How Much Confidence Do We Have Left In John Lackey?

After last night's 9-3 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, it got a lot of Red Sox fans wondering and pondering the same exact question: What is John Lackey even doing in the starting rotation?

Lackey had another dreadful performance last night as he pitched six and two thirds innings giving up nine earned runs on nine hits and five walks. With this latestdisaster, Lackey fell to 2-5 on the season with an 8.01 ERA, leaving another head-shaking night for Red Sox fans in his wake.

As we all remember, Lackey signed on with the Red Sox two offseasons ago on a five-year, 85 million dollar contract, hoping to team up fellow pitchers Josh Beckett and Jon Lester to form a 'Big Three'. This however was never meant to be.

You see, the Red Sox front office signed Lackey for his competitive spirit and playoff success. To this point, Lackey has yet to help the Red Sox' efforts to make the playoffs, but I have seen him bark at his own teammates for not making plays. At least we got one out of two.

Lackey did finish with a winning record in 2010 at 14-11, but owned a 4.40 ERA, 1.419 WHIP, 12.1 H/9, and a 1.38 SO/BB. Not your typical "ace" numbers.

In 2011, Lackey has been even worse, only making it past the sixth inning twice this season and has just as often failed to even record an out in the fifth.

After Lackey's atrocious performances against the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees, Lackey seemed to be finding himself including an impressive eight inning shutout of the Anaheim Angels, the team that (smartly) cut him loose. However since that start Lackey's been 0-3 with a combined 19 earned runs surrendered, never once striking out as many as he has walked.

So far, John Lackey in a Red Sox Uniform: 16-15, 4.76 ERA, 1.462 WHIP, 10.1 H/9, 2.04 K:BB.

With Lackey under contract through 2014, how much confidence do you have (left) in Big John down the stretch?