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May 14, 2008
Clay Buchholz felt the fingernail on the middle finger of his right hand tear when he threw a two-seamer on his second warmup pitch of the second inning in his start Monday night in Minnesota.
Little did he suspect that, while the torn nail had a negative impact on his performance in that game, it would land him on the disabled list. But that's what happened this morning, when the Red Sox placed him on the 15-day DL, as much to help fortify the depleted outfield corps as anything. Boston replaced him on the roster with veteran minor-league outfielder Jonathan Van Every, called up from Pawtucket.
Buchholz said the Sox told him they didn't want him to alter any mechanics to compensate for the torn nail and possibly hurt his elbow or shoulder.
"I feel fine, like I could throw. But they told me they want to be cautious with it," said Buchholz, showing his torn nail to the media, having lost a part of the nail on the outside of the finger.
Once Buchholz felt the tear, he was forced to go more with his breaking balls and changeups, limiting the number of fastballs he could throw and the command of the pitch. Ultimately the Twins sat on his offspeed stuff -- unofficially, only 37 of his 90 pitches were fastballs -- and hammered him to the tune of seven earned runs on eight hits over 4 1/3 innings.
"I felt it when I did it, but I didn't look at it. When I got to the bench I saw it was bleeding, but I didn't tell anyone. I never had any swelling. It was just tender," he said.
Buchholz will not throw today, and tomorrow is a day off for the team. He'll be re-evaluated on Friday, when he'll learn what throwing plans the Sox will have for him.
In the meantime, because of the off day, Josh Beckett will slide into Buchholz' spot in the rotation on Sunday. Boston will need another starter on Tuesday, and that pitcher could be Bartolo Colon if he is able to stretch out his innings and pitch count for his next start with Pawtucket, tomorrow in Buffalo.
-- Steven Krasner
Posted by Steven Krasner 
at 1:06 PM | Permalink
