With Sox starter Bartolo Colon went down with a strained back tonight suffered taking a swing (another reason I am anti pitchers hitting) Boston may be looking toward Pawtucket for a replacement. If that is the case one likely candidate is Clay Buchholtz, a pitcher Sox Nation is very familiar with. After a slow start in the majors (2-3, 5.53 ERA) Buchholz went on the DL after a May 12 start in Minnesota with a broken fingernail (whether or not the injury was an excuse to send him down without crushing his confidence is debatable). Buchholtz has been down with the PawSox trying to rediscover the release point on his fastball (injury no longer mentioned) and in 5 starts he has gone 1-1 with a 2.45 ERA. He has pitched only 22 innings though, striking out 22 and walking 12. If Clay is going to return to Fenway he needs to be able to consistently go 6 innings and keep his walks down. Last start he did go 6 innings, allowed no runs, had 8 Ks while walking only 2. The Colon injury is not ideal timing for a call up as he still clearly needs to gain consistency. Hopefully they don't force him back now before he's ready. The Sox #1 prospect could probably use another month (or so) in the minors at least. Let's hope the Sox continue to take a long-term approach with the most valuable asset on the farm. They can find a fill in for Color elsewhere, but blue chip prospects do not grow on trees.
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8 comments:
Hopefully Dice-K is about ready to go so even if Colon out they can go with...
Beckett
Dice-K
Wake
Lester
Masterson
If not Charlie Zink (knuckleballer) or David Pauley should get 1st shot.
Sox DL'd Colon and called up reliever Chris Smith. Glad they left Clay in Pawtucket.
Smith is 1-2, 1.52 in 22 games. In 41 innings he has 40 Ks and just 7 walks. Very impressive WHIP of 0.87
I'm guessing this means Dice-K is ready to go by the time his spot in the rotation comes up again. He looked good in his rehab start last night in Pawtucket. 5 innings, 2 ER, 3 H, 5 K, 1 BB. 65 pitches, 47 strikes. Maybe 1 more rehab start?
...would have been nice to give David Pauley a birthday present call up, but I guess wins are more important.
As predicted after they brought up a reliever, word is Dice-K will be starting Saturday for the big team
off topic - quick Lugo bashing. Lugo inexplicably steals third with 2 outs in the 2nd inning with JD Drew up. He is barely safe and has done this a lot this year. It is not smart baseball and sooner or later it is going to bite us in the ass. You are already in scoring position, moron. On a positive note, he is leading off and has walked in both at bats. Good work
I dont mind the move the Sox made but i would like to see how Zink does in the bigs.
I'm trying to figure who will be pitching when i go see the Sox vs Astros on the 28th
I was kind of hoping to see Zink too...but I guess I'm happy Dice-K is good to go and they didn't need a starter.
You likely wont know who is starting until the 27th the way things are going..but if the 5-man rotation stays in tact (possibly not with 2 off days between now and then) I believe it would be Dice-K.
Smith looked good yesterday in relief of Dice-K....4 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 3 K, 0 BB.
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