What's Up With Clay Buchholz?

There was a time when Clay Buchholz was one of the most talented starting pitchers in MLB. Of course, he could never really put it together for a full season based on his frail body and reluctance to play through any type of pain. Now, those days seem like a distant memory as he continually gets lit up (twice in four starts this season). Today he ruined what was a perfect Patriot's Day in Boston with the Marathon as the Red Sox fell 7-6 to the Orioles at Fenway Park in the four-game series finale which the teams split.

Buchholz (0-2) allowed six earned runs on seven hits in 2.1 pathetic innings. Boston (9-11 overall, 4-6 home) was down 6-0 in the third inning and almost completed another amazing comeback for the second day in a row but you can't expect that against a decent team like Baltimore (9-9 overall, 5-5 away) or any in MLB really outside of maybe the Cubs.

The frustrating part was that Baltimore didn't exactly crush hits around the ballpark, they just kept getting on base vs. Buchholz in the six-run third. Nick Markakis, Nelson Cruz and Chris Davis had RBI singles, a run scored on a fielder's choice, Steve Clevenger hit an RBI double and Jonathan Schoop ended Buchholz's holiday early with a run-scoring single.

Wei-Yin Chen (3-1) didn't have a great outing by any means but compared to Buchholz, he looked like Nolan Ryan in his prime. He went five innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits with five strikeouts and three walks.

The Red Sox cut the lead in half with three runs in the fifth. Jackie Bradley Jr. started it off with an RBI double, Brock Holt (2 hits, run) had a sacrifice fly and Dustin Pedroia (2 doubles, 2 walks) played wall ball with an RBI double. David Ross made it 6-4 Orioles with a solo homer into the Monster seats, his first home run of the season.

Ryan Flaherty added an RBI single in the eighth for the Orioles which turned out to be a very important run because Mike Napoli hit a solo bomb in the home half of the frame and Boston could have put together a bigger inning if Xander Bogaerts didn't have a careless baserunning blunder.

Baltimore's bullpen is one of the things that will probably hold them back for contending for the AL East all season, personified by mediocre pitcher turned closer Tommy Hunter. Still, he got the job done today at least despite allowing a run on Napoli's ground out. Pinch hitter Mike Carp was the last out as he stranded Pedroia on third and David Ortiz on second. Ugh. The good news regarding him and the utterly useless Jonathan Herrera is that both should see much less playing time in the near future with Shane Victorino and Will Middlebrooks currently rehabbing in Pawtucket.

Boston's tour of the parity filled AL East (all five teams were separated by two games entering today) continues tomorrow with three games against the Yankees (11-8 overall) at Fenway. Then they have three in Toronto this weekend and three against Tampa Bay in Boston. The Red Sox-Yankees pitching matchups are Jon Lester (2-2) vs. Masahiro Tanaka (2-0) tomorrow night (7:10, NESN), John Lackey (2-2) takes on Michael Pineda (2-1) on Wednesday (7:10, NESN) and Felix Doubront (1-2) opposes not fat CC Sabathia (2-2) on Thursday (7:10, NESN).

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Red Sox Beat Orioles 3-1 In Fenway Opener Behind Buchholz's Gem & Nava's Blast

It was a perfect day for the Red Sox' 2013 home opener at Fenway Park: it was sunny, the temperature was mild and most importantly, Boston beat Baltimore 3-1 this afternoon.

Clay Buchholz (2-0) pieced together his second quality start of the season and this one topped last week's effort vs. the Yankees since he went seven scoreless innings. He allowed three hits with eight strikeouts and four walks. Boston's (5-2 overall, 1-0 home) bullpen looks rock solid as Andrew Bailey (1-2-3 8th with two strikeouts for his third hold) appears to be a nice fit as the setup man for closer Joel Hanrahan, who picked up his third save of the season despite allowing a solo homer to Adam Jones in the ninth.

Baltimore (3-4 overall, 2-2 away) starter Wei-Yin Chen (0-1) matched Buchholz for a while but his one mistake was a big one: a three-run homer he served up to Daniel Nava (his 2nd of the season) in the seventh inning. Chen went 6.1 innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits with three strikeouts and two walks.

