Might There be Something Else Wrong with Clay Buchholz?

Looking good there, Clay.

According to unnamed sources (namely, the friend of a girl that works in my office), the reason why Clay Buchholz was sent back down to the minor leagues is because of a drug addiction problem and not simply the fact that he pitches backwards. Now, I cannot say that there is any validity to this statement, but this friend of a coworker says that she attended the same party one night as Mr. Clay Buchholz, and that she saw him snort an inordinate number of lines that night.

Obviously, there was a reason why Buchholz fell so far in the 2005 draft. He was picked in the supplemental first round of the draft with the 42nd overall pick (a pick that the Red Sox received as compensation for Pedro Martinez signing with the Mets). Buchholz has all the talent in the world, so it's obviously strange to see a pitcher fall so far. Until you hear a little more about his personal past, that is. Shortly before the aforementioned 2005 draft, Buchholz and his friend were arrested when he and his friend were caught stealing 29 laptops from his former high school in an attempt to make a quick buck. One can only speculate why Buchholz felt he desperately needed to do this, seeing as he was about to be drafted by a professional baseball organization. I can be certain of this, though: Clay wasn't stealing and selling laptops so that he could buy a new pair of cleats.

Buchholz's no-hitter against the Orioles on September 1, 2007 was one of the most memorable moments of what turned out to be an outstanding season for the Red Sox. To throw a no-hitter is hard enough, but it's hard to even fathom seeing someone do this in just their second major league start (the last player to do this before Buchholz was the incomparable Bobo Holloman, who threw a no-hitter in just his first major league start). Buchholz is only the third pitcher since 1900 to accomplish the feat of throwing a no-no in his first or second career start. After the 2007 season, the Sox were reportedly involved in trade discussions with the Minnesota Twins over lefty ace Johan Santana. When the Twins asked for too much in return (namely, a package including Buchholz and Jon Lester), the Sox balked, leaving them with an extremely talented, but troubled, young pitcher in their system.

Buchholz is having quite a year down at AAA Pawtucket so far. His record currently stands at 3-0, and he sports an ERA of 1.31, a 0.750 WHIP, and 9.2 Ks per 9 innings. In his most recent start, Clay took a perfect game into the ninth inning against the Louisville Bats (yes, the team who was once graced by the presence of the great Mark Bellhorn), only to give up a leadoff single to end his bid.

With the Sox starting pitching not performing as well as they should be at this point in the season (see Beckett, Lester, and Matsuzaka), it's surprising that Buchholz hasn't even been considered for a promotion. It makes one wonder why he's still toiling away down in Pawtucket, waiting for his opportunity. It seems like he's no longer pitching backwards (you know, he's throwing his fastball in fastball counts, amazingly), so there might be something else wrong with this young right-hander. Perhaps the Red Sox should continue to explore the Victor Martinez-for-Buchholz-and-others trade.

Major League Pitcher and Published Poet? So You're Saying There's a Chance?

Not only does Miguel Batista want you to read - he wants you to read Sentimientos en Blanco y Negro.

The other night I was watching the Seattle Mariners play against my beloved Red Sox, when new-to-the-booth color commentator Dave Roberts mentioned something very curious about Miguel Batista, the Mariners' pitcher.  On the mound, there is really nothing spectacular about this guy: he pitched the last three innings of a 5-3 loss to the Sox, surrendering 2 hits and 2 walks and also hitting a batter.   Over the course of his 15-year Major League career, Batista's numbers are pedestrian at best.  His career record stands at 90-104 in 488 games (237 starts), and his career ERA is nothing special at 4.54.  He strikes out only 5.8 men per 9 innings, and his career WHIP is nearly 1.5.  What's so special about this pitcher then?  Well, aside from the fact that he was a member of the 2001 World Series Champion Arizona Diamondbacks, he's also a published poet. 

I can't seem to find a copy of his book anywhere online, but I've read that it's a Spanish book of poetry entitled Sentimientos en Blanco y Negro ("Feelings in Black and White").  Now, not to sound pretentious at all, but any time a poet includes the word "feelings" anywhere in a title, it's usually a very poor sign of things to come.  To be fair, I haven't read any of Batista's work (and probably won't given the scarcity of the pitcher-poet book market), but I've found the following verses online:

I would like the power to save

the souls in agony

who sustain the hope

of improving some day.

