By Kyle Auger

Co-Sports Editor

After their horrendous start, the Red Sox have been turning their season around with a recent series sweep of the Los Angeles Angels and 8 of their last 10 games.

This comeback has been spurred mainly by the pitching staff, which, after their first eleven games, was 2-9, having been swept by the Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, and the Tampa Bay Rays.

The worst of the group early in the season was most notably Daisuke Matsuzaka, who in his first 2 starts had an ERA of about 7. Matsuzaka, who was getting publicly ridiculed for his poor performance, headed to the mound April 18th against the Toronto Blue Jays, and threw a gem, allowing only one hit in 7 strong innings. He followed this performance against the Angels and threw another near no-hitter, throwing 8 innings, again only allowing one hit.

Following the path of Matsuzaka, Jonathon Papelbon, who famously started to collapse at the end of the previous season, has turned his struggles around. In the off-season after Papelbon’s problems, the team picked up veteran closer Bobby Jenks. Jenks was picked up to bolster the bullpen, and gave Papelbon the motivation to improve. I believe that this transaction was motivation because Papelbon knew that if he didn’t step up his performance, he would quickly be replaced.

Although the pitching has been effective and their improvement has been extremely noticeable, the offense has also been very successful as of late. Specifically, Kevin Youkilis, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Adrian Gonzales have begun hitting home runs and knocking in RBI’s. Gonzales leads the team so far with a .282 batting average, and 24 hits. Ellsbury leads the team with 12 RBI’s, and is tied with Youkilis for the team lead of 4 homeruns.

I think that the team is finally onto their winning trail that has been an expectation of the squad and their more than one hundred million dollar payroll. This team should go deep into the playoffs as long as the rotation stays solid, and any major injuries are avoided.