Kuzul

Caption: Clay Buchholz was outstanding once again, shutting down Kansas City over seven innings tonight in the Red Sox 1-0 win at Fenway Park.

One year ago, in the wake of Clay Buchholz’s play-me-or-trade-me remark on NESN, many of the callers to local sports-radio talk shows were calling for the Sox to ship the young right-hander out of town.

When I interviewed Buccholz in Pawtucket a few days later, he said his remarks were misunderstood. He said he was ready to play (and contribute) at the major league level, and that he just was trying to tell the Red Sox that he was ready to become a factor in the American League East.

But the Sox front office didn’t think he was ready. While he no longer had the deer-in-the-headlights look with runners on base, he was still somewhat timid on the mound at the big league level. He was still prone to nibbling and falling behind in the count. As it was back in 2007 when I first interviewed Buchholz, the Red Sox wanted him to get innings under his belt, repeat his delivery, refine his control and garner confidence.

Even during spring training earlier this year, there were LOTS of talk-show callers declaring that the Red Sox NEEDED to ship him to San Diego in exchange for 1B Adrian Gonzalez.

Well, I wonder what those folks are thinking right about now.

As the 2010 season approaches the one-third pole, Buchholz has EASILY been the club’s best pitcher. He’s been everything that his most ardent supporters—myself included—believed he would become…and he is well on his way to being a first-time all-star this summer.

It was interesting to hear Peter Gammons talk about the Nederland, TX, native during the NESN postgame report. He remarked that Buchholz is completely different in the Red Sox clubhouse prior to his starts. Whereas in the past he was a bundle of nerves, tonight he sat in front of his locker playing a guitar—trying to learn a few new chords.

He did his thing once again this evening. He won his seventh game, allowing four hits (three singles and a double that ticked off the glove of 3B Adrian Beltre) over seven shutout innings, leading his ballclub to a 1-0 win over Zack Greinke and the Kansas City Royals.

If you are looking for something to complain about, here it is: he walked four batters (he also struck out four).

Maybe Clay was playing The Beatles, “With A Little Help From My Friends”, which would have been an appropriate selection in consideration of the fact that his teammates mustered only five hits and one run to support his efforts in tonight’s game. THAT certainly can be defined as A LITTLE HELP.

But THAT was all he ended up needing…

Well, THAT and a couple of scoreless innings of relief from Daniel Bard (who hit 100 mph on the radar gun) and Jonathan Papelbon (who threw a couple of outstanding split-fingered pitches in his outing). Bard surrendered a leadoff double to Jason Kendall in the eighth inning, but after a sacrifice bunt he escaped unharmed with a strikeout and ground out (a hard-hit ball which, thankfully, was hit within the reach of 2B Dustin Pedroia).

The lone run of the game came in the second inning as Adrian Beltre led off with a single and J D Drew drove a double off the Green Monster in left-center field…Mike Lowell then knocked Beltre home with a ground ball to second base.

That was all of the scoring in the ballgame…and that suited Buchholz and his teammates just fine.

The Sox loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth inning on a double by David Ortiz, an intentional walk to Victor Martinez and walk to Beltre…but, incredibly, Drew bounced THE FIRST PITCH to first base to end the inning (hey, JD, when the reigning Cy Young Award winner is struggling to find the plate, maybe you should make him throw a strike, huh?).

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The win snapped the Red Sox two-game losing streak.

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Buchholz is 3-0, with a 1.32 ERA, in his last three outings.

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Terry Francona rested Kevin Youkilis and gave Mike Lowell a start at first base, in part due to Lowell’s career numbers against Greinke (4-for-7).

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After watching RHP Josh Beckett throw a side-session yesterday, Francona said the team has decided to “slow down” the right-hander’s rehab. According to Tito, Beckett (who is on the 15-day disabled list after hurting his back on a slippery mound in Yankee Stadium on May 18) is unable to “complete his delivery consistently enough” to maintain the rehab schedule they had originally charted.

Tito said: “We don’t want it to lead to anything else.”

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Kevin Millar was the guest of Don and Jerry in the NESN broadcast booth during the game. I honestly and truly enjoy listening to him talk…he is a hoot.

Hey, Kevin, drop me an e-mail…let’s do some shots some night before a game!

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Ten days ago the Red Sox suffered a crushing loss to their arch (and division rival), the New York Yankees.  Losses happen, but this one stung more than most because Jonanthan Papelbon, the team’s surefire closer over the last five seasons hardly looked like a guy who had been to All-Star games and enjoyed playoff success.

He gave up an astounding four runs in just two thirds of an inning.  For the first time in his career as a reliever he gave up two home runs in one inning and left Red Sox fans wondering if 2010 just wasn’t their year.

Why were fans so concerned in mid-May with just about 3/4 of the season left?

Simple.

The Red Sox were looking up in the standings at everyone in the division, and the Rays and Yankees both already had significant leads in the win/loss columns.  The Sox had a team that was supposed to be built on pitching and defense, and early returns were beyond disappointing in both areas. 

