Game 94: Another one bites the dust: Sox lose again

by Randy Booth on Jul 23, 2009 1:09 AM EDT in Game Stories

Final - 7.22.2009	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston Red Sox	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	0
Texas Rangers	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	X	3	10	0
WP: Dustin Nippert (2 - 0) SV: Doug Mathis (1) LP: Clay Buchholz (1 - 1)

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Even the mighty Clay Buchholz falls victim to crappy offense.

Buchholz went four innings and the Sox racked-in a whopping six hits in a 3-1 loss to the Rangers Wednesday night. Buchholz threw 90 pitches in the loss while giving up three runs, six hits, two walks and struck out three.

Nick Green (solo homer) provided the only runs for the Sox. Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz each had two hits. Jason Varitek had the other hit.

The bullpen was pretty good, though. Manny Delcarmen (2H, 1K), Daniel Bard (1H, 2K), Hideki Okajima (1H, 1BB) and Jonathan Papelbon (1K) all worked scoreless innings in relief of Buchholz.

So let's look at the two starts from Buchholz: in both, he threw a lot of pitches and struggled to get hitters out. He's wild, too, walking too many batters in too few innings. He really just hasn't been that good. But that's baseball -- you can't really judge a pitcher on two games. The next one, at least we hope, will be better.

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buccholz did fine..

If you give up 3 runs and the pen holds that the rest of the way, you should win the game. Our lineup is anemic right now, but will come around. Is it me, or does it seem everytime Ellsbury leads off we lose? Guy had 4ab and saw a total of 10 pitches. Drew, same 4 AB, had a walk and saw 20 pitches. Drew needs to lead off, Ellsbury needs to hit down the order, he went over .300 hitting down and will now crash at the top. He doesn’t have the patience yet to lead off.

by sydneysox on Jul 23, 2009 1:49 AM EDT reply actions

Give Lowrie a shot to lead off.

Ells has proven he can’t do it right now. Drew is in the middle of a big slump. I think Lowrie might adapt well to the table-setter position.

by Ben Buchanan on Jul 23, 2009 1:54 AM EDT up reply actions

Hmm.

Him double proficiency would put him in scoring position a lot…

@bs_uf15bosox9be:OverTheMonster-ALLERGEN WARNING:May contain PB.

by bdalebs on Jul 23, 2009 2:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Buccholz did fine?????

Let’s see: 4 IP
ER: 3
Hits: 6
Pitches: 90
BB: 2
HBP: 1
K: 3

The kid’s a choker; nothing has changed from last year. Trade him and get Doc or some hitters.

by ccthemovieman on Jul 23, 2009 9:40 AM EDT up reply actions

totally agree

people seem to think this kid is the next Tim Lincecum, but in reality he is a young Bronson Arroyo.

Trade him for a proven player before his stock falls too much.

by SoxAcumen on Jul 23, 2009 11:37 AM EDT up reply actions

His tRA is only 5.38.

League average is 4.5ish. Calm down.

@bs_uf15bosox9be:OverTheMonster-ALLERGEN WARNING:May contain PB.

by bdalebs on Jul 23, 2009 2:43 PM EDT up reply actions

Clay did have some good signs again.

15 swinging strikes is the big one. That’s a LOT of swinging strikes for 4 innings. Guys WILL swing and miss on his stuff because of how good it is. He also showed a lot of pinpoint fastball control, painting corners and edges for much of the night.

There are some obvious problems in his approach, though:

1) He can’t seem to find the middle ground on 2-strike pitches. On the one hand he goes for waste pitches, which force him into an unfavorable count where he no longer seems to trust his changeup very much (only throwing it basically middle-middle on 3-ball counts if at all). On the other hand, he occasionally goes for a sort of get-it-over fastball as if the batter doesn’t think he’s gonna get a strike and will take. Doesn’t work. As a result, he tends to have trouble putting people away, and so gives up a lot of long ABs. Clay has to start A) pitching a little more to contact and B) Eliminate the bad waste pitches from his game. Keep painting corners, and mix in the change and curve on 0-2, 1-2 counts. He got a LOT of those.

2) Stop shaking off Tek. Tek knows best, and I think that has a lot to do with the above problem. It also makes him take too much time between pitches, overthink, and ultimately try to be too perfect. A lot of those semi-wild pitches came after LONG pauses. Think Lester, where everyone always says he’s best when he gets it and throws.

3) Pitches up in the zone will kill you. I think this is a hangover effect from AAA, where a high pitch can act as a good out pitch more often. When Buchholz left the ball high, he seemed to do it on purpose, and that’s when he got hit.

Basically, the problem is stuff that’s easily learned/taught/fixable. Buck showed the great stuff he’s always had, he just wasn’t sure how best to utilize it. If he uses the curve more, especially, I think he’ll be fine.

by Ben Buchanan on Jul 23, 2009 1:53 AM EDT reply actions

You were watching a different game

Buchholz still wont establish his fastball or pitch to the inside of the plate. He relies and over uses his curveball and changeup and when he gets into trouble batters are keyed on both. Sure he gets people to miss, but that’s bc of the 12/6 break on his curveball is like a foot, nobody is getting their knees buckled bc they expected a different pitch. The more batters see Buchholz, the more tape on him, the less effective that curve will be. Hitters will just lay off the non-strikes, sit on the mistake curves with little fear he will beat them back with a fastball.

What do you think Tek is asking for? Fastball maybe. Buchholz is still scared to throw it.

