The Boston Red Sox, embroiled in the kind of drama that only they can provide, have been suffering through a miserable pitching season. As such, they've turned to the scapegoat that most teams do in this situation: their pitching coach, Bob McClure, who's been fired.

The Red Sox entered Monday with a 4.31 team ERA, and they finished the 2011 season with one of the most miserable collapses in baseball history, mostly due a 5.84 ERA in September. The off-season saw a lot of minor moves, with minor-league free agents like Aaron Cook and Vicente Padilla joining the organization, but the organizational holes in the rotation were filled with internal options. The only significant addition to the pitching staff was Andrew Bailey, who hasn't pitched an inning for the Red Sox since the team traded for him.

Randy Niemann, who pitched for eight years in the majors with five different teams, will be the interim pitching coach for the rest of the season, presumably while playing the piano and singing folksy yarns about things he sees in everyday life.