As Buchholz dominated the Blue Jays for 7 shutout innings, Toronto broadcasters Jack Morris and Dirk Hayhurst made a surprising accusation: that Buchholz was throwing spitballs, that the movement on Buchholz’s pitches were being artificially enhanced by a foreign substance. They said that after seeing pitches like this. You can watch that GIF a hundred times, but it seems everything like that is just a nasty sinker at 96 MPH on the outside corner and not anything crazy. Morris claimed that there’s no chance that a pitch thrown as hard could have as dynamic movement as that pitch had, but it was just that on that particular pitch, Buchholz had great movement on it. It’s not like he was throwing pitches like that the entire game. If not something like a foreign substance, why is Buchholz pitching so well? Health, excellent fastball command, mechanics, even luck–why does it have to be something out of the ordinary? Why is it that because Buchholz is pitching well for six starts do we have to accuse him of breaking the rules?

We used to think that when a player took a big step forward, he had simply worked harder and made a breakthrough. The little middle infielders suddenly hitting 30 home runs were simply bulking up and changing their approaches at the plate. But then that delusion came crashing down. We heard all about steroids and the multitudes of players taking them and suddenly we had to be cynical whenever a player started hitting home runs like ever before. We thought we had been seeing all-time greats; instead, we were seeing stars, excellent players but not the best the game had ever seen, taking something extra to push themselves into the next tier. We scrutinized ourselves and each other for believing that players truly could hit 65 or 70 home runs. And we vowed to never let the game we love fool us like that and ruin our hopes and dreams again. That mindset will not leave us for a very long time.

Morris and Hayhurst accusing Buchholz of throwing spitballs encapsulates just how little of our blind faith remains. We see something amazing and we don’t deny how incredible it is, but in our minds we can’t make sense of it and refuse to believe that it can just be great without some catch. Our innocence as baseball fans is gone and all we can do is try to keep a level head on our shoulders as we take in the next player to burst onto the scene. Cynicism is natural, but can we contain it before it engulfs every baseball game we watch and refuses to let us appreciate the game of baseball the same way again?

The Rays finally had a chance in the 6th as 2 walks gave them some baserunners, but Buchholz escaped the jam before working a perfect 7th. Only in the 8th did the nightmare finally end as Kelly Johnson managed a broken bat single. The Rays would only get 3-hit in the game as Desmond Jennings managed a double (but only after a double play), and Evan Longoria laced a long single against Andrew Miller the following inning, but when only getting 3-hit is your highlight, that’s a serious issue. Buchholz went 8 innings allowing no runs on 2 hits, striking out 11 while walking 4. He wasn’t perfect versus the Rays, but he was dominant and made the Rays look feeble at the plate, something that has been far too often an occurrence thus far this season.

On the opposite side was Alex Cobb, who had one tough inning but otherwise pitched very well. In the 3rd, Cobb allowed three straight singles before a Mike Napoli double to The Triangle in right-center brought home 2 runs. Two more runs would cross the plate as what should have been an inning-ending double play off the bat of Stephen Drew turned into a huge error by Yunel Escobar to give Boston a 4-0 lead. But other than that, Cobb looked really good. Cobb went 6.2 innings allowing 4 runs, 3 earned, on 7 hits, striking out 6 while walking 2. Take out the 4th and he allowed no runs on 3 hits.

After we dissected Cobb’s curveball earlier today and concluded that there wasn’t too much reason to be excited, he really showed flashes with it this time around, showing tight 11-to-5 break to force a few strikeouts, but his fastball wasn’t great as his groundout-to-flyout ratio was an uncharacteristically bad 7-5 and his split-change didn’t have much bite at all as he got just one swing-and-miss in the 18 times he threw it. Cobb wasn’t that bad, and if his curveball really is a pitch that can be effective for him consistently, good things are ahead. But the bad 4th cost him, and of course a non-existent offense and flawed defense didn’t do him any favors.

The Rays’ offseason acquisitions of Kelly Johnson and Yunel Escobar has been much maligned after both have gotten off to poor starts to the season. But Johnson may have finally gotten that lucky hit that gets him going after breaking up the no-hitter, and even Escobar, who has taken offensive struggles to the field as well, may have finally turned corner. Escobar was the final out of the game, but he battled hard versus Andrew Miller, not making anything easy for Miller as his at-bat stretched to 8 pitches and laying off 2 fastballs and fouling off two more tough pitches after getting down in the count 1-2. The Rays are still waiting for their offense to come alive, and Johnson and Escobar have the ability to be right in the thick of that. This game brought the Rays’ offensive struggles of the young season to a breaking point, but maybe even within a game mired by frustration there may be reason for optimism.

Robbie Knopf: The Red Sox have rebounded from 9 losses in 10 games to win 5 in a row against the Indians and Mariners. Are the Red Sox finally started to hit their stride?

Derek Skytalo: The Sox are playing better baseball and are doing so by having solid pitching in sync with their offense.  Some say the Indians were playing over their head and that losing three in a row to Boston was a reality check for them.  I disagree.  I think Cleveland has the foundation to be a good team and for Boston to take three of four is a testament to perhaps having this club turn the corner. It looks like they are hitting their stride but the real test comes over the next two weeks with two series against Tampa and throw in Baltimore, the Phillies and Tigers, we’ll see if this Red Sox club is for real if they can compete and win some of the upcoming series.

