Mind over batter

"I don't think there's any words for it," said the 24-year-old Buchholz. "Never had to really go through any adversity throughout my whole career, my whole life, actually, in baseball. It was different last year, just the first game I really struggled, it sort of snowballed on me. I thought about that one game the next game, and then the next game, the next game."

He couldn't bring himself out of it, though he followed his horrific major league stint with some good outings in the minors. And then, after a season that had stretched on and on from February, just when Buchholz wanted to go home and put down his glove, the Red Sox asked him to go to the Arizona Fall League to work on his mechanics.

But perhaps even more important were the meetings with Bob Tewksbury, sports psychology coach for the Red Sox.

"The mental aspect of pitching is huge for any pitcher, especially for a young pitcher trying to learn his footing in the big leagues, especially when you face the first adversity that, in his case, he's ever faced on the mound," general manager Theo Epstein said. "When we break down players, we categorize every issue as physical, fundamental, or mental, and they're equally important. In his case, he probably had more work to do on the mental side than either fundamentally or physically. It took him a while to come to grips with that, but he was really open-minded, has started that process."

Buchholz worked with Tewksbury on removing negative thoughts during a game, stepping off the mound to take a breath. Instead of thinking about what he's done, he simply needs to make a pitch. Just the next pitch. That's all.

But it wasn't all about his mental approach. There were some physical problems as well. So when Buchholz went to Arizona, he worked with Portland pitching coach Mike Cather to correct a few issues that, with the commitment to following the plans laid out for him by Tewksbury, could help him get back to his glory year of 2007, the year he no-hit the Orioles Sept. 1.