To me, this isn't the most inspiring scrap of a poem I've ever read, but hey, it's from a guy who can get outs against Major League batters!  Do you understand how unique that is?  This is a guy who's able to mix his fastball with a little dactylic hexameter.  On a good day, this guy pitch against the best lineup in the league, and then for a nightcap he could write a poem on the back of a receipt for Taco Bell while riding in the team jet.  

When searching for a particular poem that he published online back in 1998 (titled "Do You Remember?"), I came across this site where people are discussing whether or not they would date this pitcher-poet.  This guy can cover all sorts of ground - he's not just appealing to the women who are into the macho sports figure, but he can also appeal to bookish, sensitive women.  He has unlocked the true secrets of getting laid.

That is, until the ladies come across his latest work, a thriller novel about a 14-year-old serial killer.  Uhh, Miguel, that's not so cool.  The ladies don't want to hear that.  They want poetry.  A story that will always stick with me is from Charles Simic's collection of essays, Orphan Factory.  Simic describes a scene when he had a long talk with Robert Lowell about 19th-century French poetry.  Lowell had two groupies sitting at his feet while he spoke, and they hung on to his every word as he caressed their necks and eventually slid his hand down inside their dresses and felt their breasts.  If Lowell could throw a 90-mph heater, he probably would've made it to third base while still maintaining a discussion about the finer points of Baudelaire's work.  

Well We're Not Really Fooling Anyone Now, Are We?

As you can see, Paps' face isn't scaring this young lady one bit.

The other day, during a 2-hour-plus Red Sox rain delay, NESN played an old Yankees vs. Red Sox game from 2006.  Most people know this game as the Doug Mirabelli game.  Before the game, the Sox acquired Mirabelli in a trade for pitcher Cla Meredith and catcher Josh Bard, who couldn't catch Tim Wakefield's knuckleball at all.  It must be embarrassing to be brought in to do one thing, to be so incredibly unable to do that one thing, and then to be traded for your predecessor.  To make matters worse, the Sox brought Bard back to try out in the Spring of 2009, but he was promptly cut.  

In this game, something interesting (and that which is quite unusual now) happened.  No, it wasn't Doug Mirabelli getting dressed on his way to the game, driven in by a police escort.  No, it wasn't Johnny Damon's first at-bat in a Yanks uniform.  The most interesting thing that happened on the field that day was how easily Jonathan Papelbon shut down the Yankees in the 9th.  At least that's how it feels to me when watching this game now. 

The game was tied 3-3 going into the bottom of the 8th inning.  Papelbon started to get warmed up for the 9th, and meanwhile his team put 4 quick runs on the board.  With Papelbon warm and the heart of the Yankees order coming up, Francona opted to stick with his newly-appointed rookie closer to get the last three outs.  First up was Alex Rodriguez, who struck out swinging.  Then, Hideki Matsui popped out meekly to third.  Finally, Jorge Posada followed A-Rod's lead and swung at strike three.  Amazingly, he only needed 13 pitches to complete the inning.  Here's his line from that day: 

1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 0.00 ERA, 13 pitches, 10 strikes

The most important thing to note about this outing is that it was Papelbon's very first appearance against the vaunted Yankees since his appointment to the closer position.  Sure, he pitched against the Yankees in two games in 2005, his first in the bigs.  But these games were lopsided wins by the Yanks (9-2 and 10-1), so Paps' innings were essentially meaningless at the end of those one-sided games.  In his first pressure situation against New York, in his first close-to-a-save situation against the rivals, he was brilliant.  Undoubtedly, he set the tone and let the Yanks know that he wasn't just some pushover closer, and that he had all of the necessary skills to dominate his opponents. 

