Clay Buchholz under increased scrutiny from umpires

According to Nick Cafardo, Clay Buchholz will be under increased scrutiny tonight when he takes the mound against the Twins. The umpiring crew for tonight's game has been directed to pay extra attention to the league's ERA leader after Jack Morris accused him of doctoring the ball during his last start against Toronto.

This should come as no surprise. When something creates the sort of media storm that Morris' comments did, the league tends to take notice. Of course, given the fact that Morris' evidence amounted to "his arm is shiny" the league can't really do anything beyond keep a close eye on things, but this response at least allows them to appear active.

Unfortunately, this means that Jack Morris has been able to change anything that happens on a baseball field, which is a crying shame. Even worse, it lends even the slightest bit of legitimacy to his comments. Of course, the most likely scenario is that Clay goes out and pitches at normal, leaving Morris as irrelevant afterwards as he was before. And so long as he's actually playing by the rules, nothing will really have been gained or lost.

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