After finishing up a six-game homestand with a convincing win over Pittsburgh, Boston looks to take a better show on the road.

09:41 AM EDT on Monday, June 20, 2005

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

BOSTON -- With a convincing 8-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates just minutes old, it was only natural that the Red Sox clubhouse was a jovial and noisy place late yesterday afternoon.

AP photo

David Ortiz, right, heads out of the box after belting a two-run triple in the third inning yesterday, narrowly missing a home run. Catching for the Pirates is Humberto Coya.

Music blared and the mood was decidedly upbeat after the sixth shutout of the season. But it would have been perfectly understandable if a whiff of apprehension was detected.

Fun time is over for the Sox for now. Yesterday's roll over the Pirates left the Sox with an impressive 5-1 mark on the just-completed homestand and improved their record at Fenway this season to 22-10.

But the Sox packed to leave their safe haven and begin a six-game road trip tonight. The Sox are just 16-20 away from home, and the 20 losses on the road rank them behind only Kansas City, Tampa Bay and Oakland in the American League.

"Fenway has treated us very well," said Johnny Damon, who sat out yesterday's shellacking with a sore shoulder. "The fans are behind us and give us a lot of intensity at home. But we've just stunk on the road."

The last time the Sox ventured away from home, they went 2-4 and gave up a staggering 37 runs in the four losses. Over their last three trips combined, the Sox are a woeful 6-12, going 2-4 each time.

Worse, they run into the white-hot Cleveland Indians beginning

tonight, winners of nine straight.

"We need to score some runs early and it starts with me," said Damon. "It seems like it takes a couple of days for us to get used to another ballpark, but we can't afford that. We need to get some early leads and build on them."

The Sox were unsuccessful on their last road swing, getting blown out early in three of their four losses. It would help if the Sox could get the kind of starting pitching on the road that they received on this homestand, when they compiled a 1.71 E.R.A. over the last six games.

Matt Clement checked the Pirates on just three hits over the first seven innings, and the Pirates placed just two runners in scoring position all afternoon.

Starters lasted six innings or more in all six of the games on the homestand, giving the bullpen a breather from the workload on the road.

"We got enough starting pitching where we look like a real solid staff," said manager Terry Francona, "and I don't know that everybody felt that (coming home from the most recent trip)."

Even with a lineup that was missing Damon and Manny Ramirez (leg bruise), the Sox did plenty of mashing.

After Bill Mueller (sacrifice fly) delivered the only run the Sox would need in the second, the Sox beat up on Kip Wells in the third with six hits and five more runs. Two came on a monster triple from David Oritz, a blast that missed landing in the center field bleachers by no more than two feet.

A sacrifice fly from Kevin Millar -- his first of two -- and Jay Payton's two-run homer that cleared the Monster Seats further padded the lead. Even with a makeshift lineup, seven of the starters collected at least one hit and four different hitters produced two RBI.

"We don't want to miss Johnny and Manny for a long period of time. obviously," said Francona. "But I was actually pretty comfortable with the lineup we put out there."

Still, it begins with the pitching. At Fenway, the club sports a collective 3.94 E.R.A.; on the road, the number swells to 5.46, more than a run and a half higher. David Wells, who has been brilliant in each of his last two outings, will attempt to take the Fenway momentum on the road and keep it going.

"We've got to go out and concentrate on winning some games," said Millar. "We'll take 'em one at a time. Early in the year, we weren't hitting or pitching (well). But we're playing much better of late."

At home, that is. The challenge now is to transfer that play to the road.