The point when the Sox owned an abundance of starting pitchers is long past. Tim Wakefield’s nerve injury continues to mystify, Daisuke Matsuzaka hasn’t pitched for Boston since June, and John Smoltz and Brad Penny are building a case for American League superiority. Into the void stepped Buchholz, who in the past month has asserted himself as the clear No. 3 starter behind Jon Lester and Josh Beckett.
“That’s what I worked hard for,’’ Buchholz said. “Eventually, sometime down the road, when it’s my time, I want to be a No. 1 on this team. That’s going to be tough, to fill the shoes that are already in that position right now. I want to be that guy, the No. 3, whenever September is over and into October. That’s the job I want to have.’’
Manager Terry Francona believes consistency, more than anything, denotes a young pitcher’s transition from promising to established. Lots of young starters can muster one great start; few can string them together.
Against the Orioles Tuesday night, Buchholz pitched seven scoreless innings and won his third consecutive start for the first time in his career. The Sox have won the last five times Buchholz has taken the mound, and over his last seven starts, his ERA is 3.00.
“There’s a lot to like,’’ Francona said. “We’ve said that from the very beginning. I think anybody can see that.
“He kind of ran into a pretty tough year last year. Everything that could go wrong just about did, and at a point it almost overwhelmed him, so we sent him down and told him to work his way back up. And he did that. And now I think we’re seeing the dividends of that.’’
At this time last year, while the Sox were vying for the postseason, Buchholz was finishing out the year in the Eastern League playoffs with Double A Portland. The Sox demoted him once his year struck its nadir, his 2-9 record and 6.75 ERA a bleak bottom line. His unraveling owed to his mind-set.
“I was afraid to fail a lot last year,’’ Buchholz said.
