So I was at the Bulls/PawSaux game tonight, and since Buchholz was having a rehab start, I figured I'd share some observations.

Clay Buchholz: 4IP 2H 4BB 5K 3ER HR 75 pitches (41 strikes)

His stuff was great. Definitely the best curve ball (78 mph all night) I've seen in a minor league park. He was missing bats with it all night. Heater was decent, worked 91-94 but with not location. It was a weird night, really, since he was either blowing people away (first inning: F8 K(taken) K(swinging) in order; 4th inning: K(t) K(s) BB (on 5 pitches to Mike DiFelice of all people) K(t)) or sucking (2nd inning went BB, F9 (to the warning track) BB 1B 5-3 F7 (another hard-hit ball; LF made a nice running catch); 3rd was similar except Dan Johnson's fly ball left the park with a walk on base.)

I would hope the Sox give him at least another rehab start because as I said, his location was off all night. Everything was up (even the breaking pitches, half the time), and everyone on the team besides DiFelice hit the ball hard against him (when they were able to touch it, that is).

Chris Mason: 6IP 6H 1BB 7K 3ER 2HR

John gave this guy a B- in his book, and he's been decent when I've seen him. He tends to work behind hitters more than you'd like to see, and he's rarely efficient. I dunno. I'm not great judge of talent or anything, but he seems more likely to fit in the bullpen than a ML rotation to me. Also, the velocity on his FB was down a bit today, mostly high 80s and I don't recall him breaking 90 on the stadium gun.

Jed Lowrie: sucked

Actually, that's not really true. He went 1-4 with 2Ks, a 3B and a GIDP. The 3B was a hard-hit fly ball to the gap in right-center. The RF had a play on it (a tough one, but one a ML RF makes), but he couldn't bring it in as he was feeling for the wall on the warning track, and the ball got away from he and the CF, who was also near by. Lowrie showed good speed getting around the bases, though, and for a second there, I thought he might try for an inside-the-park job, but with none out, they held him up. But yeah, other than that, he looked pretty bad, especially on his first inning whiff.

Reid Brignac: 0-2 K BB RBI

He drew a walk in the 2nd off a wild Buccholz and stared at a beautiful curve leading off the 4th. His RBI came on a sac fly in the 7th. With runners at first and 3rd and one out, he nearly took reliever Edgar Martinez (not as good as the real one...) to straight-away center. Really a well-hit ball, but it hung up long enough for the CF to get to the track and bring it in. He also had a nice play turning that DP on Lowrie; They only got the 2nd out because of a very strong throw.

Joel Guzman: Remeber him?

Guzman has been on a tear of late with 5 HRs in his last 10 games (although his OBP is still sub-.300). He almost had another two tonight, one a shot of Buccholz to the track down the line in RF in the first inning, and the other high off the "blue monster" toward the gap in left-center in the 6th that went for a double. He added a single in the 7th and finished 2-5 with an RBI and a K. Watching him this season, I'm shocked anyone ever thought he could play SS. He's a 3B now, and he's pretty bad over there. His arm in particular doesn't seem suited for SS in the majors.

Dan Johnson hit the HR off Buccholz in the 3rd if anyone cares. He had a good night, going 3-4 with a couple of singles and a walk. But I guess we already knew he could own AAA.