The team has lost eight of their last nine games, including 11 of 12 at Fenway Park. After Josh Beckett was shelled for seven runs in 2 1/3 innings last game, Clay Buchholz will take the mound for the Sox on Friday hoping to turn around a rotation that has struggled to start the year.
Boston's starters have combined so far for a 6.01 ERA through the team's first handful of games. That makes them the second-worst rotation in the majors by that metric, just ahead of the lowly Minnesota Twins. Their offense has been better, but also very inconsistent, putting up big numbers one night and then going silent the next. They have scored the second-most runs in the AL so far, but their 12-19 record shows the O won't be able to carry them far if the pitching doesn't come around.
The AL East has always been assumed to be the toughest division in all of baseball and perhaps in all pro sports, although few could have predicted which teams would be proving to be tougher to beat. So far, the Orioles and Rays are tied atop the standings, with the Blue Jays in third while the Yankees and Red Sox bring up the rear.
As it stands, the Sox are 7 1/2 games back of the O's and Rays, and five games back of the fourth-place Yankees. All of the teams in the division play each other plenty over the coming months, so Bobby Valentine and Co. will have plenty of time to make up that ground over the course of the season. How many teams, if any, do you think the Red Sox can catch?
