30-year old righty starting pitcher Josh Beckett has been truly awful this season when he has been healthy enough to pitch. Beckett has started 14 games for the Red Sox so far this year and he is 3-3 with a 6.67 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP. Beckett has been getting hit really hard as he has given up 98 hits (12 homers) in only 82 1/3 innings this year. Beckett just doesn’t seem to pitch good in even numbered years. In his three even numbered years with the Red Sox, he has pitched in 74 games (all starts) in which he is 31-24 with a 4.94 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. But in odd numbered years Beckett has been awesome for the Red Sox working in 62 games (all starts) in which he is 37-13 with a 3.57 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. The Red Sox need Beckett to pitch well the rest of the season if they are going to have any hope of catching either the Rays or the Yankees in September.

The Red Sox have decided to move 43-year old righty Tim Wakefield back to the bullpen. Wakefield has pitched in 20 games (16 starts) for the Red Sox this year and he is 3-8 with a 5.58 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. He has given up 117 hits (16 homers) for the Red Sox this year so far in 108 innings pitched. Wakefield will be the long man in the bullpen and that should help out the bullpen as he can certainly work a lot of innings. Wakefield is moving back to the pen to make room for Josh Beckett who is coming off the D.L. Beckett has pitched in 8 games (all starts) earlier this year for the Red Sox and he was 1-1 with a 7.29 ERA and a 1.66 WHIP. He has given up 57 hits (6 homers) and he has walked 19 batters in only 45 2/3 innings for Boston earlier this year. The Red Sox need the real Josh Beckett to step up if they are going to truly compete for a playoff spot in 2010.

34-year old lefty Hideki Okajima and 28-year old righty Ramon Ramirez are both off to rough starts for the Red Sox this year. Okajima has pitched in 25 games (0 starts) for the Red Sox this year and he is 2-2 with a 5.21 ERA and a 1.79 WHIP. He has given up 24 hits (3 homers) and he has walked 10 batters in only 19 innings this season as something appears really off with him right now. After all in his first three years with the Red Sox he worked in 198 games (0 starts) in which he was 12-4 with 6 saves, a 2.72 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. The Red Sox need Okajima to start pitching like he has in the past. Ramon Ramirez has pitched in 24 games (0 starts) for the Red Sox this year and he is 0-1 with 1 save, a 5.73 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP. He has already given up 4 gopher balls in only 22 innings this season which is way too many. Last season Ramirez pitched in 70 games (0 starts) for the Red Sox in which he was 7-4 with a 2.84 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP.

The Red Sox have given #1 starting pitcher a nice new 4-year, $68 million dollar extension on his contract. But he is off to a slow start in 2010. In his first two starts of the season, Beckett is 1-0 with a 6.17 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP. He has given up 17 hits (2 homers) in only 11 2/3 innings so far this season. I think that Beckett will start to turn things around this week. The Red Sox better hope he starts pitching better after securing him for the next 4 years giving him pretty nice paychecks along the way.

The Boston Red Sox have seen enough of Clay Buchholz so they sent him to AA today and they likely won’t even bring him up when rosters expand in September. Buchholz has pitched in 16 games (15 starts) for the Red Sox this season and he was 2-9 with a 6.75 ERA and a 1.76 WHIP. He allowed 93 hits and walked 41 batters in only 76 innings for the Red Sox this season and that’s just not good enough to get the job done. The Red Sox are hoping that Tim Wakefield will be ready to return sometime next week and that’s a good thing for them. Wakefield has started 23 games for the Red Sox this season and he is 7-8 with a 3.67 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP.