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SWEPT AWAY BY A "RALLY MONKEY" ...
Buccholz cementing his place in the rotation
September 8, 2009 ...
The Sox belted a season-high six home runs, five of them in the first
three innings, in a 10-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles, a
head-spinning homer haul that further cemented their once-sagging
offense as one of the league's most dangerous. Dustin Pedroia slugged
two of them, the first multi-home run game of his career.
Given such a
wide margin for error, Buchholz pitched as if engaged in a duel. He held the
Orioles, the team he no-hit in the second start of his career, hitless until
there were two outs in the fourth inning. He shut them out over seven dominant
innings, allowing only three hits and striking out five.
Buchholz's
continued emergence eased the sting. On Aug. 2, the Red Sox staked him to a
seven-run lead in Baltimore. Buchholz promptly allowed six runs and exited after
four innings. He turned the game, an eventual Sox win, into a lesson.
When
Buchholz can unlock his best, he provides the Sox an answer to the question,
what comes next after Josh Beckett and Jon Lester? He threw all four of his
pitches for strikes, a devilish combination of inside fastballs to go with
sliders, changeups, and especially his curveball. Once a luxury, Buchholz has
become a necessity. The Sox gave him the first start after the All-Star break as
a reward for his work in Triple A, a planned cameo. As injuries and
ineffectiveness struck the Sox staff, Buchholz took up residence in the
rotation. He has not missed a start. Buchholz, 25, remains an unfinished
product. But his apprenticeship, in the opinion of the Sox, is over. There is no
reason to look for meaning in a good start or a bad one.
Of course,
anyone could have pulled a win from last night's barrage. The carnage began
instantly. After Jacoby Ellsbury walked to lead off the game, Pedroia crushed a
four-seam fastball over the Green Monster and off the top of the AAA sign. It
bounded on to Lansdowne Street, and it soon would have company. Two batters
later, Kevin Youkilis pounded a 3-and-1 four-seamer high into the night and out
of Fenway.
Alex
Gonzalez, who was hitting .211 when the Sox acquired him from Cincinnati,
extended his hitting streak to 12 games by lashing a homer into the front rows
of Monster Seats. He hit three with the Reds. In his first month with the Sox,
he has three as well.
Pedroia led
off the third with another bomb, a near-replay of his first. They were done
battering Hernandez. Later in the inning, after a walk, the Orioles called on
Chris Lampert. J.D. Drew, the second batter Lampert faced, laced a three-run
shot into the Boston bullpen, his 20th homer this season. David Ortiz finished
the night off with a blast to center, a home run he appropriately posed to
admire for a moment. It gave him 269 as a designated hitter, tying Frank Thomas
for the all-time lead.
The Sox have
averaged 6.4 runs over their past 21 games, and they had warned of their
potential for such an explosive game. They had crunched 60 home runs since July
31, second most in the majors behind the Yankees over that span. In August alone
they smashed 50, the third highest total for one month in club history.
Tonight,
they didn't need home runs. After coming in having dropped three of four in
Chicago, they just needed to win. |
