Some people are claiming that the Sox brought their road record up to an even .500 this weekend while playing in Camden Yards. I maintain they’re still stuck at 29-36, since Camden is really just an extension of Fenway. The Sox finished the season series with the Orioles at a paltry 16 wins and two losses. If the Sox could play the Orioles every game they would finish with a record of 144-18. In the 2009 season series each of the following pitchers managed to start and not lose a game against the Orioles: Penny (twice), Beckett (three times), Lester (four), Masterson, Buchholz (three), Byrd, and Dice-K. And just in case you needed another reason why the Sox had to get rid of Smoltz, he started both loses against the O’s. If you can’t beat the O’s, clearly this isn’t the place for you.

All three pitchers the Sox threw at the O’s this weekend earned their wins, but only one was impressive. Lester was medicore for him (6 IP, 3 ER), Dice-K continued to show that he’s worthy of a spot in the rotation (5.1IP, 3ER), but Buchholz is the one that needs to finally be talked about. Since the start was against the O’s, you could try to discount it. After all, it was just over two years ago that Buchh didn’t give up any hits to the orangemen. But now he’s really starting to look like a pitcher, not just a thrower. The biggest sign of maturity is that he threw 56% of his pitches for strikes and only gave up a single run in 6 IP. (For Dice-K, you’d call that “pounding the zone.”) And this wasn’t just an isolated incident. Buchh has gone 4-0 in his last 5 starts with a 1.57 ERA. Sample size too small? How about 5-1 in his last 8 starts with a 2.60 ERA?

Heading into the playoffs in 2007 I was very disappointed that they shut Clay down and he couldn’t help the Sox on their 2nd World Series run this millennium. After the no-no, it seemed like the pitching staff needed an extra arm. Well, it’s been two years, but 2009 seems like when he’ll get to make that mark in the post-season. The magic number for the Wild Card is down to seven, and now he may actually be old enough to drink during a champagne celebration.