Not to mention the kid looks lost on the mound. Look how Lester approaches pitching and then compare to Buchholz. Lester wants to rip your skull off when he throws, Buchholz seems like he is trying not to get hit. I love that you think that heart/passion/nobody can hit me – attitude can be learned, it really cant. You either have it or not.

I agree with ccthemovieman, there is no change in Buchholz from 08, outside of sink on his fastball….that is new. I just don’t see what you guys keep claiming is so obvious? He had great stuff? Outside of the break on his curveball, what was so great?

by SoxAcumen on Jul 23, 2009 11:35 AM EDT up reply actions

He threw 50 fastballs, and 8 curves. You were right about the break on his curve.

Oddly, he only threw the breaking stuff to righties…
Now, to your claims that he was pitching inside:

Yeah, he threw away from lefties. Lots of players do. Let’s see what he did vs. the majority of the batters, the righties:

Again, mostly outside, but he did get

@bs_uf15bosox9be:OverTheMonster-ALLERGEN WARNING:May contain PB.

by bdalebs on Jul 23, 2009 3:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Crap, clicked the wrong button.

He did get several pitches inside, most of them fastballs.

@bs_uf15bosox9be:OverTheMonster-ALLERGEN WARNING:May contain PB.

by bdalebs on Jul 23, 2009 3:02 PM EDT up reply actions

This post illustrates 3 things:

1)SoxAcumen has it out for Buchholz ;)
2)Sox Acumen did not watch the games this year that Buchholz has pitched.
3)If he did watch those games, he does not know what a curveball is.

The major problem I see with Buchholz in these 2 games was not an over reliance on the curve, it was that he barely throws it at all. Lets look:
Last year Buchholz threw 21.4% curveballs. That is probably too much. The plan this year was to have him NOT rely on the curveball. Last year, when he got into trouble, he threw far too many of them, that led to hitters lining up the curve. This year he has thrown…8.8% curveballs! That is far too low, because he cannot just be a 2 pitch pitcher, he has to keep hitters more off balance. His change is great, but two pitches is too little. For reference, James Shields, a similar sort of pitcher, still mixes in (this year) 16.7% curves. Buchholz is throwing 55% fastballs-so how is he afraid to throw it? Shields is throwing far less, for example. Buchholz is throwing more fastballs than ever, even more than he did in his very successful brief 07 callup.

If you knew what you were talking about, one might then be inclined to discuss the “trade Buchholz for a proven player” tirades.

by Buzzy on Jul 24, 2009 10:46 AM EDT up reply actions

holy crap

when is the offense gonna wake up. dont tell me lasuck (the name given to him by my friends who are braves fans) isnt our answer for this…. im not a doomsday kind of guy, but not getting texeria is looking worse everyday.

Bills make me wanna SHOUT!

by silverstreak3k on Jul 23, 2009 2:50 AM EDT reply actions

We had almost NO chance of getting Tex.

We would have had to overpay to get him, meaning we would be getting screwed even worse than the MFY did.

@bs_uf15bosox9be:OverTheMonster-ALLERGEN WARNING:May contain PB.

by bdalebs on Jul 23, 2009 3:06 PM EDT up reply actions

if he would have taken what the sox offered

we wouldnt be hurting for a bat right now. that was my point. not saying the sox wouldnt have to overpay to get him after what the mfy offered, but getting him would be very beneficial right now.

Bills make me wanna SHOUT!

by silverstreak3k on Jul 23, 2009 7:04 PM EDT up reply actions

He (read: his wife) didn't want to come to Boston.

We would’ve had to pay through the roof for him.

@bs_uf15bosox9be:OverTheMonster-ALLERGEN WARNING:May contain PB.

by bdalebs on Jul 23, 2009 7:29 PM EDT up reply actions

The sky isn't falling

but considering we’re in the very competitive AL East, where three teams will be battling for a playoffs spot every night, the Sox can’t allow themselves to hang around in this funk for too long. A bat is definitely needed and has been the most consistent puzzle piece needed all season. Who do we get and where do we put them? I don’t know.

by BOSPORTS on Jul 23, 2009 6:30 AM EDT reply actions

Just an idea

Why not bring back Freddy Sanchez? Now that the Pirates have given up trying to sign both Wilson and Sanchez, we should try to get him back… I mean our infield is very flexible and with Lowell’s hip acting up again who knows what will happen, you bring Sanchez in and he can play third or if Lowrie is coming along slower than expected he can play some SS in the short term, in that scenario you could move Youk to third and have Laroche or Kotsay play first, I know it’s not a perfect solution, but I don’t think Adrian Gonzalez or Victor Martinez would be had for the same price as a Sanchez, I see Sanchez only costing one premier prospect and some throw-ins, again I don’t know how likely this is since we’ve already traded for Laroche but we Freddy’s hitting over .300 and that’s something not a lot of our guys are doing right now… I know they’re only two out right now, but the sawx can’t afford to wait too long for the hitters to come around…

by Knuckles O'hoolihan on Jul 23, 2009 7:14 AM EDT reply actions

"Only one premier prospect and some throw ins"

Yeah, for that cost, I’d want a player like Crawford, Ichiro, Chone, Branyan, Nyjer, Rolen (all players who will be worth ~6 WAR this season). Sanchez, who’s on pace for around 4.5 WAR would fetch a player like Hagadone or Price, with some throw-ins, as you put it.

@bs_uf15bosox9be:OverTheMonster-ALLERGEN WARNING:May contain PB.

by bdalebs on Jul 23, 2009 3:15 PM EDT up reply actions