Day 153: Buchholz Makes Second Rehab Start, May Be Ready For 2014.

Just kidding with the 2014 thing. Sorry to scare you. But it really does seem like with the pace he's improving, he'll never make it back to the mound for the Red Sox this season. Clay Buchholz injured himself on June 8 when he experienced tightness in his neck and was diagnosed with neck strain. Now I've had neck strain and I understand it hurts, but it never incapacitated me for over two months!

It's a real shame the Red Sox haven't had Buchholz's arm in the rotation over the last two months. Who knows what the case would be right now had he continued on his torrid pace. How many of those losses would be wins? How many games in first would that equate to? When he went on the 1,200 day DL, he was 9-0 with a 1.71 ERA in 12 starts.

So now he's on track to come back... exactly when is anyone's guess. The rehab has been slow to say the least. His first time out with the Lowell Spinners didn't exactly wow us. He faced seven batters, issued three walks, gave up a hit and needed a whopping 38 pitches to record just two outs. Yeesh.

He seems to be improving though. Friday night in Pawtucket, he threw 53 pitches in 3 1/3 innings, allowed seven hits and one run. He didn't walk a batter and he struck out two. A much improved outing overall and he topped out at 94mph, so that's promising.

But this is what really makes me laugh... Buchholz went out on the DL right around the same time the Bruins were making their Stanley Cup run. Bruins forward Gregory Campbell broke his leg a few days before Clay tweaked his neck. Broke his leg and still continued to play for nearly a minute. Broke his leg and still skated and defended and made a difference. Now there's a rumor going around that Campbell might make his return to the ice before Buchholz makes his return to the mound.

Imagine if baseball players had the mental and physical toughness of a hockey player... there might be no such thing as a DL.