It was a nice little daydream while it lasted.

For the first two months of the season, two months that saw the Sox jumped out to the front of the pack in the AL East, we couldn’t help but think about Plan B. As the back end of the pitching rotation began to crumble, we thought Roger Clemens would ride in on a white horse and save the day.

Instead, he’s heading back to the Astros, pitching for his hometown team, beginning his prep work with a start for a minor-league team that already has a Clemens on the roster – his son, Koby.

It’s a safe landing for Clemens, who will be spending his retirement in suburban Houston, where he has deep roots.

It also leaves the Sox without a safety net. The idea that Clemens would finish his career where it began made a lot of sense. It would bring his career full circle, and it would give the Sox an overwhelmingly strong top of the order with Clemens, Curt Schilling, and Josh Beckett.

The daily grind of a baseball season doesn’t allow time for dwelling on “what ifs,” so I’m not hear to bemoan the lack of Clemens. No, we’re here to talk about what the Red Sox do have, and that’s a rotation that is severely lacking the depth we had hoped to see over the course of this summer.

We know what the Sox have in Schilling, Beckett, and even Tim Wakefield. After that, all bets are off. Matt Clement looks more and more lost with each start. And 22-year old David Pauley was thrown to the wolves Wednesday night in Toronto and will be pitching at (gulp) Yankee Stadium on Tuesday.

Since we can’t daydream about No. 21 coming back to save the day, what can we hope for when it comes to Sox pitching?

Heralded lefty Jon Lester may be getting closer to his MLB debut – it could even happen next weekend when the Sox play a four-game, three-day series with Texas. It might not be the start of a permanent stay, but Lester could be this season’s Jonathan Papelbon. Lester was purposely kept on a low pitch count at the start of the season, a plan to keep his total innings down with the hope he could finish the season in Boston.

Craig Hansen has now made three starts in Pawtucket. This winter, we wondered if Hansen would join the Sox as a closer by midseason. Now that the closer situation is solved, we can’t help but wonder if Hansen could still come to Boston by August, but in a different role.

The Sox will undoubtedly need pitching help before this season ends. It might come from Pawtucket, or it might come from a trade, but it will have to come from somewhere. We just know it won’t be coming from Katy, Texas.

At least Clemens is not going to New York. The Yankees have their own pitching problems to figure out, and we certainly didn’t need the Rocket returning to Fenway with the Bronx Bombers.

Lewiston native Tom Caron is studio host for Boston Red Sox telecasts on NESN.