What is going on with the Red Sox?

If you'd told me a month ago that the Astros would have a better record than the Redsox 6 games into the season, I would've imagine myself being a lot more excited at this moment. But no. At 1-5, the Astros are not exactly turning any heads, but still they find themselves off to a better start than the now 0-6 Red Sox. So what's the problem? Boston spent a ton of money this offseason to build a team to win RIGHT NOW. Well, it's a number of things. First, let's look at the offense.

Right now, Boston has ONE player hitting above .231 and that's free agent acquisition Adrian Gonzalez.

J.D. Drew - .231 (3/13)
David Ortiz - .227 (5/22)
Dustin Pedroia - .227 (5/22)
Marco Scutaro - .176 (3/17)
Carl Crawford - .174 (4/23)
Jacoby Ellsbury - .167 (4/24)
Jed Lowrie - .143 (1/7)
Kevin Youkilis - .105 (2/19)
Jarrod Saltalamacchia - .071 (1/14)
Mike Cameron - .000 (0/4)
Jason Varitek - .000 (0/2)

Then there's the pitching staff. Boston has surrendered 14 home runs through the first six games. Matt Albers and Bobby Jenks are the only relievers with ERAs below 4.00. Four other relievers (Jonathan Papelbon, Daniel Bard, Dan Wheeler and Dennys Reyes) all have ERAs over 9.00. And in 6 games, Boston's pen has already logged 15 2/3 innings as Boston starters are averaging just a little over 5 innings a start.

And now there's the mental aspect. In their last two losses against Cleveland, you have this mental error by Jason Varitek that cost the Sox a run (and was immediately followed by a 3-run homer) and this baserunning gaffe by pinch runner Darnell McDonald to end today's game (a 1-0 loss).

So needless to say, a lot's going wrong right now. But I'd hesitate to write this team off, just 6 games into the season. There is way too much talent on this team, and if you look at historical numbers, you have to think that guys like Crawford, Pedroia and Youkilis are all eventually going to hit. And pitchers like Lackey aren't going to spend the year with an ERA around 20.00. Still, getting swept by a Cleveland team that lost 93 games last year is not an encouraging sign. Things don't get any easier either as the Yankees come to town for a 3 game series this weekend. Boston can only hope that the home crowd energizes them and gets them back on track before they dig themselves into too deep a hole.