Now, in 2009, Papelbon's status as one of the most dominating closers in baseball has to be more closely examined.  His saves aren't nearly as neat and tidy as they once were.  He walks batters with an alarming regularity now, and he has essentially entered the Mariano Rivera zone of being a "one-pitch pitcher".  What Paps needs to realize is that Rivera was (and still is, to some degree) able to get by on one pitch because his cutter is just so devastating to both lefties and righties.  Papelbon's straight 4-seam fastball doesn't fool anyone, and his mound presence (including his patented staredown) isn't scaring the opposition anymore.  In order to be successful and even downright dominant, he needs to mix his splitter into the mix in every count imaginable.  All too often, Paps comes out of the bullpen falling behind batters, and once he gets into the 1-0, 2-1, and 2-0 counts he relies solely on his straight fastballs, and hitters know he's not throwing anything else.  As an example, let's take a look at Papelbon's latest save against the Rays, which was (sadly) one of his better performances this year:

1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 0.00 ERA, 22 pitches, 11 strikes

What this line doesn't show is that, before punching out the last three batters of the inning, Papelbon had allowed a leadoff walk to Iwamura, made a throwing error on a pickoff play at first, and then allowed a single to Jason Bartlett.  All this before a single out.  He then proceeded to, miraculously, strike out Pena, Upton, and Crawford, all of them swinging.  The biggest offender here was Crawford, who struck out on three pitches above the letters.  Papelbon threw him nothing but fastballs, high fastballs at that, and was prepared to walk Crawford to bring up the righthanded-hitting Longoria.  I'm glad old Carl made a fool of himself up there, otherwise the Sox were one Longoria grand slam away from a 7-4 deficit.  Keep in mind that, as I said earlier, this was one of the more impressive performances that I can remember seeing out of Papelbon this season.   His worst outing was his second of the season, a four out save against the Angels:

1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 6.75 ERA, 39 pitches, 29 strikes

Papelbon entered the game in the bottom of the 8th with two outs and was almost taken deep by Vlad Guerrero.  He then allowed a solo shot to Torii Hunter leading off the 9th, followed by a double, groundout, walk, strikeout (swinging), walk, and a deep, deep fly ball to right field that was caught on a line by Baldelli.  He really had to labor to get out of the inning, and, from what I can remember, he threw every batter a steady diet of fastballs.  Back in 2006 and 2007 (and to a lesser degree, 2008), Papelbon was at his absolute best when he relied on his 89-91 mph splitter as his primary out pitch.  Now, Paps tries to get by on straight heat accompanied with his "intimidation tactics".  Opposing batters are certainly catching up to that fastball and are making contact with regularity.

To illustrate this, let's take a look at Papelbon's rookie year (2006) against what's happened so far in 2009:

2006: 4-2, 0.92 ERA, 59 G, 35 SV, 6 BSv, 68.1 IP, 40 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 3 HR, 13 BB, 75 K, 0.776 WHIP, 5.3 H/9, 0.4 HR/9, 1.7 BB/9, 9.9 K/9, 5.77 K/BB, .226 BAbip

2009: 0-0, 1.29 ERA, 13 G, 8 SV, 0 BSv, 14 IP, 12 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 HR, 8 BB, 18 K, 1.429 WHIP, 7.7 H/9, 0.6 HR/9, 5.1 BB/9, 11.6 K/9, 2.25 K/BB, .324 BAbip

You'll see that the primary differences between 2006 and 2009 are the following:

1. He's giving up more hits.
2. He's walking many more batters (over three times as many on average).
3. He's striking out more batters (and throwing more pitches).
4. His WHIP this year is almost twice as it was when he was a rookie.
5. His 2009 strikeout to walk ratio is not what you'd want to see in a top-flight closer.
6. His BAbip is almost 100 points higher this year (meaning that when batters are making contact, the balls are landing for hits with much more frequency).

Of course, the stats we have for 2009 are a very small sample size, and we'll have to see how Paps does in the rest of the year.  One of my concerns is that Papelbon might not make it through the entire year if he has to expend so much energy in cleaning up his own messy innings (he's on a very strict throwing program and, let's not forget, almost blew out his shoulder at the end of 2006).  He appeared in a career-high 67 games last year, and then pitched in 7 pressure-packed playoff games.  In all, Papelbon pitched a total of 79.1 innings, and we'll have to see if that has any effect on what he's able to do this year.  

