Buchholz Adjusts...UCONN Women In The Elite 8

After a dismal first two innings in which Clay Buchholz had to throw 51 pitches, he made on-the-mound adjustments, most notably mixing in his slider, and retired the next eight batters with only 34 pitches. He looked like the Clay we want to see during the regular season. He had stressed that those adjustments were something he would concentrate on this year. Well, he did it! After his outing, he said this...

"During the first two innings I was thinking about negative things before they even happened,” Buchholz said. “If you’re thinking negatively, it’s tough to execute pitches. It was definitely a step in the right direction as far as getting ready for the regular season and getting my confidence up.”

Clay allowed four runs on five hits during those two initial frames and zilch after that. Here's the Boston Red Sox skipper, Terry Francona...

“Sometimes, he tries to be too fine,” manager Terry Francona said. “But when he gets ahead in the count and he’s not thinking about 50 other things, he simplifies it because his stuff is so good.”

His final Grapefruit League start will be this coming Friday against the Washington Nationals. I didn't see the game because I was watching the UCONN women Huskies fold, sprindle, mutilate and DEMOLISH Iowa State by a lopsided score 74-36. They're in the Elite Eight and next will play Florida State. A win will advance them to the Final Four, not a bad place to be. Anything but a national championship, however, will be a disappointment. That's just the way it is. Two teams loom large. They are Baylor with their 6'8" center and Stanford, with a great cast of players. Three down, three to go starting tomorrow night. GO HUSKIES!!

Have a great Monday. It's wet here and will continue to be that way for the next couple of days. Where's the ark, Noah? My driveway would be SO nice, thank you. To my Constant Readers, thanks for stopping in once again and click on this post's title for more Red Sox stuff. As always, BE WELL. See ya.