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As many expected, the Boston Red Sox continue to show the way in the American League's East Division at the quarter-point of this season. But that lead isn't quite as cushy as when the defending world champions started their current 10-game road trip a little over a week ago, primarily due to a string of hiccups from the club's normally-reliable pitching staff.
While Boston's offense continues to pile up runs by the bushel, that hitting prowess has been negated by a number of recent ugly outings on the mound. The Red Sox have amassed a healthy 36 runs over the course of their last six games, but they've lost four of those tests because the opposition has scored the same amount of times during that stretch.
Those mound struggles were most evident during Boston's series with the surging Minnesota Twins, who handed the Sox three losses in four games and scored seven runs or more in all three of the victories.
The problems haven't come from the top of the rotation, where both Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka have performed like the well-paid, frontline starters they're supposed to be. The same can't be said about the other three members, each of whom stumbled badly during their turn in the Minnesota series.
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