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Many baseball fans, especially those with a bias against the Red Sox, have always had some choice words about Boston pitcher Clay Buchholz. A young pitching prospect at the age of 25, people criticize his build, his inexperience, his inconsistency, and more.

This past Wednesday, having taken the mound for just the 7th time in 2009, he faced off against Roy Halladay, one of the best pitchers in baseball. This was a game that mattered very much, and the Blue Jays were favored to win it.

Despite the expectations, Buchholz came out and looked like Halladay usually looks. Allowing just 1 ER in 6.0 innings pitched, Buchholz outshone the all-star Halladay, who gave up 4 ER in only 5.0 IP. Buchholz is a work in progress, but has continuously improved during his stint with the Sox in 2009.

This was a great start against the Blue Jays, and adds to the list of recent impressive starts we’ve seen the young pitcher put together. His last three match-ups have all been extremely difficult ones, as we’ve seen him pitted up against CC Sabathia, Justin Verlander, and Roy Halladay in consecutive starts. His starts against the Yankees and Tigers were on the same level as the start against Halladay, as he allowed just one and two earned runs respectively in these.

The beginning of his season tells a different story. Buchholz struggled greatly on the mound during a game against the Orioles, but he’s been more than reliable these past few starts. It seems like the void left by John Smoltz may be in decent hands.

Incidentally, Buchholz was the subject of many rumors leading up to the trade deadline. It’s very well possible that these rumors had a real impact on his performance, which is when his struggles essentially took place.

Don’t let the haters fool you: Buchholz is for real and this three-start trial by fire against three of the AL’s best shouldn’t be overlooked. Those that say he isn’t pitching well should explain what their criteria is, because from everything I’m seeing, this is exactly what you should expect from a top prospect with 25 career starts pitching for one of the highest-profile and most covered teams in sports.

You have to like thinking ahead to a rotation featuring Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Matsusaka and Buchholz in 2010, but there’s a lot of baseball this season to be played and more opportunities for him to evolve into an ace of his own.

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