For much of the time he is healthy, which unfortunately hasn’t been very much of the time lately, Clay Buchholz is in the discussion as the ace of the Red Sox’ pitching staff.
This is not the time for such a discussion.
This is October, a time of chilly winds and harsh realities. It is not the time for sentimentality, or the time for “we hope so” either.
It’s time only for reviewing resumes that include the hard truth of the moment. That being the case, it is time to insert Felix Doubront as the Game 4 starter in St. Louis, if Buchholz’ aching shoulder and/or neck are refusing to work Sunday night.
The whispers around Fenway Park yesterday were that Buchholz had lost four mph off his fastball in his last outing, a decline obvious not only to the radar gun but the naked eye. Is he hurt? Is he simply fatigued after coming back too soon from a three-month layoff? It doesn’t matter why he’s hit the wall like a weekend jogger hitting Heartbreak Hill on Patriots Day. It only matters if he has.
At this stage of things it doesn’t matter what the problem is. What matters is only whether there is one. If there is, the wise play is to start Doubront for multitudinous reasons.
First, he’s a left-hander and if you watched the Cardinals’ flail away at Jon Lester’s deliveries in Game 1 (he threw shutout ball through 72⁄3 innings) you can see left arms are their Achilles’ heel.
Second, although he can be frustratingly streaky, when Doubront has his best stuff he can also be unhittable. Since the playoffs began the clearly laboring Buchholz has been anything but (more than a hit per inning; an ERA of nearly 5.00). So why not give the ball to someone who has a better opportunity to befuddle St. Louis’ lineup?
Third, back in the bad old days one of the knocks on Buchholz was that he spent too much time throwing to first base, his mind wandering from the business at hand. So what happened in Game 6 of the ALCS against the Detroit Tigers? He seemed to throw as many balls to first baseman Mike Napoli as he did to catcher Jared Saltalamacchia. What that suggested was that as his shoulder problems grew his mind slipped back to a hesitant and problematic approach from the past.
Lastly, the belief is at best Buchholz has only one start left in him. If so, save it for a Game 6 or 7 when it would be an all arms on deck situation any way. If he was only strong for three or four innings you can live with that because everyone would be used any way.
Gamesmanship is all well and good so there’s no reason to let the Cardinals know for sure if Buchholz will pitch Game 4 or not. But this isn’t Little League. Everyone doesn’t have to play, especially if, as it appears, Clay Buchholz’ shoulder is already done for the season.
