Sports Redux: Dirt Dogs Edition

The buzz in the Sox training camp these days is Clay Buchholz, the 1324 year-old pitcher who wowed us in 2007 with his no-hitter and in 2008 with his suckiness. That's bad news for Bostonist because his name is difficult to spell. Buchholz has a 0.46 ERA in the Grapefruit League this spring and a killer pick-off move, signs that he's maturing into the pitcher everybody hoped he would be last year. The bad news? The Sox' pitching depth means that the kid might be starting the season in Pawtucket, which is whole lot better than the Instructional League, where Young Clay found himself finishing out last season. He told the Globe, "If I'm still pitching at Triple A, it's a phone call away. I'll be ready to go whenever they do call me."

John Smoltz threw 40 pitches from a mound yesterday, his first bullpen session since December. Smoltz, who is recovering from shoulder surgery and a snub from an ungrateful Atlanta Braves, may not be starting for the Sox until after June 1, according to Terry Francona. In other pitching news, Dice-K is back in camp, and Tito will be using the WBC MVP sparingly, to restore a healthy, Spring Training pace to his game.

Former Sox in the news. Trot Nixon was cut by the Brewers' camp yesterday. Trot was a non-roster invitee who had hit safely only four times all spring. It's been days since Curt Schilling retired (officially), and the knights of the keyboard have yet to finish jousting with him. Over in Philly, Bill Conlin discovers that Schilling's teammates on the 1993 Phillies sort of hated him, and no less august a journal than the New Republic has compared Schilling to Anchorman Ron Burgundy.

Rough night for the Celtics, as they fell 84-82 to the Magic in the ignominiously named Amway Arena. The season series between the teams ends deadlocked at 2-2, which means that home court advantage during the playoffs will hinge on divisional win-loss percentage. Doc Rivers was typically inscrutable, telling the Globe, "[O]bviously, if we could have won the game, it would have helped us. If they could win it, it could help them. So in that way, it's important. But our guys didn't put that much into that as far as [winning]." Rajon Rondo sprained his ankle during the first period, but finished the game on adrenaline. No word on his injury prognosis.

Also: There is some sort of basketball tournament in town that doesn't involve any teams from Boston and that no Bostonian seems to have heard of.