Might as well end the season now

A good test of someone's sanity and how much of a prisoner of the moment they are is to gauge their viewpoint after a baseball team has been swept in April.

If you freak out and start talking like the season is over, like the Boston Globe's over-the-hill Dan Saughnessy, you have completely lost touch with reality and it's best for everyone if you retire this second.

The Boston Red Sox started their 2011 season in about the worst possible fashion: getting swept in Texas by the Rangers.

Last season's AL champs, the Rangers (3-0) wrapped up the laughable beating with a 5-1 win yesterday afternoon at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Red Sox (0-3) starter Clay Buchholz (6.1 innings, 5 hits, 4 earned runs, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts) was no match for a Texas lineup that churned out 11 home runs in the three lopsided victories.

Ian Kinsler and Nelson Cruz became the first teammates to start a season with homers in three consecutive games.

The reason I'm not panicking one iota is that the baseball season is so ridiculously long. Sorry Dan, a three-game sample in April tells us nothing about how this team will play in the summer or fall. You also have to give Texas credit, this wasn't the Kansas City Royals that were looking like world-beaters.

Rangers starter Matt Harrison pitched what I would venture to guess was probably his best game in the majors: 7 innings, 5 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks and eight strikeouts.

Carl Crawford was about the only bright spot for Boston. He was temporarily dropped from third to seventh in the lineup (ahhhh!) but responded with the first two hits of his Red Sox career, including an RBI single in the seventh.

Texas got solo homers in the second, third, fifth and seventh inning from David Murphy, Kinsler, Mike Napoli and Cruz respectively.

Michael Young added an RBI double in the eighth off Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. Pap hadn't gotten a chance to pitch all weekend so he was thrown into a 4-1 deficit and promptly gave up two hits and a walk before striking out the side with the bases loaded. Makes sense. Get used to a lot of white-knuckle work by Papelbon, who no longer has great stuff.

Boston mercifully gets today off before beginning a three-game series in Cleveland tomorrow. Josh Beckett takes the mound tomorrow night and will try to get the Red Sox in the win column for 2011. If the terrible Indians roll over the Red Sox, then we'll really have something to talk about.

John Lackey is hopeless

Oh John Lackey, you make it too easy.

While the rest of the United States was captivated by the NCAA basketball men's Final Four (count me among them), the Boston Red Sox were getting smoked by the Texas Rangers last night.

Every Ranger had a hit (15 total) as Texas (2-0) rolled to a 12-5 win over Boston (0-2) at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

As I predicted, this one wasn't a pitcher's duel. Well at least Colby Lewis showed up (6 innings, 6 hits, 3 earned runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts). Lackey (3.2 innings, 10 hits, 9 earned runs, 2 walks, 3 strikeouts) couldn't make it out of the fourth inning. Yikes.

It's only a matter of time before Lackey is moved to third or even fourth in the rotation, assuming that Josh Beckett is a shell of his former self. Nobody not named Lackey can honestly believe he's a No. 2 starter on an AL East team and a World Series contender.

Ian Kinsler had a leadoff homer for the second straight game but David Ortiz answered with a two-run bomb, his second of the season, in the second inning for a 2-1 Boston lead.

That's when the wheels started to fall off for Lackey and the Red Sox. Elvis Andrus (3 hits, 2 runs, 2 RBIs) had an RBI triple in the third and Josh Hamilton (2 hits, stolen base) added an RBI single.

Ortiz tied it at 3 with an RBI groundout in the fourth but Texas exploded with six runs in the fourth. Julio Borbon (2 hits) had an RBI triple and Andrus had an RBI double. Former Red Sox Adrian Beltre took any intrigue out of this one with a grand slam off Lackey.

All that was left was to pad the stats for the Rangers as Yorvit Torrealba took Dan Wheeler deep (two-run homer in the fifth) and Nelson Cruz hit a solo homer off Tim Wakefield in the sixth.

The only other highlight for Boston was Jacoby Ellsbury's two-run homer in the seventh.

The Red Sox will try to avoid the sweep and an unsightly 0-3 start this afternoon as Clay Buchholz faces Matt Harrison. That matchup clearly favors Boston so Buchholz needs to settle down his team and quiet the Rangers' potent lineup.

Red Sox bullpen blows Opening Day and it wasn't even Papelbon's fault

Opening Day is one of baseball's special moments. The season begins anew and even the hopeless franchises have something to celebrate for a day.

Seeing your newest players in action is always a highlight and yesterday, Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford couldn't have scripted much different debuts for the Boston Red Sox.

Gonzalez had two hits and three RBIs while Crawford was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts as the Sox lost 9-5 to the Texas Rangers at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Neither starting pitcher did much as Jon Lester (5.1 innings, 6 hits, 5 earned runs, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts, 3 home runs) and C.J. Wilson (5.2 innings, 6 hits, 4 runs (2 earned), 2 walks, 6 strikeouts) looked better suited for some extended Spring Training.

The most surprising aspect was that Boston's bullpen imploded and yet Jonathan Papelbon didn't even get a shot to screw it up.

David Ortiz tied it up at five with a solo shot off Darren Oliver in the eighth inning but Texas scored four times in the home half of the inning.

Josh Bard was charged with four earned runs as David Murphy started it off with a two-run double down the left field line that hit the chalk. Elvis Andrus and Josh Hamilton followed with RBI doubles of their own and it was game over.

