Starting pitching wasn't why the Red Sox lost to the Rangers, 3-0, Thursday night. (Click here for a recap.) Clay Buchholz pitched extraordinarily well for six innings before running into some rough spots int he seventh.

But something should be brought to the surface in the wake of what has happened in the Sox' path to their 6-10 record: The starters will be the biggest reason they pass or fail going forward. 

Forget the lineup. Dismiss the defense. If you want to identify the pace-setters for the Red Sox look no further than what was supposed to be the best starting rotation ever to call Fenway Park home.

And don't think for a moment they don't know it.

"I don't need a quality start," said a fired up Josh Beckett prior to the Sox' series finale against Texas, "I need a quality win for my team."

Like the rest of the Red Sox, the rotation is still finding it's way. For instance, WEEI.com learned that Tim Wakefield -- a pitcher who made the All-Star team last year -- will most likely be sent to the bullpen to make way for Daisuke Matsuzaka to rejoin the staff. Who knows if Wakefield will re-enter the rotation, or if Matsuzaka's minor-league success can translate.

Then there is the question regarding Buchholz, the pitcher the Red Sox are choosing to remain in the group while Wakefield departs to the pen for the first time in six seasons. His career-high strikeout total (10), to go the righty's ability to get seven out of 10 outs on the ground, suggested he continues to go in the right direction, as one of his rotation-mate's pointed out.

"For the most part his stuff was unbelievable," John Lackey observed. "We can build off it, for sure."

But while the rest of the corners of the roster are almost expected to continue their uneasy transition, the starters have to be the anchors.

The Red Sox' offense is 21st in the majors in runs. There has been, and will undoubtedly continue to be, lineup shuffling. The personnel isn't there, so duct tape is a necessity.

The Sox are also 22nd in fielding percentage. That also figures to be a work in progress, with some players getting used to their surroundings, or new positions.

The starting pitching, however, is needed in the here and the now, partly because of the aforementioned issues that aren't lending themselves to any kind of quick fix. Coming into Thursday night, the Red Sox' starters were 20th in innings pitched (86), had allowed the second-most hits (101), the fifth-most walks (39) while striking out the fifth-fewest batters (58). The rotation's .294 batting average against was the league's third-worst.

Not exactly the stuff of legend.

Yet while the roster might seem a bit disjointed right now, it is in the starting rotation that you will find those ready to at least attempt to steer the ship in a different direction. That was in evidence when listening to the staff's leader, Beckett, explain his group's situation early Thursday evening.

"It's tough right now to judge anything. I wouldn't base anything on what's going on now. It's not because of people's past because people's past doesn't dictate their future," Beckett said. "I was talking to Jon Lester about that the other day. I told him, 

'Don't let somebody else tell you you have bad Aprils. That's (expletive). Why would you let that dictate that.' We haven't pulled our weight. That's what we have to do. 

"The most important thing right now is to build arm strength and get on a roll together. And the only way we're going to do that is by slowing things down and doing the things that make us successful which is living in the moment and going pitch to pitch and doing this right now, and not worrying about doing something two weeks from now. The only we can get to where we want to be is by living in the moment and doing the most important thing which is this right here."

Beckett stopped, and then started again.

"The one thing I think we all have is not everybody has is that we've all been through this before," he said. "Again, like I was telling Jonny, don't let the past dictate your future. Just because somebody says, 'Oh well, he has bad Aprils.' (Expletive) that. What do you mean you're a slow starter. (Expletive) that. Don't start slow. I'm not picking on Jonny, I just know what I hear and things that I see and it's not OK. I'm in the same situation. (Wednesday) I pitched like (expletive). The same guy who went through and got nine straight outs is the same guy that gave up the four runs and three runs. How do you do that? That's not living in the moment. That's getting too far ahead of yourself. That's doing the things that aren't going to make you successful.

"I want to win. I want to be part of that. I want to help us win."

He isn't alone.

Optimism regarding the starters hasn't gone anywhere, and might have actually been amped up slightly after Buchholz' latest start. 

"We have too many guys with too good a track record to keep going the way we're going," Lester said. "It's a slow start. Hitters do it. Pitchers do it. We just have to keep running out every five days and keeping going through.

"(The optimism) is here. It's just one of those deals we're going through. We'll be better in the long run for it, make us a better team and better pitchers. We proved last year that we can pitch out it, the guys who are here, and we're going to play better than we are right now."

Still, when what has was supposed to be the be-all, end-all top of the rotation (Beckett, Lester, Lackey) carries a 6.29 ERA stock has be taken. Thursday night was a step in the right direction, and having a pitcher the quality of Wakefield at the ready if the back-end of the rotation goes astray is nice, but time is running out.

The Red Sox need a lot, and its the starters who can (and have to) offer the first delivery.