Before the first know-it-all reminds me, I’m fully aware that the 2010 MLB season is only 13 games old. We’re not even a quarter of the way through the season and considering teams go on winning and losing streaks all the time, it’s hardly time to hit the panic button.

That said, what the hell was that, Red Sox?

The Rays are a damn fine baseball club, one that will compete for the AL Wild Card throughout the year as long as their pitching stays consistent. I’m completely fine with residing to the fact that the Rays are just better than the Red Sox, but even as good as Tampa is, its not that good to walk into Fenway and make Boston look like the Orioles. In their four-game sweep, the Rays outscored Boston 24-9 even though they faced Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and John Lackey. That’s unprecedented.

The Red Sox are now 4-9 to start he season, which is their worst record after 13 games in 15 years. Given how good their pitching is and how much veteran talent they have on their roster, the Sox aren’t going to be this bad all season. In fact, they could easily put together a nice run over the next couple weeks, get back to .500 and put this slow start behind them.

But in order for them to do that, they’re going to have to give a better effort then they did this past weekend. It’s not a matter of Tampa outplaying them – Boston looked slow, old and completely unmotivated for the series. It was almost like the Red Sox were playing in slow motion as the fast, youthful, more energetic Rays ran circles around them.

Granted, Mike Cameron was playing with kidney stones and abdominal pain during three of the games and Jacoby Ellsbury missed all four due to a rib injury. John Lackey certainly could have used more defensive help on Monday, but then again, Cameron and Ellsbury’s injuries weren’t the main reason he was lit up for eight runs in 3 1/3 innings. He just didn’t have it today.

Again, it’s early. But Red Sox fans can’t be too encouraged after the piss poor effort their club gave over the last four games.

Photo from fOTOGLIF