Each team only notched five hits apiece with Nava (2 hits) being the only guy with multiple hits. Mike Napoli (double) and J.J. Hardy provided the other extra base hits.

Tomorrow is an off day so they'll get back at it on Wednesday night (7:10 p.m., NESN) with Ryan Dempster (0-1) facing Miguel Gonzalez (1-0) in the middle game of the series.

UPDATE 4/10: Get ready to hate Stephen Drew who was activated today while Jose Iglesias was sent down to Pawtucket. John Lackey went on the 15-day DL while Alex Wilson was called up from the PawSox. It's all happening!

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I Have Never Seen A Local Team Be Toxic In Every Conceivable Way Possible, Until Now

If you want to see a dysfunctional team, in every way possible, tune into a Red Sox game in 2012. Better yet, don't even watch but just read some of their assorted daily drama that is constantly stirred up by these malcontents, out of touch owners and wacky manager.

I have never cared less about a local squad (Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, Red Sox) than this one. Things get more predictable by the day, it's like paint by numbers. Tonight, Josh Beckett (5-10) "pitched" and the Red Sox (57-60, 28-26 away) lost the series opener 7-1 to the Orioles (63-53, 31-28 home) at Camden Yards.

The end of the season can't come soon enough for this truly hateable team. The Texas Toughguy went 5.1 innings, allowing six earned runs on six hits with two strikeouts, two walks and two home runs allowed. After Matt Wieters reached on an infield single (scoring a run) and Chris Davis (2 hits, walk) had an RBI single in the sixth, Beckett was pulled from the game by Bobby Valentine. Would you believe Mark Melancon gave up a three-run bomb to Mark Reynolds (his second of the game) on the next pitch? Haha unbelievable, pass me a couple beers Lackey.

Not that it mattered anyway. Baltimore has the look of a playoff team this season despite the fact that their lineup isn't very good, their rotation is average at best and they play terrible defense (worst in the AL). Still, they make up for it by hitting homers, having a good bullpen and being clutch. What a concept!

Their de-facto ace Wei-Yin Chen (11-7) went six innings, allowing one earned run on nine hits with four strikeouts and a walk. Baltimore's bullpen kept the lead intact as Darren O'Day, JC Romero and Matt Lindstrom all threw scoreless frames. Too bad nobody in Baltimore has figured out yet that the O's are a team to get behind, I guess they are all busy on the corners like in The Wire.

The Red Sox actually outhit the Orioles 11-7 but they were 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position and they left 12 men on base. You couldn't be that ineffective if you tried, you have to give Boston credit for that. Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia (double, triple, walk), Cody Ross (run, double) and Carl Crawford all had two hits in the loss.

Mighty Omar Quintanilla-Orioles No. 9 hitter-took Beckett deep in the third, a solo shot and his 3rd of the season. Crawford tied it with an RBI single in the fourth but Reynolds woke up with a solo homer in the fifth (his 10th of the season) and Baltimore was on their way.

All was not lost for the Red Sox though since Danny Valencia got his first hit for them while Andrew Bailey made his debut. The former A's closer walked Davis then struck out Reynolds to end the eighth. Too bad he couldn't have returned oh I don't know, a month ago. Oh well, like I said before, it doesn't matter.

Aaron Cook (3-5) takes the ball against Miguel Gonzalez (4-2) tomorrow night (7:05 p.m., NESN) in the middle game of this three-game series. At least I can stomach watching Cook play baseball, Beckett literally makes me sick.

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Remember The Good Old Days: When The Red Sox Could Beat The Orioles?

It's a very sad state of affairs when the Baltimore Orioles look like a dominant team against you.

After tonight's 2-1 win at Fenway Park, the Orioles (32-24, 18-11 away) improved to 5-0 in Boston this season and 6-2 so far in 2012 vs. the Red Sox (28-28, 13-16). Baltimore has won the first two games of the series and will go for the sweep tomorrow night. Dating back to last season, the O's have beaten the Red Sox 12 of its last 15 games, they're also 7-0 in their last seven games at Fenway (a franchise record). Haha good lord, this is getting absurd.

