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Lineups...Get Your Lineups, Here!

Dustin Pedroia 2b
Alex Cora ss
David Ortiz dh
Mike Lowell 3b
J.D. Drew rf
Kevin Youkilis 1b
Brandon Moss lf
Jacoby Ellsbury cf
Kevin Cash c

Jon Lester P

BALTIMORE
Tike Redman cf
Jay Payton lf
Nick Markakis rf
Miguel Tejada ss
Kevin Millar 1b
Aubrey Huff dh
Melvin Mora 3b
Ramon Hernandez c
Freddie Bynum 2b

Daniel Cabrera P

Posted by Sean McAdam  at 2:14 PM | Permalink

The final pitch

Here's the AP Photo of the final pitch of Clay Buchholz' no-hitter:

Posted by Art Martone  at 7:47 AM | Permalink

Just as special for Varitek

BOSTON _ There, in the background, was Jason Varitek.

The Boston Red Sox captain had just caught his third professional no-hitter thanks to rookie pitcher Clay Buchholz, who kept the Baltimore Orioles stymied at Fenway Park last night. And, while all the focus was on the 23-year-old right-hander, his batterymate deserved a lot of the credit, too.

Before last night’s game, Buchholz and Varitek held an in-depth study session on the Baltimore hitters and it proved crucial.

“Jason puts in a lot of care,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. “I know Clay’s name will be in the record books, I hope Jason’s is right under it because he deserves it.”

It’s no secret Varitek is one of the most well prepared catchers in baseball and Buchholz was certainly happy to have him behind the plate.

“He played an incredible role,” said the rookie. “The way he breaks down each hitter, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before – how much pride and passion he takes in everything he does. When he’s back there calling a game you can see him thinking about what pitch we want to throw. You don’t come across guys that often who think the game while they’re playing. He’s a great attribute to what happened tonight and I’m glad to say I got to throw to Jason Varitek.”

Of course, Varitek gave all the credit to Buchholz.

“He just did an excellent job,” he said. “He stayed aggressive. He did a phenomenal job. He was great.”

--Joe McDonald

Posted by Joe McDonald  at 12:15 AM | Permalink | Comments 1

Scenes from a no-hitter: Cell phone pictures

They're not much, but here are some shots I took from the ninth inning of Clay Buchholz' no-hitter. (I was with colleague M. Charles Bakst, who, as you can see, has marvelous seats on the third-base side.)

These are fans cheering on Buchholz with two outs in the ninth:

Here are the Red Sox players mobbing Buchholz near the third-base line after he'd struck out Nick Markakis for the final out:

Some out-of-focus, postgame shots:

Like I say, not much. I just wish they'd captured the excitement at the ballpark.

It was quite a night for Charlie and I. He's been going to Red Sox games for 57 years and had never seen a no-hitter. (He'd gone to a Columbia reunion on the April Saturday in 2002 when Derek Lowe no-hit the Tampa Bay Devil Rays; otherwise, he'd have been in these very seats.) As for me, I was at Yankee Stadium -- with three Yankee fans -- for Dave Righetti's no-hitter against the Red Sox on July 4, 1983. This was the first time I'd seen a Red Sox no-hitter in person.

We'll have pictures from the pros on site very soon.

-- ART MARTONE

Posted by Art Martone  at 12:08 AM | Permalink