of Sox reliever Justin Masterson, who pitches with toughness and intelligence, it would be a very tall task to ask of the 21 year old.

The Red Sox have watched Buchholz struggle all season, with his ERA rising to 6.75 and losing eight of his last nine games, it was definitely time for a demotion. Some may even think this move came a few starts too late, with the Rays still running on all cylinders leading the AL East by 4.5 games. In his last four starts, Buchholz has givin up 19 earned runs in his last twenty innings. For a team looking to make the post-season and possibly another world series birth, it needs more from their fifth starter. The Sox are eying September 1st when the rosters expand to add Bartolo Colon, adding depth to the back of an injured rotation.

Buchholz’s confidence has been diminishing with every start, often looking frustrated and confused on the mound. Granted Buchholz is a great talent, boasting two plus pitches in his change-up and curveball, but major league pitchers can’t rely on talent alone. Learning how to pitch to batters and attacking the strike zone, will be a key factor in how quickly fans will see Buchholz back on the mound in the major leagues. Something tells me we will have to wait till next season for that to happen.

-Sarro

Trackback URI | Comments RSS