Things went a bit differently for Clay Buchholz's last start. This was a pitcher who had given up at least five runs in every outing to that point, was leading the league in runs allowed, had already surpassed his 2010 total for homers allowed, and had just one more strikeout than walk. He had been an absolute disaster, but against the Indians, he was able to hold his own long enough to escape with a win he actually deserved.

Well, sort of. Buchholz pitched effectively, in the sense he kept runs off of the board. But the why behind that success is something that is a bit elusive. He struck out zero hitters, and walked three. He had more ground outs than air outs (10 to five) but overall saw an even distribution of batted balls, with 13 grounders and 13 fly balls. None of those fly balls landed in the seats, though, and he was able to scatter the eight hits he allowed in a way that held the Indians to three earned runs.

It was an improvement over what came before, but that's not the Buchholz we've seen him as before. Still, there were some encouraging signs to take from the outing, ones we hope to see again Wednesday night against the Rays, albeit with additional improvement.

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I was watching the Red Sox game last night and thought, wouldn't it be interesting to look at one single at-bat in depth. To show the intricacies of the encounter and not just the result, but how the result was achieved. Today, I'm going to look at David Ortiz's third inning at-bat against Mariners pitcher Blake Bleavan.

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It was the bottom of the third inning in a 0-0 game. David Ortiz stepped to the plate against Seattle starter Blake Beavan. There was one out and nobody on base. To that point, Beavan had had a little bit of trouble with the Red Sox. He had given up a single to Dustin Pedroia and walked Adrian Gonzalez in the first before getting Will Middlebrooks to ground out to end the inning. In the second inning he gave up a lead-off single to Jarrod Saltalamacchia and hit Daniel Nava with a pitch, but got out of that as well. He was laboring a bit, as his pitch count was at 57 when Ortiz stepped into the batter's box.

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Seven players on the 60-day disabled list in addition to a full 40-man roster means that the Red Sox will soon be in something of a roster crunch. Things are bad enough already in those regards with the 25-man roster, as Mark Melancon, Junichi Tazawa, and Clayton Mortensen sit in Triple-A awaiting a way to return to the big-league club, but the larger 40-man roster has its own set of issues. What are some of the options before the Red Sox, who will need to sort this mess out in the next month or so, once injured players are no longer hurting?

That's the topic of discussion today in Over the Monster's latest YouTube offering. Remember, you can view Over the Monster YouTube videos either here, on the right sidebar of OTM, or at our official YouTube channel. Subscribe if you want them delivered to your inbox in digest form whenever they're available.

Video after the jump.

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A fan could get used to this.

Another well-played game of baseball has the team on a five-game winning streak and looking like a real team all-of-a-sudden.

It's hard to imagine a game that would have provided a more positive outlook for the team than this one. For the fifth straight game, the Sox lineup provided at least four runs--an encouraging run of consistent production rather than the bunches we've seen in the last year or so. For the fifth straight game, the Sox played encouraging defense, not making much in the way of mistakes and adding a few impressive plays (Mike Aviles, I'm looking at you).

And, most importantly, for the first time ever, the Sox have gone once through the rotation without a bad start.

Sure, Buchholz and Bard struggled peripherally, and the former had his start messed up by a slow hook, but Doubront and Lester were both in good form, and Beckett today...

Oh, if this wasn't exactly what he needed.

After a week of overblown stories of golfing and dramatic denunciations from every which direction, Josh Beckett came out today and made a statement. Perfect through three, dominant through seven, allowing no runs and just six baserunners in his outing, striking out nine batters along the way with an exceptional curveball doing a lot of the damage. It was 2007 again, if with a little less gas.

Add that to another strong (if brief) bullpen performance, David Ortiz getting a homer and a bunt hit in the same game, and the excellent pregame ceremonies for Tim Wakefield, and you have perhaps the most enjoyable dayof baseball the Sox have treated us to yet this season. And after the last few games, that actually is saying something.

Alex Speier reports that pitcher Hunter Cervenka is the player to be named later in the Marlon Byrd trade with the Chicago Cubs.

Cervenka is 22 years old, and was in his second stint with Single-A Greenville. You might remember his name, as it was in the news recently, as part of the three-man no-hitter thrown by the Drive a week ago. Not to pick on Cervenka, but the leadoff walk he issued in the eighth inning broke up the attempt at a perfect game.

