Masterson is getting seasoned to get into that role - his promotion to the bullpen will itself . As long as the Sox can keep their heads above water, I have pretty good faith that they'll at least make the playoffs.
I understand your frustration with Okajima, but he's not necessarily a "fluke" like you've titled him. If anything, we should have expected that Okajima was going to be nothing more than a buddy for Dice-K when we first brought him over here from Japan. No one saw his 2007 season coming. The main difference though, is that, for some reason his splitter just isn't dipping at the end.
I don't argue about their road struggles, but I think calling a team who won the world series a season ago, such as this one, not a playoff team is a bit much in my opinion.