Tough Luck Buch by Jared Carrabis
"I'm picking the wrong pitchers to throw against"


Poor Clay; we know it's not easy being matched up against the likes of CC Sabathia and Justin Verlander in back-to-back starts.

"The last two guys have been as good as I've seen, so you can't read too much into it," Buchholz said. "The small steps that I've been taking to get better are working. It's proven that it's working, but it's hard to win games when you've got guys throwing like that."

In his previous start in the Bronx, Buchholz tried his luck against Sabathia, who tossed seven and two-thirds of two-hit, scoreless innings with nine strikeouts. Buchholz held his own by turning in six innings, keeping the Yankee offense to just two runs on six hits while striking out three. Sabathia's outing was arguably his best of the season, aside from the complete game shutout that he threw in Baltimore, but I mean, come on; it's the Orioles.

"Clay's run into a buzzsaw the last two starts facing the other team's ace, but he's pitched well against good teams and good offenses. I don't think you can be disappointed with his performance," said Mike Lowell.

On Thursday at Fenway Park with the sun shining bright, Buchholz took the ball once again in hopes of earning his first win since winning the first game he pitched after being called up to the big league level this season. His task wouldn't get any easier, as he'd be going up against one of the top pitchers in the game, Justin Verlander.

Verlander ranks second in wins in the AL with 13, he's first in strikeouts with 194 and is eighth in the league with a 3.28 ERA. More or less, he's as good as it gets in the game today. With a live fastball that lights up the gun as fast as 100 MPH, Verlander's arm brought some nightmarish memories back to Red Sox Nation at Fenway on Thursday.

Verlander burned through the Red Sox batting order through eight innings of domination. The right-hander held the Sox to just four hits, issued just one free pass, while striking out eight. Of his eight strikeouts, Verlander blew Jason Bay away three times and David Ortiz twice (Ortiz also K'd in the ninth against Fernando Rodney for the hat trick).

Buchholz did his best to keep his team in the game by allowing zero earned runs entering the seventh inning. A fielding error by Josh Reddick later led to an unearned run to cross home plate, but it was a Ryan Raburn bomb over the Monster that got Buchholz's pitching line to show just one earned run.

"As good as Verlander was, I thought Clay was almost [just] one pitch worse," manager Terry Francona said. "It's amazing how the glass can look a lot more full when Clay goes out and does that. He had all four pitches today, and he commanded the game.

The Red Sox got a pair of shutout innings out of the bullpen by Manny Delcarmen in the eighth and Fernando Cabrera, who struck out the side in the ninth, but the offense was rendered helpless against the likes of Justin Verlander. The Tigers' ace tossed his 123rd and final pitch to strike out Jason Bay to end the bottom of the eighth. Even at 120+ pitches, the fastball that K'd Bay clocked at 100 MPH.

"He's one of the best I've ever seen," said Victor Martinez, who has faced Verlander many times having come from the AL Central.

The Red Sox were just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, while leaving fifteen men on base.

"Two tough draws for [Buchholz]," Jason Bay said. "You couldn't really pick two worse guys to square off against, I guess. But the way he pitched today was unbelievable."

Final Score: Tigers 2, Red Sox 0

Things you'll need to know to impress your friends:

Though Clay Buchholz may have just one win in his six starts (1-3) this season, he has pitched well enough to win in four of the six times he has taken the mound for Boston. In Buchholz's last two starts, he has an ERA of 2.08. In the four out of six starts in which he gave his team a chance to win, Buchholz had an ERA of 2.24. So when he's on, he's on; when he's off, he's off.

If the Red Sox had won on Thursday, it would have been the first time in the history of the Detroit Tigers franchise that they were swept in an entire season series by the Boston Red Sox.

I mention above that Victor Martinez has seen his fair share of Justin Verlander is his career, and upon some further stat digging, his numbers are quite impressive. In 30 at bats, V-Mart is hitting Verlander at an even .300 clip with 2 doubles, 4 HR, 9 RBI and a 1.090 OPS. That's not counting the 2-for-4 day that he had against the right-hander on Thursday, accounting for half of Boston's hits in the game.

Friday's pitching match-up:

The Sox now head down south for a crucial three-game series with the Texas Rangers. This series could very well decide the Red Sox' playoff chances, so get ready for some fierce competition. If it's not Josh Beckett, we all want the ball in the hands of Jon Lester. He has a 1.39 ERA in his last two starts and an even 3.00 ERA since the All Star break. In his last start against Texas, Lester hurled a complete game two-hit performance. His opponent, Kevin Millwood, has a 3.99 ERA in his career against Boston and holds a 4.51 ERA when pitching in Arlington, Texas.

Eye on the scoreboard:
Texas 4, Cleveland 1
New York 11, Seattle 1
Tampa Bay - Off-day

Result: The Rangers pull within a half-game of the Sox in the Wild Card, the Sox fall a game back in the East to 6.5 games again, and the Rays pick up a half-game on the Sox (10.0 out, 4.0 back of Boston).

-Jared Carrabis





Published on August 13, 2009

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