Sure, he'll probably be an All-Star again this year, just as he was when he also finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting in 2006.  But Papelbon is going to have to start working in his splitter more often, especially in hitter's counts when the opposition is expecting him to come with a fastball over the plate.  And as is the case with any pitcher, he would also benefit from commanding his fastball better than he has so far.  Papelbon will really hurt himself if he continues to fall behind batters, throw fastballs, and walk too many men.  He's certainly able to return to form and master the opposition like he did in 2006.  But until he starts throwing more splitters and regains total command over his fastball, he'll struggle to get by on straight heat, staredowns, and excessive celebration.

The New Environment at Old Fenway

Yes, this is the pitcher that helped me love baseball.

Since 1995, I've been to more Red Sox games at Fenway Park that I can even begin to recall. Sure, some of those games have stuck with me more than others (i.e., seeing the Sox crush C.C. Sabathia in Game One of the 2007 ALCS; the 14 run first inning against Carl Pavano and the Florida Marlins on June 27, 2003; seeing Pedro Martinez pitch against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2001). But nothing will ever compare to the first time I ever sat in the uncomfortable Fenway seats and watched a young, upstart knuckleballer named Tim Wakefield take on the Oakland A's.

At the time, I wasn't really a huge baseball fan. I was only ten years old and I followed hockey and football religiously, since my Dad always told me that baseball was a lesser sport. "Not as much action," he'd say, "and only one team can score at any given time. What's the fun in that?" I still had a poster of Roger Clemens on my wall (hey, kids are stupid and make mistakes) but I spent most of my time agonizing over the awful play of the Patriots. But one June afternoon (June 9th, to be exact), my Mom and Dad convinced my little sister and I to go to a game at Fenway.

When we first got off the train we found a hole-in-the-wall baseball card shop right near the park. Of course, I successfully begged my parents to make a little pit stop and I got to look at some football cards. That's right - even when on my way to historic Fenway, I had football on the brain. I found the one card that I'd been pining for: a Ki-Jana Carter Rookie Summit rookie card. At that point I really didn't care about the game. I would've traded my Sox tickets for that damned card. Thankfully, my mother knew how to pry me away from the store: she promised to buy me a cookie. I chose the cookie over the Carter card and, to this day, am very satisfied with my decision.

Cookies in hand, we made our way through the gates (this was before Yawkey Way's development as a must-see pre-game destination) and found our seats in the infield grandstand. I don't have the ticket stub, but I'm pretty sure we were sitting in the furthest rows of Section 23 or 24. We showed up a few minutes late for the 7:05pm start, but that was okay. I fell in love with that park immediately. I'd never seen grass that green, not even at the old Foxboro Stadium. The park had an immeasurable energy about it, a feeling of simultaneous excitement and dread. Keep in mind that this Sox team hadn't won it all since 1918, so there was no bandwagon yet. In looking at the box score for this game on baseballreference.com (found here), I'm shocked to see that the attendance figure for that night was 30,304. From what I can remember, it felt like we were the only people in our section. We didn't stay for the whole game (which, apparently, only lasted for 2 hours and 25 minutes; can anyone imagine an AL game flying by like that today?). We did stay long enough, however, to see a quality A's lineup that featured some truly great players (Rickey Henderson at leadoff, Mark McGwire batting cleanup, and my favorite player named after a sandwich, the incomparable Ruben Sierra, batting third). The Sox lineup that day featured some players that would eventually become my favorites (thanks in large part to the advent of the Sega Saturn and World Series Baseball '95). including the following: John Valentin at short, Mo Vaughn at first base, Mike Greenwell in left, and Troy O'Leary (a member of the "black guys with Irish names" Hall of Fame) at DH. Wakefield pitched a complete game that day, allowing 1 ER on 3 hits with 2 BBs and 5 Ks, improving his record to 4-0 in a season in which he'd outpitch Roger Clemens (by far) and become the de facto ace of the staff:

Wakefield: 16-8, 2.95 ERA, 6 CGs, 1 SO, 195 1/3 IP, 1.183 WHIP
Clemens: 10-5, 4.18 ERA, 0 CGs, 0 SOs, 140 IP, 1.436 WHIP

Of course, Clemens went on to win multiple Cy Young awards after leaving the Sox. Pretty amazing for a guy whose career was obviously on the decline in his last few years in Boston. I'm sure he never used any PEDs. But that's neither here nor there. All in all, my first Fenway experience is one that I'll never forget. I may not remember many of the details of the game itself, but I know that it was the day on which I'd embraced baseball as my favorite sport, Ki-Jana Carter be damned.