Being the optimist that I am I think they will win some of these series as the starting pitching has improved dramatically, the bullpen is lights out (which is hard to believe given the start of the season) and the offense is getting production from different players on any given night.

RK: Will Middlebrooks has been outstanding since coming up and has already slammed 4 home runs in 11 games (double as many as Adrian Gonzalez in less than a third of the games). Just how good as Middlebrooks been and how exciting are you about his potential? Will he be be in the big leagues to stay?

DS: This kid is the future third baseman for the Red Sox for a reason and we are seeing why during his presence with the big club.  He’s showing tremendous power as evidenced by collecting an extra base hit in his first five games in the majors and as you mentioned the 4 home runs, the first of which was a grand slam.  His defense needs a little spit and polish but he certainly has better range than Youkilis at the hot corner.

As if Sox fans didn’t have enough to debate over, the big question now is what to do with Middlebrooks when Youkilis returns, which is going to be sooner than later given he’s starting in triple-A tonight.  Youkilis won’t be back next year with a team option for $13 million so it will remain to be seen if the club trades him soon or at the July deadline.  It’s hard to fathom having to send Middlebrooks to Pawtucket based on how well he’s played and there might be a riot on Yawkey Way if that did happen. The fans have taken to this kid that much.  The problem lies on getting a team to take Youkilis without proving he’s healthy.  The only way that can happen is to bring him back from the DL and have him play on a regular basis.  The next problem then is what do they do with Middlebrooks?  The outfield is not an option and neither is any other infield position as he’s only ever played third base.  I’m glad I’m not having to make this decision.

RK: The Red Sox’ rotation has not exactly impressed, posting a 5.24 ERA (even when excluded Aaron Cook‘s disaster of a start). The two guys Red Sox fans have to be worried about are Clay Buchholz, who had an 8.23 ERA with more walks than strikeouts and a ton of homers allowed as well (7.43 FIP), and Josh Beckett, who had a 5.97 ERA and a similar 6.03 FIP entering Tuesday thanks to a ton of homers allowed as well. And then there was the incident where he was scratched from a start and played golf the next day. Their xFIPs have been quite a bit better (4.90 and 4.33 respectively), but still not what we expected from pitchers of their caliber. How concerned about you about them and about the Red Sox rotation in general?

DS: It’s hard to believe that the Sox rotation is in this type of mess.  But there is promise on the horizon given the last outings by Jon Lester, Felix Doubront, Daniel Bard and Buchholz.  Even though it was the first good outing from Buchholz, he did show flashes of his old repertoire, one that can get him out of trouble. His ERA is subject to debate as he’s been victim to Bobby Valentine’s slow hook with his pitchers, allowing Buchholz to face one, sometimes two too many batters.  The result is a John Lackey ERA.  With that argument aside, his mechanics have not been good.  I don’t know if his back is still bothering him or he’s afraid to re-injure it, but he hasn’t been getting his fastball down and balls are flying out of parks at an alarming rate.  Buchholz did buy himself more time with his last start, but with Aaron Cook and Dice-K closing in on returning, another falter from Buchholz could see him spending some time in triple-A to work out the kinks.

As I touched on briefly, the other three starters appear to be rounding into form.  Felix Doubront only gave up 3 hits over 6 innings his last time out, Bard was better, but still needs to work on his control and Lester is coming off a complete game; promising to say the least.  At least until you get to Mr. Ego – Josh Beckett.

I left him for last.  I’m not sure if you have a limit when it comes to how long you want the answers to be so I’ll try not to write a short story.  Given the antics from Beckett, one could go on for pages. In short, he’s a walking circus.  He doesn’t give a hoot about what you or anyone else thinks and he’ll tell you that.  The problem is, is that his last start was a complete joke when he couldn’t get out of the third inning.  Personally I don’t care that he went golfing, I’m just so sick of all the off-field BS that surrounds this team, I just want to focus on baseball.  It is worth noting that his four previous starts to his last one he threw four quality starts.  So while his numbers are higher than normal there is a silver lining to this cloud.  His ERA is high and he hasn’t missed many bats lately, but this team needs him to pitch well if they have any chance to contend, which I think they can.  If he can have a good start against Seattle it will quiet the mob for a while. If he goes out and throws meatballs for three innings, he better enlist in the witness protection program or he’ll be on the first duck boat out of Boston. (Update: Beckett tossed 7 shutout innings against the Mariners on Tuesday, striking out 9 while walking 2.) Fans want him traded, even sent to the minors but in reality a trade is going to be more difficult than what some want to believe.  If the Sox struggle and are seemingly out of the running come late July, maybe a market develops for a guy who has a 1.16 ERA and a 0.846 WHIP in three World Series games.

Overall, the success of the Red Sox this season rests on the two guys you mentioned; Buchholz and Beckett.  If both struggle replacing them with Aaron Cook and Daisuke Matsuzaka will not stop the bleeding, so both need to figure out what’s going on and straighten it out.  Personally, I think they will, I just hope it’s sooner than later.

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We’d like to thank Derek for answering our questions, and I also answered a few of Derek’s questions about the Rays for Bosox Injection, which you can find here. This should be a fun Rays-Red Sox series, and after the Red Sox took 3 of 4 versus the Rays last time around at Fenway Park, hopefully the Rays can continue their outstanding home performance by taking 2 of 2 versus the Red Sox over the next couple of days.