Buchholz to Start vs. Jays

At long last the waste of time that is the MLB All-Star break is over and we can all move on to watching real baseball again. Unfortunately for me last night was an off night for the Red Sox so no action until tonight when the Sox play the first of three in Toronto against the Jays. On the mound for the visiting team will be young pitching phenom Clay Buchholz.

Everyone is familiar with the no-hitter Buchholz threw in just his second career start late in 2007 against the Orioles. 2008 was a rocky year for Clay though, and he was optioned back to AA Portland in the Red Sox organization. He's been battling his way back through the minor leagues and has been absolutely dominating at AAA Pawtucket so far this year. If he were on any other club in the majors he would've been called up weeks if not months ago, but the wealth of starting pitching this year has left him without an opening until now.

Some theorize that Clay is getting the start in Toronto to showcase him to the Blue Jays organization and fans, as he is one of the names that has come up in the Roy Halladay trade rumors. The club named Clay the starter days ago, claiming they wanted a definite starter for Friday night, and this prevented the pitching staff to have to adapt to whether or not Tim Wakefield and Josh Beckett ended up pitching in the All-Star game (neither did).

In any event, I'm glad real baseball is back and I'm looking forward to tonight's game!