Pitch Back

The Red Sox have lowered their team ERA below 4, to 3.92. How?

The current pitching rotation:

• Josh Beckett, the ace, ERA 4.07, 6-4, finding his groove
• Daisuke Matsuzaka, disabled
• Jon Lester, ERA 3.50, 4-3, the maturation occurring
• Tim Wakefield, ERA 4.33, 4-4, last 3 starts 22 innings, 5 ER
• Justin Masterson, ERA 2.59, 3-0, looks like he belongs
• Bartolo Colon, ERA 3.91, 3-1
• Clay Buchholz, ERA 5.53, 2-3, inconsistency and injury resulted in a trip to the Pawsox

The Sox June ERA has been 3.34, and the bullpen has improved their K/BB ratio to 1.89 and their ERA to 3.93. The quartet of Papelbon, Okajima, Delcarmen, and Hansen have recently given Terry Francona the stability and reliability not seen during the early season.

The Sox have developed pitching throughout the organization and have promising prospects on the horizon should injury or ineffectiveness require it.