Shell Shocked

Wow Sunday night baseball in New York. What a disaster. Heading into this game there was a lot of talk about Tanaka and his velocity and Buchholz's great start to the season. Man did this go south quickly. I usually enjoy Sunday night baseball when Schilling and Boone are in the booth. Kruck I don't mind at times, I enjoy him more when he is actually breaking something down about the game. Trying to be the funny guy and eating 12 hotdogs during a game I don't enjoy. Curt made some excellent points and has a good way of explaining things so the average fan can understand.
Basically this game was over in the first inning. A leadoff walk to Ellsbury. Buchholz, like Lester, has an issue throwing to first base. Buchholz throws to first too much, whereas Lester doesn't throw there at all. Buchholz to me looks nervous when guys get on first. He puts so much wasted energy and thought into a base runner on first. Watch him this year: he even throws over when guys are standing on the bag. I actually had that problem in Greensboro 1987. Yankees fill the bases and ARod clears them on a nice piece of hitting on a 2 strike hanging cutter. Headley hits another hanger in seats and old pal Drew hits line a drive also in the seats. Before Buchholz can think straight, it's 7-0. I am sure it happened very fast to him. When you're a pitcher and you have an inning going on like this, sometimes you get ahead of yourself and you want to get that next out badly. In doing this you miss location and you have no command. You become a thrower instead of a pitcher. I believe earlier into this inning somebody should have seen some cheese high and inside. (Headley) This is something Hannigan, being a veteran, should have been on top of by calling it. My gut tells me Tanaka isn't at 100%. Maybe its due to the lack of spring training work or there really is an injury in the forecast for him. I will have to agree with Schilling when he was commenting on Tanaka working low in the zone and not changing the eye level of the hitters.
Quick story: I had a game in double A and guys on first and second. Hobson came out for a mound visit and said to me "Come on buddy, change the eye level"  I did and I hit the next guy in the ribs to load the bases. We actually got out of inning on a line drive double play. Pretty sure Hobson didn't enjoy that.
5th inning Hanley shows his power and what he is capable of. He takes a 2 strike breaking pitch over the plate some and deposits it dead red center, another case of Tanaka staying and working low in the zone and Hanley knowing this and looking for a pitch and hammering it. That was really the only bright spot from the offense. That 19 inning game was a big deal to have so early in the season.
Bad night for pitching staff with runners in scoring position. Mujica makes an 8th inning appearance and helps out my point, that he should not be on this 25 man group. If I were the GM, he would never have left Fort Myers for Philly and on to Opening Day. I have watched his stuff and his effectiveness go down hill in the last 3 plus years. If he does have a role on this team, I see him as more of a situational guy to come in and throw his splitter and or sinker and get out of the inning. This guy is not going to be effective at the back end of bullpen.
Koji comes off the DL today I believe, so who will be the odd man out? For me, I release Mujica and eat his contract and begin to set some roles out in pen. Buchholz to me cannot have outings like this. It just cant happen, especially if you want to be looked at from others as the number 1 guy and a guy that wins after a Red Sox lose. A game like this for a guy like Buchholz could do some long term damage. I still don't see that killer instinct in his eyes, even more so when guys are on base. He will have to be more consistent this year and have a short memory. His concentration with guys on base is an issue to me. Instead of thinking "oh shit I gave up another hit", he needs to learn and change his thought process with men on base. Instead of "oh shit" it should be "Ok what pitches do I need to throw to get out of this inning" no matter what the score is. Believe me I know there are games like this for a starter, but when you see some things that could be changed or could be avoided it bothers me. I don't even know if watching video can help him. I think the issue is more in his head and being better prepared with a game plan . Walking the first guy of the game is unacceptable to me. And not making the hitter feel uncomfatable is also unacceptable to me. I can turn on the tv in the 4th inning and tell you how Buchholz is doing. It's always written on his face.
That's my Call