Claymation...Orioles 7 Red Sox 3

The first inning of Friday's Boston Red Sox 7-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles was an excercise in frustration, especially the first seemingly neverending inning. Clay Buchholz was making his first start since his two month tuneup in Pawtucket, and his nervousness really showed. Here's what he had to say after the game...

“I haven’t been that nervous in a long time,” Buchholz said. “Maybe I was trying a little bit too hard … being out there for the first time in a while, trying to prove a point, trying to let everybody know this is where I want to be and this is where I want to be for a long time. I think it was just so new to me last year, I didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “Now I know what this team does: This team is here to win and produce championships. And to be a part of that, sometimes nerves might get the better of you.”

Peter here. In all, Clay threw 107 pitches in only five innings, and 65 of them were strikes. That's not good enough, but he is a work in progress who, I think, will settle down eventually. At times, after the first inning, he showed flashes of brilliance, especially when he striked out five of six batters in the third and fourth innings. His curveball was bitingly effective and his fastball, when on target, was killer. When used together WITH normal location control, he will put together a great start, probably a few of them, maybe many. The more the merrier, as they say!

The Red Sox offense collected only eight hits, and Julio Lugo will be lost to the team for more than a couple days with a severely strained quadriceps. What's that I hear? Are some of you applauding? I know Alex Cora will be just fine taking his place but you never want to see someone pull up lame while running the bases. Coco Crisp is also out, as usual (sorry Coco, you are SO injury prone), with, to quote Yahoo sports, "an unknown forearm injury." It's always something with him. So Brandon Moss will see more time in the outfield. June AL player of the month JD Drew is also sidelined, but might see action on Saturday. Hey, that's today! It's early, but I should have realized it.

The Red Sox have had trouble with the Baltimore Orioles so far this year, much unlike 2007. We'll see what happens today when another Oriole pitcher with a bloated ERA, Radhames Liz, faces the relatively hot Timmy Wakefield. The team could use a victory. On the bright side, the Yankees AND the (Devil) Rays lost by identical scores of 5-0. So there was nothing lost but everything to gain Friday night. Ya can't win 'em all, my Dad used to say, but HE managed to do it. So GO SOX. 7pm EDT Fenway baseball coming up to a TV or radio near you, unless you happen to be lucky enough to be at Fenway. You can click on the title of this post for more on last night's dissapointing defeat, a loss that the bullpen didn't help in any way whatsoever. When you do click, you will be linked to the Boston Herald's Boston Red Sox homepage. If you want to see the complete boxscore, merely look on the upper right of your screen where last night's scoreboard is displayed. Then, just click on box score. It says so much. Have a great weekend, and as always and forever, BE WELL.