With John Lackey, Josh Beckett, and Diasuke Matsuzaka each struggling mightily and the defense seeming to kick one ball after another since the team flew north from Ft. Myers, the team showed no signs of a turnaround in the near future.

The next day something changed in a big way. The Red Sox appeared headed for another loss at the hand of the Bronx Bombers following a seven-inning, one-run performance from CC Sabathia.  Flame-throwing set-up man Joba Chamberlain came on and absolutely collapsed.  He gave up four runs in his inning of work and left with the score tied.

When Mariano Rivera came on for the ninth, winning the game in extra-innings seemed like the most realistic option for getting out of New York with at least one victory.  They instead managed to get the future Hall-of-Famer, plating two runs and putting the pressure back on the World Champions.

Papelbon came back through the bullpen doors, and though he looked shaky still, managed to finish the win for the former Boston Americans. 

Fast-forward eight more days and the tune is entirely different in Boston.  Since that incredible come from behind win over the Yankees, the Red Sox are an impressive 7-1 over that stretch.  More impressively, those wins have come against the Twins, Phillies, and Rays; all teams currently leading their divisions.

So just how did a team that looked like they had essentially eliminated themselves turn around their season in a little more than a week?

The team started playing like analysts had predicted in the offseason. 

Clay Buccholz and Jon Lester both ratcheted up their performances, and are currently battling for the team lead in ERA in the low 3s. 

The other members of the staff (excluding Beckett who hit the DL) have all started performing more like the top two guys than AAA pitchers. 

Matsuzaka flirted with history as he carried a no-hitter into the eighth before a flair found its way past an outstretched Marco Scutaro’s glove.  Wakefield did an admirable job filling in for Beckett as he provided the Sox with eight shut-out innings and beat Roy Halladay.  Lackey found his touch and made a quality start in the team’s win over the Rays.

The pitching staff is not solely responsible for the light-speed like turnaround. 

David Ortiz struggled more than any hitter on the team for the first month of the season.  His numbers so far in May are among the best of his career as he is hitting .368 with 9 homers this month. 

The team is also starting to get healthy as both Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron hit the field for the first time in almost a month this week.  Other hitters are starting to hit, and the plays are being made in the field.

All of this adds up to a message that the Red Sox have sent loud and clear over the the last nine days by going 8-1 overall against four of the MLB’s top six teams: It’s only May, but it might be time to start to panic about how good the team in Boston could really be.

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Roy Oswalt has recently expressed to the Houston Astros owner that he wants to be traded. He has come out and said that he would wave his no-trade clause. 

He is 32 years old and has never won a championship. This year he finds himself on the team with the worst record in the National League and no signs of competing in the near future. 

The Boston Red Sox are currently fourth in their division posting a 22-21 record mainly because of how inconsistent their pitching has been. Their hitting is in the top-five in most major categories this season, which is a surprise to most people.

Currently, they are sixth in average, third in runs, fourth in OBP, second in slugging, and second in OPS in the American League hitter-friendly league. 

Their pitching rankings are, however, horrible for the American League. They are 13th in ERA, ninth in BAA, 10th in OPS, and 10th in WHIP. This coming from the team that was built around pitching and defense.

Oswalt is having possibly the best year of his career although his record of 2-6 does not reflect that with how bad of a team he is on.

Brandon Lyon has had a pretty good year as a reliever posting a 4.15 ERA and a BAA of .235. If you look at his numbers, he strangely had better numbers last year in the American League. He also pitched for the Red Sox posting around a 4.00 ERA.

Jonathan Papelbon has been the Red Sox closer for a while now and has just about been as good as it gets. He has 10 saves this year while allowing hitters to just hit .194 against him. He is still young and currently in the prime of his career.

Dice-K has had his ups and downs with the Red Sox. Two years ago he looked awesome, and then was injured last year and going into this year. In his last four starts last year, his ERA was around 2.00, and when he’s healthy can be very good. 

My proposed trade is Roy Oswalt and Brandon Lyon to the Red Sox for Jonathan Papelbon and Dice-K.

Why this makes sense for the Red Sox:

The Red Sox are in desperate need of getting a staff together that actually works. They would lose Pap, but he has built a rep around Boston to where people do not like him, also David Bard has been lights-out this year and is ready for the big role.

Adding Oswalt would add another ace to the list and Lyon would put a stable pitcher in the bullpen that is struggling right now.

Why this makes sense for Houston:

It makes Oswalt happy by sending him to a team that can compete for a championship. It also brings in a star in Papelbon who would instantly make an impact in the closers role. It also gives the team a younger player who they can build around.

Dice-K can be a great pitcher when healthy and when he gets healthy soon he will find it easier to pitch in the National League. He could have the potential of winning 18 games again and be a star. 

Maybe they can work something out with draft picks in there too or something to seal the deal, but I think this is a deal that both teams would benefit from.

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