Rogers Centre, Toronto
July 17, 2009
Pressure? What pressure? Clay Buchholz looked like the Clay Buchholz of old on Friday against Toronto — old meaning 2007-old, not 2008-old. Gone was the kid who was sent back to the minors in disgrace last season after submitting a 6.75 ERA in 15 starts; in his place was the newer, revamped version who tore apart the International League through the first part of 2009.
With a little bit of help from Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz, Buchholz showed the world — and potential trade suitors league-wide — that he's back in action.
Headliner: Rocco Baldelli.
Just kidding. Obviously, it's Buchholz, who put on quite a show for all those alleged Blue Jays scouts just waiting to scoop him up in exchange for Roy Halladay. In his first start of 2009 — and his first major league appearance since posting an abysmal 2-9 record in 2008 — the resurgent 24-year-old submitted 5 2/3 innings of four-hit ball, allowing one run and striking out three. He even got a quasi-rousing ovation as he exited the game
By all accounts, the kid did his job, despite being nearly beheaded by a Lyle Overbay liner in the bottom of the sixth.
Dirt Dog: Youkilis started off his second half by jacking a one-out, two-run homer in the top of the first, giving Buchholz a 2-0 lead before he even stepped on the mound. Nothing like a nice little cushion to ease the pressure.
Youk — a notorious fast starter and midseason slumper — hopefully set the tone for the kind of second half he'll have. Right now, he's hitting .299 with 17 homers and 55 RBIs.
Honorable mention to Toronto's Overbay for going 3-for-3 against Buchholz.
Better luck next time: For a while, it looked like Jays starter Ricky Romero made one big first-inning mistake and would prove to be lights out the rest of the way. After Youkilis got to him for a first-inning homer, he effectively shut down the Sox lineup — until back-to-back walks in the top of the fourth got him into trouble. Ortiz hit a one-out double to bring both runners home and give Boston a 4-1 cushion, chasing Romero from the game.
His final line: 4 1/3 innings, five hits, four runs, and eight strikeouts. He drops to 7-3 on the season.
Special shout-out to Jason Bay, who — shortly after the Red Sox announced that they won't be negotiating a new contract with him until after the season — went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
Key Moment: In the past, the big issue with Buchholz has been between his ears. He always could throw hard, and he always had that nasty curveball, but as soon as his control became less than pinpoint and guys started getting on base, he'd implode.
There was an opportunity for that to happen in the bottom of the fourth on Friday. Adam Lind led off with a double deep to left-center, but when Scott Rolen shot a sharp grounder back to Buchholz, Lind headed for third instead of staying put. Buchholz got the lead runner, which came in handy when Overbay hit a ground-rule double. Instead of bringing a run home, it was first-and-third with one out; Rolen ended up scoring on Alex Rios' sacrifice fly, but Buchholz limited the damage, striking out Jose Bautista to end the threat.
He had a perfect opportunity to completely fall apart, and he restrained himself. Can we safely say the Buchholz of 2008 is gone?
Outlook: Who thought Brad Penny (6-3, 4.71 ERA) would still be around to be pitching for Boston during the first series of the second half? On Saturday, he makes his 17th start of the season, and in the past, he's fared well in Toronto: He is 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA at Rogers Centre.
He takes on Marc Rzepczynski (0-1, 3.00 ERA), who will be making his third big league start. Last time out against Baltimore, he gave up three runs on five hits over six frames.
