Will Red Sox win the 2011 World Series? NAY: They lack key ingredients

Do the Boston Red Sox have enough stars? Sure. But they don’t have enough fundamentals, and because of that, the stars won’t align for a World Series championship this season.Yes, Carl Crawford can dazzle Boston fans with that newfangled device called “the stolen base” ? yes, Adrian Gonzalez will delight the Fenway Faithful when the crack of his bat ignites another fastball into the stratosphere ? yes, Dan Wheeler and Bobby Jenks and Daniel Bard will give us enough options to compensate for a shaky Pap ?But these are side issues. The main things a team needs to be successful in the Fall Classic are: 1. A strong rotation; 2. A versatile lineup; and 3. A reliable catcher. Currently Boston possesses only item number 2.Rotation-wise, my optimism was unbounded for the Sox starters exactly one year ago. With Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka, what could go wrong? Well, of that quintet, only two (Lester and Buchholz) posted ERAs under four last season ? and Beckett’s was an ungodly 5.78.And who, pray tell, is going to catch? Who will have the skills behind the plate to coax the pitchers through the extra-inning games? We have heard next to nothing about the fact that Manager Terry Francona is entrusting this responsibility to Jarrod Saltalamacchia ? the .248 career hitting Jarrod Saltalamacchia ? who hit just .167 in his audition with the Red Sox last season. Meanwhile, Sox historians are left to lament “The Decline and Fall of Jason Varitek” and sing “Where have you gone, Victor Martinez? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.”Once upon a time, the Red Sox did respect the fundamentals. In 2004, after the bullpen/Big Papi heroics in ALCS Games Four and Five, it was deep pitching that sent the Sox to the World Series. They had Curt Schilling and Derek Lowe for the sixth and seventh games ? the Yankees countered with Jon Lieber and Kevin Brown. You remember the rest.The heirs to such time-honored foundations of success are still around these days, they just don’t reside in Boston. This year’s pennant winners reside in Tampa Bay and San Francisco, and this fall the guys from the city of the Golden Gate and Ghirardelli’s will defend their World Series title.Rich Tenorio is The Item’s sports copy editor.