Lester’s dominance not enough; Sox skid extends to six

Cleveland --- The Red Sox “getting outplayed” is slowly becoming the theme of this young season as their record now stands at 0-6. Jon Lester turned in a gem, allowing three hits, three walks, and striking out nine over seven shutout innings. Unfortunately it was not enough as Cleveland Indians starter Fausto Carmona was equally sharp in the Red Sox 1-0 loss.

The Sox are now off to their worst start since 1945, and are heading home to face the New York Yankees. “It's one of those things where we're frustrated as hell because we never thought we'd be here," said Red Sox third baseman, Kevin Youkilis. "But we are here so you gotta deal with it.”

The Red Sox could use some home cooking. In their six games on the road they have scored a total of 16 runs while allowing 38. The sputtering offense has been highlighted by players like Carl Crawford (4 for 23) and Youkilis (2 for 19).

The Sox were poised to make a run in the top of the eighth inning when Dustin Pedroia was at the plate with runners at second and third with two outs. He ended up grounding softly back to reliever Rafael Perez to end the threat. The Indians then took the lead in the bottom of the eighth after Asdrubal Cabrera executed a perfect squeeze bunt to score Adam Everett from third. A Sox rally was cut short in the ninth when pinch-runner, Darnell McDonald made a base-running blunder on an infield single by JD Drew. That was one of the many breaks the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers caught against a Boston team that is struggling to make any noise so far in 2011.

The Red Sox are aching to return to the friendly confines of Fenway, where they feel they might be able to get something going against their division rivals. “We have great fans on our side that will bring us out of this," said Kevin Youkilis. "We thrive on them and I know they thrive on us.” One thing is certain, if the Red Sox want to reverse their fortunes, it has to happen this weekend, at home against the Yankees. The losing ends now.