Fast forward to 2009. This decade has seen the Sox win not one, but two World Series titles. It still takes time to digest that. After watching this team fail time after time from 1995-2003, it still doesn't seem like it actually happened. Of course, though, with all of this success came The Great Pink Hat Invasion of 2003, starting with the dramatic comeback in the ALDS against the A's (Note to Dan Shaughnessy: if you happen to come across this blog, don't steal that phrase and write a book about it, you hack). In 2004, ticket prices ballooned to the point where the average fan couldn't afford to go, let alone take their kids who wouldn't even have the chance to experience a baseball game. And then, miraculously, they won it all. I don't even have to mention the comeback against New York.

Since 2003/2004, though, the ambiance at Fenway Park has changed dramatically. This is not an overstatement. While the new ownership, led by 68-year-old grandmother John Henry, has made incredible upgrades to the stadium itself, they've commodified the whole experience. In order to gain entry into most parts of the park, fans have to walk by rows and rows of concession stands and player t-shirt vendors. Once inside, fans are able to enjoy the game and then, as a cherry on top, are able to sing "Sweet Caroline" in the middle of the 8th inning. I don't know exactly how this tradition started, but it makes me question the existence of a loving god. The toughest part of the whole experience is that, with the average fans gone, no one even cares if the Sox win the games! As long as a person can hang out in the bleachers for a few hours, drink some $8 beers, and sing some Neil Diamond, then it's a night well spent. Never mind the fact that the Sox just got crushed 9-2 because Francona left Masterson in for way too long.

Since the Invasion of 2003, here are some of the more egregious sights and sounds I've heard while at Fenway:

1) During Game One of the 2007 ACLS against the Indians, my sister and I had standing room tickets behind the infield grandstand. In the last row sat a couple who seemed to be enjoying the game. Until the woman took out her textbook and began to do some highlighting, of course. During a playoff game.

2) This April, in a game against the Rays, Shawn Riggans hit a homer into the visitor's bullpen in right. J.D. Drew was playing in right that day. When he failed to make a catch on the ball, the two girls behind me scoffed him, saying, "Nice going, Trot Nixon".

3) The other day, against the Indians, my friend Phil and I had standing room tickets again. Standing directly behind us was this young couple, apparently on their first date after meeting at a bar or something. The gentleman initially said how much he loved the Sox, but couldn't divulge (a) how it is determined whether a batted ball is a hit or an error, (b) the name of the opposing team, and (c) the names of any of the Sox players. The whole night, I had to listen to him explain how "the old guy" (Mike Lowell) was "doing real bad this year" (second on the team in RBI).

Last year, when the Sox lost to the Rays in the ALCS, the streets of Boston were relatively quiet. In the past, if the Sox had lost to the Rays of all teams, I probably wouldn't be writing this because our city would have crumbled, leaving me with no electricity. But, in 2008, Red Sox fans just broke out in a chorus of "Sweet Caroline", and it was so good, so good, so good.

Starting Over

I started this blog back in 2007 with the hope of having time to actually write. Now that things seem to be relatively calmer, I plan to dedicate some time each day to write a little something here. Don't expect to find anything earth-shattering. I'll be writing about whatever interests me, which probably means that the majority of the posts will pertain to writing or to sports.

First, a little bit about myself for those of you who don't have the pleasure of knowing me. I'm a 23-year-old writer who, right now, happens to work in publishing. I currently live in Cambridge, MA. Starting in the Fall of 2009, I'll be enrolled at the New School in New York in pursuit of an MFA in Creative Writing. Once that's finished, I'll be a professional poet and live like a king.

Hope you enjoy my ramblings. Any and all feedback is welcome.