Red Sox fans spent countless hours debating whether Jon Lester or Josh Beckett was the pitching staff's ace heading into the 2010 campaign.
But five months into the season, another hurler — Clay Buchholz — has pitched himself into contention as being the squad's top gun.
Beckett was awarded the club's first start of the season, so many believe that makes him the team's ace. There's really no other way of determining who the staff's ace is other than on Opening Day and at the beginning of the postseason (assuming every hurler has had ample rest).
That being said, Lester got the nod in the playoff opener last October, but that could have been because Beckett would have been pitching on just four days rest if he took the hill.
So who is the ace right now, with roughly seven weeks to go in the regular season?
Beckett, who has been out with injury for the majority of the summer, is just 3-2 with a 6.51 ERA in 13 starts. Lester lost four straight at the end of July and into August, but still owns a 13-7 record and a 2.80 ERA on the season. Buchholz has been the club's most consistent pitcher and has earned the nickname of "Undercover Ace" thanks to a 13-5 mark to go with a 2.49 ERA, which is lowest in the AL.
href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/3627543/">Who is the current ace on the Red Sox rotation?9px;">href="http://polldaddy.com/features-surveys/">Market Research