With the result, Baltimore gained sole possession of first-place again in the American League East while Boston remains in the basement after falling back to the .500 mark with three consecutive losses.

Of course to top it all off, the Red Sox wasted what will probably end up as Josh Beckett's (4-6) best outing of the season. He went eight innings (5th straight start of 7+ innings), allowing two earned runs on five hits with five strikeouts and no walks.

Wei-Yin Chen (5-2) lasted one less inning than Beckett but that doesn't matter since the Orioles have one of the top setup man/closer combinations in baseball: Pedro Strop and Jim Johnson. Seriously. Chen allowed one earned run on seven hits with four strikeouts and no walks.

Strop worked around two walks in the eighth to record his 11th hold while Johnson had a 1-2-3 ninth including two strikeouts for his 18th save of the season (after blowing the save last night but recovering for the win in the 10th inning).

It was a strange but fast game (2:31) that featured a combined 12 hits but only one of the extra-base variety (an RBI double by Darnell McDonald).

Boston scored its lone run in the third inning when Mike Aviles drove in McDonald with a sacrifice fly. The Red Sox left eight on base and they were just 1 for 5 with runners in scoring position.

Baltimore's two runs both came in the sixth on Robert Andino's RBI single and a ground out by Endy Chavez that plated Portland, Maine native Ryan Flaherty with what turned out to be the winning run.

Clay Buchholz (5-2) is probably the last Red Sox starting pitcher you'd pick to help avoid a sweep but that will be his difficult task tomorrow night (7:10 p.m., NESN) while we sit around and wait for Celtics-Heat Game 6 to start. Brian Matusz (5-5) will get the ball for the Orioles.

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Orioles Beat Red Sox 6-4 In 13 Miserable Innings

I don't know what else to say other than the Boston Red Sox are once again playing terrible baseball. They lost for the eighth time in their last nine games at Fenway Park as they dropped the series opener 6-4 to the Baltimore Orioles tonight in 13 innings.

Chris Davis (2 hits) had an RBI single and Mark Reynolds pushed another run across in the 13th with a sacrifice fly. Orioles closer Jim Johnson got a 1-2-3 13th for his eighth save of the season.

Boston (11-14, 4-8 home) has lost three straight and it's impossible to have much faith in this group. Conversely, Buck Showalter and Baltimore (17-9, 9-5 away) might finally be onto something. Maybe the Orioles won't finish in fifth place in the AL East this season.

Jon Lester was decent. He lasted six innings, allowing three runs (all earned) on five hits with two strikeouts and three walks. The Red Sox got their first look at Orioles starting pitcher Wei-Yin Chen. He went five innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits with four strikeouts and three walks.

The Red Sox couldn't hold leads of 3-1 and 4-3 as their bullpen, which has actually been excellent recently, faltered. Vicente Padilla allowed the run that tied it at four and then Franklin Morales (0-1) coughed up two more in the 13th for the loss.

Baltimore won because its bullpen threw a ridiculous eight scoreless innings. Matt Lindstrom (1 inning), Pedro Strop (2 innings), Luis Ayala (2 innings), Troy Patton (2 innings; 1-0) and Johnson were mighty impressive.

Cody Ross scored on a passed ball to give Boston a 1-0 lead in the second but Reynolds (1st of the season) crushed a meatball right down the middle from Lester in the third over The Monster. David Ortiz's ground out scored Adrian Gonzalez (3 hits) in the third and Ross drove in Dustin Pedroia with a sacrifice fly.

Matt Wieters (2 hits, 2 runs) is not known for his speed but Ross misplayed a ball in the right field corner and Baltimore's catcher ended up with an RBI triple in the fourth. Wilson Betemit knocked him in with an RBI single, tying the game at three in the fourth.

Pedroia put Boston ahead one last time in the fifth with an RBI single that scored Will Middlebrooks (double). The O's tied it in the seventh as a run scored even though J.J. Hardy grounded into a double play.

Aaron Cook makes his Red Sox debut tomorrow afternoon (1:10 p.m., NESN) as the veteran sinkerballer looks to get his new team out of their latest fog. Jason Hammel (3-1) goes for the Orioles, who have the AL's worst defense but somehow they've made up for it with the top ERA in the AL.

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