Unbelievable Game tonight For Red Sox Rookie

Necro

VIP Room Moderator

BOSTON (AP) -- Clay Buchholz threw a no-hitter in his second major league start, just hours after being called up by the Boston Red Sox.

The lanky Texan baffled Baltimore with an assortment of curves, changeups and fastballs in the Red Sox's 10-0 victory Saturday night. He struck out nine, walked three and hit one batter before the 371st straight sellout crowd at Fenway Park.

"It's amazing. That's all I can say," he said. "I'm in a blur right now."

The crowd stood through the entire ninth inning, cheering every pitch and taking pictures of the young righty in his windup and as he paced around the mound between pitches. A groan rose from the stands when Corey Patterson hit a line drive to center with one out, but Coco Crisp easily moved over to catch it.

Buchholz started Nick Markakis with a ball, then went ahead 1-2 when the batter fouled one off with a check swing. The crowd grew even louder, the flashes were constant, and Buchholz threw a 77 mph curveball that Markakis watched go by.

No one stopped cheering until Buchholz appeared on the centerfield scoreboard for a television interview, and the fans hushed to try to hear him. But when "Clay Buchholz, No-hitter" appeared on the message board, the ballpark erupted anew.

Buchholz, who turned 23 on Aug. 14, pitched the third no-hitter of the season -- following Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox against Texas on April 18 and Justin Verlander of Detroit against Milwaukee on June 12.

Buchholz became the 17th rookie to throw a no-hitter. The last one to do it was Florida's Anibal Sanchez against Arizona last Sept. 6.

The Boston newcomer became the third pitcher since 1900 to throw a no-hitter in his first or second major league start, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Bobo Hollomon did it in his first start on May 6, 1953, for the St. Louis Browns at home against the Philadelphia Athletics, and Wilson Alvarez did it in his second start on Aug. 11, 1991, for the Chicago White Sox at Baltimore.

Buchholtz nailed down his no-hitter a night after Minnesota's Scott Baker came within three outs of a perfect game and two outs of a no-hitter against Kansas City.

Suntan Superman

WC's Resident Samoan

*coughs*

Simon

Founder/Admin

*coughs*

It's his second ever start. Give the boy some props SS. Damn.

It was an amazing game to watch. His shit is nasty.

Suntan Superman

WC's Resident Samoan

No don't get me wrong, the man deserves his due. It just sucks to be an Orioles fan. First a team drops 30 on you, and now you get no-hit by a rookie. How amazing. Lol. But no, Bucholz was phenomenal. Simply phenomenal.

Simon

Founder/Admin

His stuff really is the making of a top line pitcher. You know how you can just tell with some guys? His curveball is like a Jamie Moyer curve when the 12-6 action is just so intense.

I think I saw the O's check swing to 3rd strikes at least 4 times. It was sweet.

Theo may make some stupid decisions with free agents (IE: Drew, Renteria: then letting him go) but all in all he is doing a sweet job considering all that really good young pitching in the minors and the ones that just arrived. Papelbon, Matsusaka, Bucholtz, Beckett, Lester is a pretty good start. Look for them to be joined by Justin Masterson and Michael Bowden soon enough too. This pitching staff is soon going to mirror the A's of the 90's. The only difference is we will have the bankroll to support a lineup for this young pitching.

I am giddy as a Sox fan.

Freak

Yeah, props to Theo Epstein for giving a billion dollars to Dice-K. That took a lot of forward thinking.

Also, maybe you'd disagree, but I'd rather have Hanley Ramirez over Josh Beckett.

Simon

Founder/Admin

I do disagree.

Pitching wins in baseball.

Dr. Giganto

Sports Moderator

Good for the kid

And it's been a tough month or so for the Orioles...Until SS said it, I didnt even put 2 and 2 together and realize that the same team that got 30 runs scored on them got no-hit like 3 weeks later...wow...

Freak

No, I do recognize the pitching prowess of Boston, both present and future.

But I also feel obliged to mention that the Red Sox are the only AL squad with a better team ERA than the Blue Jays, whose strength entering the year was supposed to be hitting. The emergence of Shaun Marcum, Dustin McGowan and Jesse Litsch has been great to watch, as has the bullpen (Jeremy Accardo, Casey Janssen and co.) ever since B.J. Ryan went down.

Blitzkrieg

Administrator

I don't blame the Sox for throwing money around. They have it and they play in the East where the Yanks are always going to go deep into their pockets.

Great game, I caught the final six outs at the pub. He got a standing ovation.