Buchholz no-hits Orioles
I rarely update this blog anymore, but tonight's monumental feat by rookie Clay Buchholz deserves a post.
Today was a fantastic sports day, period. My beloved Florida Gators opened their season with a lightning-shortened romp over Western Kentucky. My personal story with Buchholz starts with this game, because I was out drinking Friday night, got about three hours of sleep, and woke up to begin tailgating around 8 a.m. Needless to say, after three hours in the hot Florida sun watching what can hardly be called a game, I was dead tired. I took a nap when I got home, and ended up sleeping through Buchholz's first two innings of work. I woke up around 7:45, walked out to the living room and jokingly asked my dad if Clay still had his no-hitter going. He threw a pillow at me and told me not to jinx it.
Seven innings later and Clay had completed the first Red Sox no-hitter since Derek Lowe in 2002, and the first one I have personally watched. For Nomo's and Lowe's, I remember being relegated to internet audio. That was back before we invested in mlb.tv. I remember how crushed I was when John Flaherty broke up Pedro's no-hitter at Tampa Bay (the infamous Gerald Williams brawl game). And of course, I was listening to Schilling's bid for a perfect game this summer on the radio while at work. So this no-hitter was really special for me in that it's the first Red Sox no-no I've seen live.
Really, the kid is unbelievable. It took 115 pitches, and Theo Epstein admitted after the game that if he'd gotten to 120, he would have been removed. His next-longest outing this year was 94 pitches in the minors. He really had the curve and change working, keeping Orioles hitters off-balance and outright baffling them at times. Varitek's pitch calling has been criticized this year, but Tek deserves a lot of credit for Buchholz's peformance. I don't think Clay shook him off one time; the rookie had to rely on Varitek's veteran expertise.
It's been said a lot, but Pedroia's diving stop to rob Miguel Tejada was absolutely the play of the game. As Miggui was hitting, I turned to my dad and said, "You just know that little whining bitch is going to break this up." He tried, but Little Dustin's dive and rocket across the infield sealed the no-hitter in my mind. After he made that play, I knew Clay was going to finish the job. I particularly enjoyed his "FUCK YEAH" scream after he made the play. You could tell how fired up all of the players, both on the field and in the dugout, were to take part in this game.
It's also worth noting that the Red Sox were really reeling coming into tonight's game. They were swept by New York in the Bronx in a series that, had the Red Sox even showed up for, could have effectively eliminated the Yankees in the divisional race. The Sox were throwing their three best starters, and all three took losses ... mostly due to the offense's complete inability to generate runs. They scored six runs in three games after scoring FORTY-SIX in a weekend series at Chicago. Then the O's came in losers of nine straight games and Boston went and dropped Friday's night's contest with them. Wakefield had to be scratched from his start, pushing Tavarez up to pitching Friday. That was what opened the door to Buchholz's start tonight, so I guess we can thank Wakefield for the no-hitter.
It was a pretty special night to be a Sox fan tonight. The only thing that slightly soured the night was having to cheer up a certain Michigan fan who is now on suicide watch for the next few days. We're five games up of New York with 26 games remaining. The divisional title is well in sight.
Once again, congrats to Clay. What a fantastic pitching performance. This kid's future is so incredibly bright, and I'm just ecstatic he's in our organization.
Today was a fantastic sports day, period. My beloved Florida Gators opened their season with a lightning-shortened romp over Western Kentucky. My personal story with Buchholz starts with this game, because I was out drinking Friday night, got about three hours of sleep, and woke up to begin tailgating around 8 a.m. Needless to say, after three hours in the hot Florida sun watching what can hardly be called a game, I was dead tired. I took a nap when I got home, and ended up sleeping through Buchholz's first two innings of work. I woke up around 7:45, walked out to the living room and jokingly asked my dad if Clay still had his no-hitter going. He threw a pillow at me and told me not to jinx it.
Seven innings later and Clay had completed the first Red Sox no-hitter since Derek Lowe in 2002, and the first one I have personally watched. For Nomo's and Lowe's, I remember being relegated to internet audio. That was back before we invested in mlb.tv. I remember how crushed I was when John Flaherty broke up Pedro's no-hitter at Tampa Bay (the infamous Gerald Williams brawl game). And of course, I was listening to Schilling's bid for a perfect game this summer on the radio while at work. So this no-hitter was really special for me in that it's the first Red Sox no-no I've seen live.
Really, the kid is unbelievable. It took 115 pitches, and Theo Epstein admitted after the game that if he'd gotten to 120, he would have been removed. His next-longest outing this year was 94 pitches in the minors. He really had the curve and change working, keeping Orioles hitters off-balance and outright baffling them at times. Varitek's pitch calling has been criticized this year, but Tek deserves a lot of credit for Buchholz's peformance. I don't think Clay shook him off one time; the rookie had to rely on Varitek's veteran expertise.
It's been said a lot, but Pedroia's diving stop to rob Miguel Tejada was absolutely the play of the game. As Miggui was hitting, I turned to my dad and said, "You just know that little whining bitch is going to break this up." He tried, but Little Dustin's dive and rocket across the infield sealed the no-hitter in my mind. After he made that play, I knew Clay was going to finish the job. I particularly enjoyed his "FUCK YEAH" scream after he made the play. You could tell how fired up all of the players, both on the field and in the dugout, were to take part in this game.
It's also worth noting that the Red Sox were really reeling coming into tonight's game. They were swept by New York in the Bronx in a series that, had the Red Sox even showed up for, could have effectively eliminated the Yankees in the divisional race. The Sox were throwing their three best starters, and all three took losses ... mostly due to the offense's complete inability to generate runs. They scored six runs in three games after scoring FORTY-SIX in a weekend series at Chicago. Then the O's came in losers of nine straight games and Boston went and dropped Friday's night's contest with them. Wakefield had to be scratched from his start, pushing Tavarez up to pitching Friday. That was what opened the door to Buchholz's start tonight, so I guess we can thank Wakefield for the no-hitter.
It was a pretty special night to be a Sox fan tonight. The only thing that slightly soured the night was having to cheer up a certain Michigan fan who is now on suicide watch for the next few days. We're five games up of New York with 26 games remaining. The divisional title is well in sight.
Once again, congrats to Clay. What a fantastic pitching performance. This kid's future is so incredibly bright, and I'm just ecstatic he's in our organization.
posted by Jennifer at 12:12 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home