BOSTON -- Forget all the catchy, inspirational slogans the Boston Red Sox have used in the past for motivation.

We all know what they were and who said them, so there's no need to rehash any useless catch phrases at this point. In fact, there's nothing cute about the club's new mantra -- it's plain, simple and to the point.

"You can win five games just as quick as you lose five games," said numerous Red Sox players after yesterday's 2-1 loss to the New York Yankees at Fenway Park. That's right. Boston lost all five games during a four-day span and now trail the Bronx Bombers by 6 1/2 games in the A.L. East.

There are 38 games remaining, including four more against the Yankees next month at New York. In the minds of Red Sox players, there's still plenty of baseball to be played. Boston will approach the remainder of its schedule pitch-by-pitch and game-by-game.

As much of a cliché as it sounds -- and there were plenty of those phrases being tossed around the clubhouse yesterday -- the Red Sox have some serious work to do or they can kiss their playoff hopes goodbye.

"We're down, but we're not out," said Red Sox reliever Mike Timlin. "We're not out of this thing. We are the Boston Red Sox."

Those very Boston Red Sox were outpitched, outhit and outplayed by the Yankees during this critical series. The Sox leaned on their veteran starters Curt Schilling and David Wells on Sunday and yesterday, respectively, and both pitched well. Boston's offense, however, went limp.

"It's not easy to take," said Boston manager Terry Francona. "We came into this series thinking we could make up some ground. We were playing the team right in front of us [in the standings]. . . . Everything went about as wrong as it could. David pitched so well and we couldn't generate any offense. It's not been a very good five days. That's probably the understatement of the year."

It's the first time the Red Sox have lost all five games of a series at Fenway since 1954, but history isn't something the current club is worried about. It's the immediate future that is important.

"We have to put it behind us and focus on what we have to do [tonight in Anaheim]," said Red Sox infielder Alex Cora. "It was a tough weekend."

It wasn't too tough on the first-place Yankees.

"Today we were pressing to win all of them and they were pressing to not lose the last one," said a delighted Yankees manager Joe Torre. "I think Corey Lidle was great and we were able to ride the momentum."

Lidle, acquired by New York at the trade deadline, improved to 2-2 after working six scoreless innings and allowing only three hits with five walks and five strikeouts.

Despite seeing his record drop to 2-3, Wells was solid and gave his club 7 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on six hits. The veteran left-hander held the Yanks scoreless through the first five innings, before surrendering an RBI-double to Bobby Abreu in the sixth for a 1-0 lead.

In the eighth, Wells allowed a leadoff double to Nick Green before Melky Cabrera dropped down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runner to third. Francona had seen enough and decided to give Wells the hook. In came Keith Foulke, who was charge with a wild pitch, allowing the eventual game-winning run to cross the plate.

As the run scored and New York took a 2-0 lead, Wells stormed out of the dugout and down the tunnel leading to the clubhouse.

Wily Mo Pena provided the only run for the Red Sox yesterday, belting a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning.

"Tomorrow's another day," said Kevin Youkilis, who watched from the bench yesterday. "We'll play baseball [today]. There's not much else to do than play baseball. We have plenty of confidence in ourselves."

The Red Sox saw that confidence shattered by the Yankees, and now it's off to the West Coast for games against the Angels, Mariners and Athletics. The long flight will give Boston plenty of time for reflection.

"We need to put this behind us and go from there," said Coco Crisp, who struggled mightly against the Yankees. "Tomorrow is going to be rough, but it's a new day and a new series. We need to be positive right now, but we're a little down."

By 6 1/2 games to be exact.