BOSTON -- When Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz was struggling both physically and mentally on the mound during the 2008 season, the organization decided it would be best to send him back to Double-A Portland to work with then Sea Dogs pitching coach Mike Cather.

Cather was instrumental in helping Buchholz develop into a big league pitcher, so when the young right-hander was struggling, the Red Sox asked Cather to help out once again.

It worked.

Now Cather is an advance scout for the Red Sox, but he was at Fenway Park on Thursday to watch Daniel Bard’s bullpen work.

Bard, who also had Cather as a pitching coach in Portland during the 2008 season, has struggled of late and has suffered a loss in each of his last three appearances. He said on Wednesday that he wanted someone who knows his delivery the best to watch him.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona called Cather on Tuesday night and asked him to come to Fenway to work with Bard, along with Sox pitching coach Curt Young.

Bard worked on some things in the bullpen Thursday afternoon with Young and Cather looking on. Bard is looking to regain his consistent feel on his release point, along with fixing some mechanical issues.

“There are some things that they would like to try to get more consistent in his arm swing, which I think will be helpful,” Francona said.

Bard’s been having difficulties with his fastball command, too.

The main thing here is that Bard’s not panicking and is confident that he'll enough to figure it out. Here’s a guy who tossed 26 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings from May 27 to July 31. Since August, however, he’s struggled.

“If you go back and look at his good streak, he was varying it then, too,” Francona said. “You want to keep it in perspective, also.”

Francona and the Red Sox know that in order to be successful in the final weeks of the season and in order to earn a postseason berth, Bard needs to return to his old self.

“I don’t think we can win without Bard being Bard,” Francona said. “Last year at this time everybody wanted Bard to be the closer. We stuck with Pap and we’ve done OK. I think there are certain players that we better figure it out, as opposed to running from guys.

“We believe in Daniel so much that I hope he gets that situation again,” Francona said.

Buchholz, who remains on the DL with a back injury, is progressing and is scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Saturday. He has nothing but good things to say about Cather and believes he’ll help Bard figure it out.

“He’s a guy who is easy to speak to,” Buchholz said. “When you’re up here you’re trying to figure a whole lot of things out and obviously at this level it’s not the easiest place to figure things out. In my situation it was sending me back to Double-A to get away from the major leagues and being able to try to convert back to what I was doing. Mike knew a lot about me and a lot about my mechanics and arm slots, so it’s the same with Dan.”