Attempting to play by the rules on Buchholz
Clay Buchholz might still be able to take the mound a few more times this season.
While the Red Sox don't allow their young pitchers to go much beyond a predetermined innings limit for the season in an effort to prevent injuries, general manager Theo Epstein said yesterday Buchholz is not quite at that limit.
"He's got some pitching left ahead of him" said Epstein, who answered no when asked if Buchholz had reached his allotted innings.
While the team would not reveal what that level is, it was thought Buchholz, who was at 140 1/3 innings after his no-hitter Saturday night against the Orioles, had been approaching the limit.
Manager Terry Francona was noncommittal about when and if Buchholz would make another start.
Francona and Epstein conferred on Buchholz's pitch count in the seventh and eighth innings Saturday night, and Epstein said after that game 120 was the limit.
"There are some guidelines that have been in place about his innings through player development, which makes sense," said Francona. "For us to ignore that now that he gets here and throws a no-hitter wouldn't be smart. Saying that, we're trying to win.
"Theo and I were talking about it [Saturday] night and we finally came to the conclusion, 'You know what, let's go home and talk about this tomorrow,' because everybody was on Cloud 9 [Saturday] night, and that's not a good way to make judgments.
"But we do need to be practical about his usage because it's still development and we'll see. I really don't know the answer to that right now."
Could the Sox use him out of the bullpen, especially considering Eric Gagné will miss a couple of days with a sore right shoulder? Also, Hideki Okajima is feeling better after a hip injury he'd been trying to pitch through, and it seems obvious the Sox would want to use him carefully.
In throwing 115 pitches Saturday night, Buchholz did go far beyond his "normal" pitch count for a start, usually well under 100. The Sox certainly would be subject to intense scrutiny if Buchholz were injured after going over the innings threshold. But, as Francona said, they are trying to win.
"It's not just etched in stone - OK, this guy is a good young pitcher, goes from Double A, to Triple A, to the major leagues, that you throw a guy in the bullpen in September and it translates into a bunch of zeroes," he said. "I'm not sure that it's practical.
"He's the type of kid that it looks to me as he works into a game can get stronger. Having a guy come in [in relief] who's never done it and throwing him in there in the eighth with a couple of men on base, I don't know how that works. I'm sure it's something we'll talk about, I just don't know the answer yet."
Francona wouldn't elaborate on the "Clay Rules."
"There are guidelines every year for young pitchers and they make sense," he said. "If you jump somebody up too much you are asking for trouble, and we don't want to do that. When you get to the major league level you are definitely adding stress to what they're doing, because they're doing it at a higher rate of adrenaline."
Rolling the dice?
Daisuke Matsuzaka, tonight's starter, is at 176 1/3 innings. He has made 27 starts, which normally would put him at about the end of his Japanese season. While he twice has thrown more than 200 innings in Japan before, Francona said major league innings in a pennant race are more intense.
Some who have watched Matsuzaka in Japan think the righthander might be hitting a wall, but while Francona indicated Matsuzaka could get a little bit extra rest with Buchholz's presence, he said, "To me, he looks like there's plenty left. He looks like a guy we can lean on later in the year."
Twelve of the $103 million pitcher's starts have come on four days' rest, when he's 5-6 with a 4.56 ERA. Thirteen have come on five days' rest (7-4, 3.52 ERA), and two on six or more days of rest (1-1, 2.08 ERA, 18 strikeouts in 13 innings).
The Sox are already concerned about 16-game winner Tim Wakefield, who was scratched Friday night because of a sore back. Wakefield will attempt to throw a side session today, and that will determine whether he can make his next start, which could come Thursday in Baltimore.
Tender moments
Gagné insisted he was 100 percent from the moment he arrived in Boston, but the wear and tear on a pitcher who missed most of two seasons with assorted injuries might be taking its toll.
Francona said Gagné's shoulder has been a little tender and thought he would stay away from the setup man "for the next couple of days." Yet he didn't give the indication it was anything serious.
One reason the tenderness might have occurred is because of the extra work Gagné did to try to work himself out of a funk. Gagné, 3-1 with 16 saves, hasn't pitched since Aug. 26 at Chicago.
Damage control
Okajima did a nice job in the eighth after spotting Nick Markakis a leadoff double. While Markakis advanced to third on a Miguel Tejada ground ball, neither Kevin Millar nor Aubrey Huff, two veterans, could get the tying run home, both striking out swinging. Of his hip, Okajima said through a translator after the game, "The last three days I've taken a lot of treatment and it feels much better." . . . The Sox are 19-21 in one-run games and 28-16 in series finales . . . Mike Lowell extended his hitting streak to 15 games. He's hit .482 in that time, knocked in 16 runs, and improved his average from .310 to .329 . . . Dustin Pedroia's double in the fifth was his 32d, surpassing Frank Malzone (31 in 1957) for third most by a Red Sox rookie . . . J.D. Drew only wound up missing one game after fouling a ball off his right foot Friday night and suffering a contusion. Drew went 0 for 3 and his average dropped to .254. But he did throw out Tejada at the plate in the fourth inning . . . Kevin Youkilis struck out four times and has fanned 11 times in his last 21 at-bats.
