So this is what the bottom looks like. 

The Boston Red Sox are the very portrait of mediocrity, 48-48 and in last place in the American League East. If 96 games is too small a sample size for you, how about this: Over the last calendar year the Red Sox -- with a not-insignificant payroll, just in case all your information about this team comes via e-mail from Larry Lucchino -- are 78-83. That's not mediocre, that's a win streak short of mediocre.

And there are really only two reasons why this is happening, why this has gone from the best team in baseball to an absolute, undeniable disaster in 12 months.

Jon Lester and Josh Beckett. The poster boys for the worst collapse in baseball history have somehow managed to top their September ineptitude and indifference with 2012 seasons so lousy they have the Sox on the verge of irrelevance. 

Beckett -- who we're now being told might be awful because he warms up too early before games, but both the pitching coach and manager haven't talked to him about that because it might upset him, as the enabling goes on and on -- allowed five runs in six innings on Friday night, pushing his ERA to 4.53 on the season (28th out of 43 eligible American League pitchers -- and Beckett's ERA hasn't been under 4.00 after any start this season). This was your ace, or co-ace, before the season started. I can't think of an athlete in the last 20 years in this town who needed to prove himself more than Josh Beckett this season, and so far he has failed spectacularly.

But Beckett's outing on Friday looked like Jack Morris in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series when put next to the Rudy Stein impersonation offered by Lester on Sunday. Lester, smack in the middle of his prime and also having the worst year of his career, gave up 386 runs (OK, it was 11), nine hits, five runs and a wild pitch in four innings in the 15-7 loss to the Blue Jays.

Daniel Bard was embarrassed for Lester. Adam Scott wouldn't have wanted to trade places on Sunday. It's almost impossible to be as good as Lester was two years ago and be this bad right now. If I'm a Sox fan I'm hoping for an injury at this point -- at least that might explain how Lester has a 5.46 ERA (for some perspective -- not that it's really needed -- John Lackey's ERA in two seasons with the Sox is 5.26. Lester has been worse than the John Lackey of the last two years this season.)

That's it. We can talk and write about injuries, the ups and downs of Adrian Gonzalez and Jarrod Saltalamacchia or whoever else and the loss of Terry Francona and Jonathan Papelbon and three pitching coaches in three seasons and chemistry issues in the clubhouse and Pedroia vs. Valentine and the contract desires of David Ortiz and why the hell do they play "Sweet Caroline" when they are down a touchdown and a field goal in the seventh inning, and from a big-picture sense it all means nothing. 

Sorry, it's boring. We all know it. Sure, we lose focus on it sometimes -- a Cody Ross walk-off homer can make you forget and actually believe that momentum exists in baseball, at least for 22 hours or so -- but this team cannot compete if Beckett and Lester aren't competitive major league starting pitchers. All the other stuff is just to talk about something else because it's eye-numbing to always focus on Beckett and Lester. Forget aces -- there is no one left on the planet who thinks either one of these guys can pass for that -- just be good enough to be a No. 3 or No. 4 starter. Or how about this: Be as good as Aaron Cook and Franklin Morales. Is that too much to ask for $15 million (Beckett) and $7.5 million (Lester)? 

I've been against trading Lester all season, if only because it doesn't make a lot of sense to deal a player when his value is at its lowest. Forty, 50 cents on the Lester dollar just to get him out of town seemed overly reactionary a month ago, or even a week ago. But for the first time I understood -- if not quite agreed with -- the idea that this might be unsalvageable after watching Lester take a beating on Sunday. I hate reading into body language -- was Lester supposed to be thrilled while giving up 11 runs? -- but this looked an awful lot like a guy who had given up. I don't know how else to explain what we saw on Sunday and what we've seen this year. Can it really just be mechanics, can it really just be that Lester is right and all the umpires have decided to get together and screw him? I've kept an open mind for as long as I can, and now it's at least fair to wonder if Jon Lester simply doesn't want to be in Boston anymore. 

If that's the case, he's got to go. Same with Beckett -- if the Red Sox believe that these two have crossed the point of no return as players and people, it's a no-brainer. But what scares you about this organization -- and whoever is running it -- is that they don't have the guts to make a move that would signal surrender, that would punt the 2012 season away, because they think it would look bad. The reality is 48-48, 78-83 and last place on July 23 looks a lot worse.

And we have arrived at 48-48 and 78-83 and last place thanks to Jon Lester and Josh Beckett, two titanic underachievers. It's not because Jason Varitek is gone. He was here in September. It's not because Francona is gone. He was here in September. It's not because of Bob McClure or Curt Young or John Farrell. Please, are we really going to place blame on pitching coaches? These aren't two 22-year-olds. Name me another city where so much time is spent trying to figure out how much a pitching coach or backup catcher mean to the success or failure of two veteran pitchers. Enough already. It's all on Beckett and Lester. No excuses, these two ruined the Sox last September and haven't stopped since. 

When Jon Lester took the mound in Tampa on Sept. 11, 2011, he had an ERA of 2.93 on the season and the Sox were 85-60. Josh Beckett's ERA on that date was 2.49. Since that game -- a 9-1 Tampa win -- the Red Sox are 53-60 and Lester and Beckett have a combined record of 14-28 and an ERA of 5.39.

I don't know if they care or don't care. I don't know if they are in shape (though they both look exactly the same as they did last September). I don't know what influence John Lackey has or doesn't have on them. I don't know why Jon Lester -- born and raised in Tacoma, Wash. -- has a southern accent. I don't know why Beckett continues to act like he was a victim last year. I don't know why they are the two worst first-inning pitchers in baseball. I don't know why the excuses never stop for these guys. I don't know why anyone thinks the Mariners would trade Felix Hernandez for Lester or why any team would ever trade for Beckett (a 10-5 guy, remember) without asking the Sox to take at least half the remaining salary. 

When it comes to Josh Beckett and Jon Lester there is plenty of unknown. At this point, all we really do know is this:

The blame starts with them. And there's no reason to think it's going to get better.