Grimm's Fairy Tales

Game 16 - Red Sox

Yankees 15, Red Sox 9
Record: 9-7

Gather around children, and witness the sound of one blogger blogging. Though not for long, for as Thumper's Daddy once said, if you don't have anything nice to say, you really shouldn't say anything at all.

Today's first nursery rhyme features a little girl (boy, actually) with a curl (curveball, really), who when she (he) was good was very, very good (threw a no-hitter against the Orioles last year) and when she (he) was bad, was awful. Okay, that's not entirely fair. Clay Buchholz made his Yankee Stadium debut last night and the results, while decidedly mixed, were as much bad luck as they were bad pitching. Though there was enough of both to go around. Buchholz' line (3 2/3 IP, 8H, 7ER) was the product of a few meatballs (to Bobby Abreu in the 1st and Derek Jeter in the 4th, notably), a handful of bad pitcher's counts borne of frustration, and more than a few fluky bloop hits (see Giambi, Jason and Moeller, Chad in key spots). Oh, and a ridiculously good batter hitting a good pitch (Alex Rodriguez' 1st-inning moonshot).

Odd as it may sound given his line, this humble blogger saw quite a bit to like about Buchholz last night. He's got killer stuff, including a curveball that made Joe Morgan swoon and he's got a little bit of the arrogance that an elite starter needs. Sometimes you get got, that's all.

Unfortunately for the Sox, while the Big Bad Wolf of their offense huffed and puffed with some aplomb (beating the ever-lovin' Wang out of the Yankees' starter), only 1 of the 3 Little Pigs in the bullpen built his home out of solid stuff. David Aardsma's brick house stayed standing, but Julian Tavarez' and Mike Timlin's cottages of loose-packed shit crumbled to the tune of 8 runs over 2 1/3 innings.

And the Yankees lived happily ever after. At least until they had to face Josh Beckett, who's more than a little pissed about having to wear a Goldilocks costume.