"Clay Buchholz knows the drill. He's going to spend the next couple of weeks answering questions about two topics: beer and his back.

The beer questions should die down soon enough. Buchholz hopes to silence the ones about his back through his actions.

The Red Sox right-hander arrived at JetBlue Park yesterday a few days ahead of the official report date for pitchers and catchers. He proclaimed his back healthy, said he spent the winter working out with second baseman Dustin Pedroia, and then handled questions about last season's collapse swimmingly."