The biggest summer acquisition to the Red Sox this year is likely going to come in the form of adding Felix Doubront to the bullpen in about a week. We have seen him dominate the minors this year and hold his own in two spot starts. Now, we are going to see what he can do coming on in relief.

The first step in this transition was taken this afternoon when Doubront pitched two innings of relief for the Pawtucket Red Sox. Doubront threw 14 of 18 pitches for strikes and allowed only one hit while striking out two and recording the four other outs via ground balls.

It’s unclear who the Red Sox are going to replace with Doubront, but there certainly is no shortage for shitty relievers in our bullpen that could use a demotion.

Look for him to make a couple more relief appearances before we see him in Boston. Hopefully he can bring a reliable seventh inning man to bridge the gap between the starter and Bard/Papelbon.

Beckett picked up only his 2nd win in 10 starts yesterday, hopefully he can build on this momentum

A week and a half ago, the night before this west coast swing started, I wrote a state of the nation address. The main thing to take out of it was that the Red Sox were starting to get players back and all they needed to do was stay within striking distance of the Rays over the next ten days. Although it seems like they went 2-8 over the past three series, the Sox actually fared pretty well and won six of ten. I just happen to have each of the losses firmly entrenched in my brain due to the ridiculousness of them. Regardless, the Sox entered the trip only 3.5 games back of Tampa and came out of it 4.5 games back. And that is fine by me.

What excites me most about the coming weeks is the way the starting pitching has performed of late. Other than Clay Buchholz struggling in his first game back from the disabled list, the starters have been lights out. Of the six wins, the starter accounted for four of them and only two of the four losses. Hell, there were even two legitimate no hit bids (although one of them turned into a loss and the other took 13 innings to finish off). What we now have is everyone on fire at the same time. There is not a single weakness on this staff. Ignore the bullpen issues if you may. The way the last ten days have gone you should be disappointed if the starter goes less than seven innings making it difficult for even this bullpen to screw up too much, especially with Bard and Paps ready to go on most nights. I’m telling you, the way this team is now positioned they have the ability to win games in bunches. Do not be surprised if they win 20+ games in August and September. Call me optimistic, but (starting) pitching wins championships, and I’ll take this starting rotation combined with Paps and Bard over any team in the league. Enough said.