IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN BOSTON...

 ...when Clay Buchholz is pitching at least. What do I mean? This...

Great piece by Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports yesterday (HERE) about the overwhelming controversy or lack there of (depending on how you feel about a spitter), when it comes to Buchholz and his glistening arm. According to Passan, sources have spoken:  "Two veteran pitchers and one source close to the Red Sox told Yahoo! Sports that about 90 percent of major league pitchers use some form of spray-on sunscreen – almost always BullFrog brand – that when combined with powdered rosin gives them a far superior grip on the ball.
 
'Sunscreen and rosin could be used as foundation for houses,' one American League pitcher said. 'Produces a tack, glue-like substance that engineers would be jealous of.'"

Could Buchholz be one of those pitchers? Hey, maybe.  One things for sure, that arm is shiny as hell.  Now look, that accusation by those "sources" is kind of a big deal... if it's true.  I don't like cheating, let's be honest, but when it comes to the old days of "real" baseball, you might find this weird, but I have a different opinion on it all.  I don't care... to a certain extent. But let me explain what that mean. First off, there are rules right? So we need to follow them if we are pro baseball players. If a rule states for instance that you can't use a foreign substance and sunscreen and rosin makes a "real good" foreign substance, that's a pretty big problem, don't you think?

Now Buchholz is not a dumb guy.  He can easily come forward and say, "Hey, I wear sunscreen, I don't want to get burned in the sun! (even in night games?) How was I supposed to know that accidentally mixing sunscreen and rosin was affecting my pitching?" All Major League Baseball needs to do is come back with "Well, it did and you're fined."  That would be it. Now look, again, is Buchholz doing that like Passan suggests he "could be" doing? We don't know yet, but again, I just keep going back to that glistening arm.

But look, think about the whole situation, meaning, look at all the great cons of the past. How about when Joe Niekro scuffed the ball years ago and got caught when he was with the Twins? Cheating, clearly.  Look at Joel Peralta with the Rays last year when he had pine tar on his ball and was suspended for 8 games. Cheating, clearly. Read HERE.

I would even go as far as complain about Jose Valverde and his saliva trick on the ball last year that was caught on tape. Considered cheating, but and you're not going to believe this... I've softened on my stance on saliva on the ball. Yes, it's true. Actual spit on a baseball never hurt anyone. That's "old" school and it's my opinion, that if your not being obvious, give it a shot. I almost feel like that's part of the game. Pitchers lick their fingers, you know what I mean?

 (In Photo: Gaylord Perry)
I have a much bigger problem with Crisco, or Vaseline or yes,  even sunscreen. These substances would have been purposely brought onto the field for a very unique use. I say if you're gonna loogy on the ball...just don't get caught, don't make it obvious. That's the difference in my strange mind.

So what should happen? A fine for Buchholz and we move on, especially if we find out it's true.  What can you do? Sure, I'd like him to come clean officially, but will he?  Look, Buchholz is a good pitcher, he probably didn't need to doctor the ball, but it appears that he may have and if Passan's sources are telling the truth, Buchholz needs to answer some questions, don't you think?

Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.