More importantly, Cervenka had an 8.04 ERA in 15-2/3 innings pitched with Greenville, after posting a 10.80 ERA at the level in 20 innings in 2011. He's always had an issue with walks, issuing 7.2 per nine for his career (173 innings since 2009, if you count Rookie League).

This season, he's shown strikeout stuff -- more than he has in the past, as his career rate is 8.6 per nine -- whiffing nearly 14 batters per nine innings, but at the same time walking almost seven per nine. Sox Prospects' bio is, as usual, detailed about Cervenka's potential upside, but mostly the various problems with his body and repertoire.

Bottom line? He's got some interesting traits, but he's a project. As of now, he's the Cubs' project:

Projectable lefty from Texas. Throws from a 3/4 arm slot. Slow and deliberate delivery from both the wind-up and the stretch. Fastball sits 90-92 mph and can top out at 94 mph in short bursts. Tends to be on the straight side. Also throws a cut fastball, along with a curveball and a changeup. Cutter is his best pitch, operating in the mid-80s with late break. Can leave it in the middle of the plate in stretches. 76-79 mph curveball shows tight, deep break at times, but is inconsistent with producing hard snap. Typically wraps his hand around the ball. Low-80s changeup is a below-average pitch that often floats to the plate, with little deception. Struggles with keeping his control and command consistent due to wavering release point. Body has also lost athleticism and shape with age. Needs considerable improvement to be effective in full-season baseball.

Hey everybody, it's Tim Wakefield day! Woo!

Hey everybody, Tim Wakefield won't be pitching today! Woo/boo depending on your personal preferences!

We don't judge.

Josh Beckett

#19 / Pitcher / Boston Red Sox

Height: 6-5

Weight: 225

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: May 15, 1980

Blake Beavan

#49 / Pitcher / Seattle Mariners

Height: 6-7

Weight: 240

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Jan 17, 1989

Go Sox!

Think for a moment about the greatest pitches you've ever seen. Randy Johnson's slider. Pedro Martinez's changeup. Mariano Rivera's cutter. What do they have in common, beyond their ability to make major-league hitters look like fools? Control and repeatability. The key to any pitcher's success is not only the ability to throw a great pitch, but to do so every time, bending the baseball to his will and making it go exactly where he wants it to. Andrew Miller comes swiftly to mind as an easy example of the guy who can make a baseball do terrible things to a hitter's timing, but can't figure out how to do so all the time. Maintaining control is everything.

Yet for a very small group of pitchers, their success comes from their ability to sacrifice their control over the baseball, to let the wind take the pitch and do what it wants. When throwing a knuckleball, the last thing one wants is to impart any control to the ball. The entire point is to keep the ball from spinning, and let its trajectory go wherever the air currents take it. It's a harrowing way to make a living, and the men who throw a knuckler are always a few unfriendly gusts from getting released.

The lives of two of those men form the core of the new documentary Knuckleball!, which I was lucky enough to see at the Boston Independent Film Festival several weeks ago. With the Red Sox celebrating Tim Wakefield Day at Fenway, it seemed the time to put up a review.

Rather than simply provide a dry history of the knuckleball itself, Knuckleball! takes a look at the two most recent practitioners of the art, Wakefield and the Mets' R.A. Dickey, and the journeys that brought them to the knuckler. Full career retrospectives on both are interspersed with moments from the 2011 season, in which Dickey adjusted to his status as a top starter for New York and Wakefield pursued his 200th win.

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Per Buster Olney and his baseball sources, Red Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis will begin his rehab assignment sometime over the next two days.

Update: WEEI's Alex Speier says Youkilis will take three at bats with the Pawtucket Red Sox on Wednesday.

Youkilis has been on the disabled list with a back injury since April 29, making yesterday the first day he was eligible to return. Still, the team has taken it slow, and it seems now that he will be unlikely to make his return to the active roster before the end of the week.

It's not known how long Youkilis will stay in the minors before making his way back to the major league squad, but since his return will force the Sox into making a decision about their hot-hitting replacement in Will Middlebrooks, they may feel safe in taking their time. When Youkilis eventually does return, it seems likely that Middlebrooks will be on the way down, given Bobby Valentine's comments on the pointlessness of keeping a prospect around to ride the pine.