Let's be very clear about something: this is not the Boston Red Sox best work. It's not decent work. This is some of the worst baseball the Boston Red Sox have played in quite some time.
This isn't the kind of ball one can look at and be content with. No. Following their loss on April 9, the Red Sox were six games out of first place--behind the Tampa Bay Rays. That said, things are not going so great for the 3-9 Red Sox. They could and should be going much better.
The team's starting pitching staff has been atrocious for an MLB club, letting up more than one run per inning. It's pretty clear at this moment this is the issue the team has that needs fixing. Besides Brian Johnson's struggles last Friday, when he was clearly injured, the bullpen has been largely competent. I still don't really know how to feel about the whole closer situation, but the bullpen is giving the Red Sox some quality results. The most obvious case of this was their win Sunday over the Diamondbacks--which was a bullpen game.
Brock Holt is on the Disabled List because his 2-year-old son Griffin poked him in the eye, but at least Dustin Pedroia is back. The bats are alright for now. They could do a little better, as they are currently averaging 4.25 runs per game offensively--which is a little below-average
Right now, it's still unclear what the big magic solution is for the Red Sox to start winning a bunch of games this season, as they did last year. Maybe their next five games being against the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles will do the trick. Those games could give them some momentum but if not, they really could be in some trouble this year.