Thursday, May 2, 2013

Buchholz brushes off accusations


Clay Buchholz does not react to ridiculous accusations about cheating the way I would react - it's just one of many differences between us, a list that includes height, gender, age, and music taste, among various other things. I would have thrown an absolute fit if some has-been like Dirk Hayhurst, he of two major league seasons and a career 5.72 ERA, had the audacity to accuse me of cheating.

Not Buchholz. No, he answered all the stupid questions about touching his own hair and arms patiently, with just a touch of snark: "Buchholz laughed it off and said if he had thrown two innings, opposed to the seven scoreless frames of two-hit ball he hurled, that this probably wouldn't be a story."

John Farrell was less casual about it. Though the manager was told about the baseless accusations secondhand, he wasted no time in categorically denying them. As the first pitcher in the majors this season to six wins, Buchholz is clearly doing something right - and it's just as clear that he isn't getting any help from "foreign substances."

Jerry Remy was even more indignant than Farrell, ranting about the absurdity of it all through a full inning: "I faced Gaylord Perry for god's sake. I think I know what a spitball looks like!"

I think it's pretty obvious why the jealous Dirk Hayhurst though Clay was working with a "foreign substance," and it's because Bucholz DOES have access to something that Hayhurst never had - and that unfamiliar asset is called TALENT.

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