Can we pretend this west coast trip never happened? The last seven days have been dismal against two below .500 teams the Red Sox should have had no trouble beating. But they did have trouble… lots of trouble.

The Sox return home to Boston after going just two and five and being swept by the Oakland A’s. And now, they have just one day to wallow in their sorrow before starting a tough three-day, four-game series with the first place Yankees. The team comes into this series 7.5 games back and could make a real surge in the AL East… if they can pull themselves together, that is. That’s a big IF.

In the three-game series with the A’s, the Red Sox managed to score just five runs. Total. Yes, total. Although one of those runs happened to be a milestone for David Ortiz. Big Papi launched his 400th career home run for some fireworks on his own yesterday and at the time, tied the score at one. And that was about it for offensive excitement as the line up could muster just three hits. Depressing. Cody Ross expressed his frustration to reporters after the game.

“Our offense has just been terrible. Don’t want to sugarcoat it. It [stunk], basically,” said Red Sox outfielder Cody Ross. “Our pitchers have been pitching their butts off and keeping us in games. We just can’t seem to push anything across. Tough road trip.”

Aaron Cook, who was brilliant in his last outing, gave up three runs on nine hits in six innings. Not a bad outing if your offense shows up to play and gives you a little run support.

The A’s were fueled by strong performances by their platoon of former Red Sox players. Brandon Moss went 6 for 8 with a home run in the series and both Josh Reddick and Coco Crisp hit round trippers as well.

I swear I am about eight seconds from throwing up my hands and completely giving up on this team. But I won’t. I can’t. They’ve been my team since I was old enough to say the word baseball and I couldn’t just abandon them in their time of need. Could I? I would make my summer a lot less frustrating. Ok… I’ll give ‘em a few more weeks.

Click here for the dud of a box score, courtesy of the Red Sox. The Sox have an off day today to rest up for the upcoming battle with the Yankees. Josh Beckett (4-7, 4.06) takes on Hiroki Kuroda (8-7, 3.17) Friday night at 7:10pm. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t quaking in my flip flops right now. Especially after the past week’s performances.