Boston was not going to score one run let alone four off All-Star closer Neftali Feliz.

The Red Sox got off to a nice start with two unearned runs in their first at bats of the season. Rangers center fielder Julio Borbon dropped a routine fly ball and Kevin Youkilis took advantage by knocking in Jacoby Ellsbury (2 hits, 2 runs, walk, steal) with an RBI double. Gonzalez kept the line moving with an RBI single in his first plate appearance for the Red Sox.

The defending AL champions got to work immediately and Ian Kinsler hit a lead-off homer against Lester in the bottom of the first, cutting it to 2-1.

Nelson Cruz (2 hits, 2 runs) tied it in the second with another solo homer.

Gonzalez came through once again with a timely hit, a two-run single in the fourth gave Boston a 4-2 lead.

Mike Napoli (2 hits, 2 runs) wrestled the lead back for the Rangers with a three-run bomb in the fourth inning (5-4 Rangers). Lester only allowed 14 home runs last season but he gave up three yesterday.

Boston's 1-6 in the lineup is lethal but it's clear that 7-9 is likely to be a black hole. Yesterday against the lefty Wilson, Mike Cameron, Jarrod Saltlamacchia and Marco Scutaro combined to go 0-for-11 with three strikeouts.

John Lackey goes for the Red Sox tonight and he'll be opposed by Colby Lewis. Needless to say, expect a high-scoring game.

Winning on the road is overrated

The Red Sox concluded their weekend series in Texas yesterday with a 4-3 loss.

Boston (66-51) has now lost three series in a row and four out of five but who's counting?

Pitching hasn't been the issue lately as the Sox' starters for the most part are having decent outings. The offense is the culprit is timely hitting seems to be a foreign concept. It seems like the only way Boston scores on the road is via solo homers.

Rookie Junichi Tazawa (1-2) made his third appearance, second start, and it wasn't as good as his first start against the Tigers last week.

In five innings, he allowed four earned runs on ten hits with three walks and no strikeouts.

With the win, the Rangers (66-50) flip-flopped with the Sox and now lead the AL wild card by half a game. The season series is over and Texas won seven of the nine games between the teams. It's also troubling that the Sox' biggest competition for the wild card, Tampa Bay and Texas, own Boston this season.

Dustin Nippert (4-1) pitched well for Texas, going six strong innings. In 95 degree heat, he allowed two earned runs on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

After the worst outing of his career on Friday night, Rangers closer Frank Francisco bounced back with a 1-2-3 ninth yesterday for his 17th save.

David Ortiz (2 runs, 2 walks) hit his second homer of the series, a solo homer in the second which gave the Sox a 1-0 lead.

Ian Kinsler responded with a solo shot of his own in the home half of the inning. Texas went up 3-1 in the third with a Josh Hamilton (everybody's favorite recovering addict) RBI double and Kinsler's RBI single.

Recently promoted Brian Anderson cut it to 3-2 Texas with a sacrifice fly in the fourth but Taylor Teagarden hit a bomb of Tazawa to open the sixth.

Dustin Pedroia hit a solo homer in the seventh (see the theme?) but that was as close as the Red Sox would get.

Victor Martinez (2 hits) was the only Boston player with more than one hit in the game.

An off day today is followed by three in Toronto beginning tomorrow. The Blue Jays are playing the role of spoiler as usual but the Sox will have their hands full as they have to face Roy Halladay and Ricky Romero.

I'm sure Adam LaRoche will turn everything around

The Red Sox finished a terrible post-All-Star game road trip in fitting fashion last night, with a 3-1 loss to Texas, giving the Rangers the sweep.

Boston (55-39) has now lost a season-high five games in a row and they're two games behind the Yankees for first place in the AL East.

Vincente Padilla was scratched before the game and Texas (52-41) was forced to start Dustin Nippert. If you know anything about the Sox in the last decade, they can solve most top of the rotation starters but for some reason they often struggle against journeymen and young guys.

Nick Green gave Boston a 1-0 lead in the third with a solo homer.

In his second start of the season, Clay Buchholz (1-1) worked slowly and didn't have his A stuff. Your favorite laptop stealer lasted four innings, giving up three earned runs on six hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

Nippert (2-0) as expected, baffled the Sox and got the win. He went 5.2 innings, allowing a run on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

Fantasy stud Ian Kinsler improved on his 20-20 season with a solo homer (his 23rd) in the third and a steal (his 21st). Believe it or not, the Rangers also beat the Red Sox using small ball. George W. Bush is rolling over in his grave!

In the fourth, Taylor Teagarden's groundout scored a run then Elvis Andrus' squeeze scored former Sox great David Murphy.

The bigger news of the day, considering the shitty on-field performance, was that Boston acquired Pirates first baseman Adam LaRoche for two no-name prospects (that I'm too lazy to look up) and the Cardinals traded Chris Duncan for Julio Lugo.

Neither guy is going to change the pennant race but LaRoche allows the Red Sox to rest Mike Lowell more when necessary and he gives them another option against righties. He also has a history of stronger second halves.

As for Duncan, he's starting out in Pawtucket so who knows when (if ever) he'll be called up to the big club but the fact that Lugo was traded for another human being is mind-blowing.

Mercifully, Boston flew home last night and have today off before starting a series tomorrow against the Baltimore Orioles.