It's no surprise that the latest subject of fascination in Red Sox Nation is Clay Buchholz, a/k/a "Stickbug" (nickname coined, I believe, by Beth- and which I have adopted, because I cannot conceive of a more accurate moniker). He's just so darned earnest and shy and hard-working and slight and precious and Texan. No one can get enough of hearing about him, watching him, reading about him or seeing him pitch-- and I'm just as guilty.

Stickbug didn't disappoint last night in his first outing working from the bullpen. After getting himself into an early jam out of the gate in the 6th inning, he methodically worked his way out, and then retired the side 3 up, 3 down in the 7th and again in the 8th. He downplayed the weirdness of his new bullpen role in his postgame comments from the lockerroom, but it can't have been easy to switch hats when he's been a starter all year.

Here's his post-game interview:

But the best Clay-related part of the broadcast wasn't his pitching (beautiful) or his post-game interview (awww!) but a throwaway moment when the cameras caught him fooling around with a baseball in the dugout. I don't know why, but I just found this so charming- lil' Stickbug!