In The Papers: Clay, WMP, Cash

Clay Buchholz:

There were a lot of [nerves in the first]. I felt like I was doing everything wrong. Then the second inning passed and then the third inning and fourth inning on, I felt good out there. I still tried to overthrow a couple of pitches but that comes with the territory I guess. ...

It was nerve-wracking, but it wasn't as big a difference as I though it was going to be as far as the competition. ... If you still make your pitches, you get outs. If you make mistakes, they hit it.

And more often than not, he made his pitches. Home plate umpire Bruce Froemming was impressed:

This guy has pretty good command of his pitches for a guy starting out. Reminds me of Randy Jones [1976 Cy Young winner for San Diego] in that regard. And this guy's got some changeup. It surprised me to see him go to that changeup right away.

Clay:

All season, it's been the changeup. I have been able throw it in a lot of counts that I shouldn't be able to throw it in, and getting swings and misses out of it, and a couple of ground balls.

Theo Epstein, on the Wily Mo Pena trade:

It [Arroyo for Pena] didn't turn out the way we wanted it to. It certainly wasn't a good trade, in retrospect. I still think there's a good chance he really blossoms as a hitter. But here, the fit never materialized.

The player the Red Sox will receive from Washington has already been agreed upon, but Epstein said the "complexities of the rules at this time of year" prevent him from being announced. Epstein did say that the Sox "ended up getting a player who we really like".

New backup catcher Kevin Cash:

We were watching Buch pitch on [the Internet] on the way to the field on the bus. It said Mirabelli got hurt and two seconds later [manager Ron Johnson] got a call. There was one flight to Boston. Crazy day, but exciting.

Cash has experience catching knuckleballers Charlie Zink and John Barnes in Pawtucket, but it's not known who will catch Tim Wakefield in Tampa on Monday night. ... Drew went 5-for-9 in the doubleheader; he now has 999 career hits.