BOSTON — The rain poured on Fenway Park on Sunday. With no more games here for a week, the grounds crew did not bother to put the tarp on.

What this 100-year-old venue needed was a good cleansing.

“It’s been a tough week,” Boston manager Bobby Valentine said. “Let’s hope this is a good psychological day for us.”

On one hand, it’s too bad that the Red Sox could not play Sunday night against the Yankees, getting a chance to move on from Saturday’s disastrous loss, which featured a 9-0 lead turning into a 15-9 defeat.

Then again, maybe it’s best that the team get out of town. The Red Sox begin a seven-game road trip tonight with an 8 p.m. game in Minnesota.

Jon Lester will start tonight as Daniel Bard’s spot in the rotation will be skipped. Bard will be used briefly in the bullpen.

Before you think this is any kind of a shake-up, Bard is scheduled to start again on Friday in Chicago.

“As the plan is now, he is our fifth starter,” Valentine said.

(We will get back later to that interesting word: “now”).

But these Red Sox need to make some kind of change, right? Can Boston fans expect anything different from this team that has put up a 4-10 record so far?

To answer that, Valentine donned his rose-colored glasses.

“I kind of like this team,” he said. “When you’re 4-10, it’s not easy to say everything is going perfectly.

“I think the players are good players, high quality, who are going to win a lot of games.”

How so?

“We obviously are going to pitch better,” he said.

And where is the proof of that?

“We’ve had some good starts. And we’ve had some good relief appearances,” Valentine said. “When you see the good, you think that it can be replicated. I don’t think it’s a fluke.”

Not to point toward the empty half of the glass, but there have been some bad starts, and a whole lot of terrible relief outings.

Maybe it is reasonable to assume a rotation of Lester, Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz, Felix Doubront and Bard will perform better as a group.

But that bullpen.

Last year, Boston anchored its bullpen with Bard in the eighth inning and Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth.

Papelbon left for riches in Philadelphia and Bard became a starter.

“All teams want defined (roles) in the bullpen,” Valentine said. “We don’t have the luxury of past performance to designate these roles, so we’re working on it.”

The onus on general manager Ben Cherington was to rebuild the pen.

Closer Andrew Bailey was traded for. He has a career 2.07 ERA, but missed one month to injury in 2010, and two months in 2011. This year he will miss at least half the season after surgery on his right thumb.

Mark Melancon was traded for to be the eighth-inning guy. Looked like a good deal, but Melancon has lost his command and is getting pounded. He is trying to fix things in Pawtucket.

That has left Alfredo Aceves as the dependable one in the bullpen, and he has been anything but — a 24.00 ERA with opponents batting .400 against him.

“We came into the season with a lot of decisions, and we still have a lot of decisions we have to make,” Valentine said. “I think guys are going to make those decisions easier as the season goes along.”

This is a good time to return to Valentine’s previous comment about Bard being a starter “as the plan is now.”

“Now” could be for the rest of this month.

Starting pitcher Aaron Cook, 33, is a pitcher with a history of injuries, but he is looking healthy in Pawtucket (2-0, 1.35 ERA in three starts/20 innings). Cook has an opt-out clause in his contract if he’s not promoted to Boston by May.

If the Red Sox promote Cook, a starter will have to go to the bullpen.

Guess who?

Then there is the matter of Daisuke Matsuzaka. He begins a rehab assignment tonight in Salem (and maybe Portland by next weekend?). If all goes well, he will be in Boston in a month.

It’s feasible that Doubront also goes to the pen.

More help is on the way as left-handed reliever Rich Hill is finishing up his rehab stint with Pawtucket. So is Andrew Miller, but his contribution is in question, until he consistently commands his fastball.

So there is hope.

Maybe Valentine has reason to be optimistic.

The manager said he is not content, however, even if Cherington gave him a vote of confidence on Saturday night.

“I’m not satisfied with the job I’ve done,” Valentine said. “I don’t need to hear from Ben or ownership or fans or anyone else. I’ve got to do better.

“The record is the only thing a manager is judged by. I don’t accept four wins in 14 games.”

Without a better bullpen, he may never be satisfied.

Portland Press Herald writer Kevin Thomas can be reached at 791-6411 or: [email protected]