Pitches have been unsafe at any speed

Buchholz is trying to find correct mix

CLAY BUCHHOLZFastball the key

CHICAGO - Sean Casey could see the frustration. He could see the way Clay Buchholz stood sometimes, a hand up on his locker and his failures on his face. He could see in Buchholz a little of what Casey had gone through earlier in his career. So he talked to the rookie. Told him that, back in 2000, when he was "awful" for the first three months, he went through a lot of soul-searching. That he learned more then than in any other year in the major leagues.

So perhaps there's a positive in all this, he said. Perhaps there's a lesson. But whether or not that's true, there is no question there is little fun in being Buchholz at this moment.

"Oh, it's hard right now," the pitcher said. "I mean, growing up and playing baseball my whole life, never had any kind of failure or adversity to go through. This year it's been a whole ball of adversity. Trying to find different ways, trying to find a routine that works for me, that I can stick with."

It looked so easy to start. There he was, in the second start of his major league career, dazzling the Orioles with a no-hitter last September. Now it almost seems as if batters get nothing but hits.

Over his last seven starts, Buchholz is winless, with an 0-5 record and an 8.07 ERA (32 earned runs in 35 2/3 innings). While the Sox have no long-term concerns about Buchholz's talent, the pitcher hasn't found the consistency that a Triple A vacation in June and July was designed to give him. Though the lowest run support on the team - 4.4 per game - hasn't helped, and a spate of unlucky breaks also has contributed, it still comes down to the fact that major league hitters have figured Buchholz out.

And today's Sox starter needs to change that.

"They know if I get in trouble I'll go to off-speed stuff and they still don't swing at it," Buchholz said. "They get in fastball counts and I have to throw a fastball regardless of where it's at. Somebody's sitting fastball, if it's not painted on the knees black, outside corner, it's sort of hard for them not to hit.

"So I've got to work on getting . . . probably getting ahead in the count a bit more often where they don't have a choice to swing at off-speed stuff."

His last start, against the Royals Monday, is instructive. Off Buchholz's fastball, the Royals were 6 for 16 (.375). They forced him to throw a relatively straight four-seamer instead of taking hacks at his exemplary off-speed repertoire. When he's in trouble, Buchholz's off-speed pitches become his security blanket. And, when opposing batters know they're coming, they can lay off.

For pitching coach John Farrell, it's as simple as "throw strikes." Well, maybe not that simple, but close.

"When things weren't quite going his way, his reliance on his secondary pitches became great, and that's where the word around the league became very clear how hitters were going to approach him," Farrell said. "He was well aware that the need for more fastball, not only usage, but better consistent location, is there. I know he's working toward that. So we're seeing that at times.

"His secondary stuff is still well above average. We're still seeing the same consistent action to his curveball. But any time you get a pitcher that is more confident, his stuff seemingly is more sharp and crisp because they're pitching more free of mind. And that's what we're working toward with Clay."

When Buchholz threw a first-pitch fastball, which he did to 18 of 28 batters last Monday, he got a strike 11 times. He got six more first-pitch strikes with curveballs, allowing him to start ahead of the batter 17 times. He gave up four runs on seven hits in his six innings, and impressed his teammates and coaches when he was able to come back from a shaky third inning (three runs) to shut down the Royals over his final three innings.

That was a bit of maturity, which helped. Now all Buchholz needs to do is put all those words and those actions and that advice together and make it work. All that, and not let all the tough outings and the bad moments and the failure get to him, a feat that would be "almost inhuman," Farrell said.

"I've always been able to throw all my pitches for strikes," Buchholz said. "Then sometimes, when I get behind in the count, I feel like, 'Oh, God. Well, now I have to throw this for a strike.' And when I don't, that's when things start turning south. It's just something that I've got to work on a little bit harder, I guess. I don't know how much harder I can work on it because I've been working harder than I ever have in my life.

"There's something to it, and I feel like I'm really close to being really good right now. Just got to keep going after it. It'll happen sooner or later. I think I'm good enough to go out there and compete and be good at this level.

"It's just - it's got to happen."