"We have some really good players who are getting beat up. It doesn't help, but it doesn't mean you can't win. You lose a little margin for error when you have some big guys go down, but it doesn't mean you can't win."

— Red Sox manager Terry Francona, June 26, 2010

The 2010 season has been one in which the Red Sox have battled an overwhelming number of injuries with great aplomb. Despite losing Josh Beckett, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Victor Martinez, Jason Varitek, Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Cameron and Clay Buchholz among others for stretches during the season, the Red Sox have fought to stay in a pennant race in early August.

They haven't always made it look easy, however, and Wednesday night's 9-1 loss to the Indians was the most recent example. Though Jon Lester just went five-plus innings and suffered cramps (which he said did not impact his performance) while giving up four runs, only two were earned. Of the other five runs the Indians would score in the game, none were earned. Simply put, the night was a defensive disaster in which errors — one of which Lester committed himself — kept the Red Sox from staying in the game.

All in all, the Red Sox made three errors on the night, the first of which came when Indians catcher Lou Marson laid down a bunt with two on and nobody out in the top of the third. Lester had a play at third but threw the ball away, allowing the lead runner, Andy Marte, to score. 

Two innings later, though it was not ruled an error, the Indians were helped by poor Sox defense again when Jason Donald scored on a Shelley Duncan double after being put in scoring position by a Kevin Cash passed ball. 

The real damage, however, was done in the seventh inning. Errors by Victor Martinez and Marco Scutaro helped the Indians pull off the rare feat of scoring five runs in an inning without any of them being earned. Scott Atchison came away from the inning with his ERA unscathed but the frame left the Red Sox down for good.

"We had some early out opportunities that we didn't make, and then it just kind of piled on from there," Cash said of the inning. 

Though it was a 4-1 game when Justin Masterson exited in the sixth inning, the Red Sox were kept out of the game for much of the night, and poor defense was to blame. The frustrating part for the Sox is that it was far from the first time the patchwork edition of the team saw errors change the landscape of a game they would lose.

"We have good players and some of them are hurt. It makes your margin for error a little bit smaller. Hopefully we won’t make errors.”

— Terry Francona, June 29, 2010

It's clear that Francona has placed a considerable amount of importance on playing smart defense and limiting the number of unearned runs the team allows, but in the second half of the season, that simply has not been the case for the Red Sox.

In the team's second game back from the All-Star break, the Sox gave the Rangers a head start in scoring when Felix Doubront's throwing error put Elvis Andrus in scoring position and later allowed an infield single to score him. Two days later, the Sox coughed up a 4-2 game when runs scored after Adrian Beltre bobbled a throw from Dusty Brown and when Julio Borbon stole home. 

On July 24, an Eric Patterson error put an end to Jon Lester's perfect game when he didn't see the ball into his glove on a ball hit by Jack Wilson, who ended up scoring on the next batter in another game the Sox would lose. As anyone who can recall the last 20 games can attest to, there are more examples. Going through the team's losses since the break, it is quite apparent that errors and poor defense have had a big impact on much of what has gone wrong, as mishaps in the field have either sparked a rally for the opposing team or led to an important run in a close game. 

Since the All-Star break, the Red Sox have gone just 10-10.

"When guys get hurt, I think what it does is your margin for error is less. We've seen that in a few games. Hopefully we won't make errors."

— Terry Francona, Aug. 3, 2010

What does the future hold for the Red Sox as they look to contain how many times a blunder allows an opponent to cross the plate? It's tough to say, and for a couple of reasons. First of all, the team is actually statistically an average fielding club, as the Sox' 63 errors on the season are exactly in line with the American League's average of 63. 

It's also difficult to predict how errors will hurt the team because some of their top defensive players have been culprits. Beltre (15) is on pace to have his worst defensive season since 2000, when he committed 23 errors. Scutaro (12) needs just three more errors to set a career-high. The Red Sox don't have particularly bad fielders by any stretch of the imagination (remember run-prevention?), but at a time where every healthy body needs to contribute as much as possible, the gloves and arms have failed the team defensively.

The biggest question — and it may be where the injuries and the errors are most closely tied together — is whether the return of some of the injured stars will mean continued defensive woes. After all, with the Red Sox facing a tougher climb with each loss, the return of the likes of Pedroia and Youkilis become more important to the offense. The two players have long been celebrated for their drive, and given both the players' love of the game and the urgency of a pennant race, it would not be surprising to see the players return before they are at 100 percent. Sox fans have seen such struggles with Mike Cameron when his fielding took a hit as he played through pain.

What will it mean to the team if Pedroia and Youkilis' ranges and defensive abilities are just a fraction of their normal Gold Glove form? It may simply mean the team is working back toward the sound-fielding team that they have intended to be, though it could also mean that the Sox are potentially in store for more game-changing defensive slip-ups. 

For a .500 team since the break, the Sox should hope not.