Let the healing begin.

The Red Sox' team meeting before the game was probably helpful in some fashion, but nothing you want to rely on too heavily for fear of not reaping the proper immediate results. And subsequent high-fives and clubhouse camaraderie that follows such an organized endeavor couldn't hurt. But there was one thing, and one thing only, that allowed the Sox to take the biggest step toward becoming the kind of cohesive unit some have failed to identify them as thus far ...

Red Sox 17, Angels 8.

"I think chemistry is [expletive] as long as you have good guys. I do believe one guy can tear up a clubhouse, But chemistry tends to be very good when you win, and tends to be not as good when you lose," Mike Lowell said after going 4-for-4 in his team's win. "Today, we had great chemistry."

Getting swept in Baltimore, while starting the season with an 11-14 record, will lead to all kind of whispers, and some of them have centered around the possibility of the Red Sox clubhouse being a bit disjointed. The combination of veterans with diminished roles, coupled with nine new faces (and personalities) on the big league team, has a faction of the fandom wondering if it is a clubhouse concoction that has contributed to the Sox' slow start.

And then there are comments like the one in The Boston Herald coming from a "clubhouse source" saying, "There's no accountability."

So, the question was raised after the Red Sox' win: Does this team have a chemistry problem? The consensus: not as long as it starts turning in more games like Monday night.

"We've got good guys here. Everybody gets along," said Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett. "I was actually noticing this the other day, that we've got an abnormal amount of beer-drinking buddies. Not that we drink too much beer, but that we get along. We had 15 guys go to dinner for three straight nights on that first road trip. When we start putting things together like I know this team is going to do everybody is going to be talking about what great chemistry we have. To me, winning cures all."

Beckett also points out that in those early season get-togethers he referenced, many of the participants were the newcomers some outsiders feel haven't fit the mold of previous Red Sox players. 

Still, it will be those new faces who will be put under the microscope more than most after each loss. Their teammates know it, and they know. It just comes with the territory. (For example: "I take full responsibility for our start," third baseman Adrian Beltre said on a night when he made another error but also hit his first Fenway Park home run.)

As an example, in 2007 J.D. Drew and Julio Lugo were both beginning their first seasons with the Red Sox, each playing prominent roles with sizable contracts. After the last day of May Drew was hitting .226 while Lugo's batting average stood at .230. Another newbie to the Sox lineup, then-rookie Dustin Pedroia, headed toward May 5 with a .180 average. Yet, there was little talk of dissension or how each player's presence was steering the clubhouse off course. Why? Because by the time Pedroia started his ascension in early May the Sox had already won 19-of-29 games, and when Drew and Lugo dove into what would be much-improved Junes their new team had built a 36-16 mark.

As Beckett said, winning does cure all, or at least silences a good deal of those whispers.

"We've played 26 games. We're 12-14. We have a lot of work to do. I don't think it has anything to do with chemistry," Pedroia said. "If you play good, everybody says you have great chemistry. We're grinding it out, man. Boston's a city where you just have to go in full-bore and just play, man. After 162 games we'll see where we're at. Obviously, we haven't played good so far, but I don't think 26 games are going to make or break our team.

"When you win it's not magnified. When you're 12-14 everybody jumps on the new guys like it's their fault. It's not their fault. Nobody has played unbelievable. There's a few guys who have played good, but the new guys have been fine. Boston is different, man. They demand you go out there every day and play your butt off and try to win. It takes some time to get used to, but once you get used to it, man, there's nothing like playing here. It's the best place in the world. Everybody needs to take a deep breath and do what we did tonight."

The one altered dynamic some of the players in the clubhouse might admit to is the difference that pressing might have brought about. When the games count, mistakes are being made, and so are first impressions, expressing the frivolity that was often found each morning in the City of Palms Park home clubhouse back in spring training isn't easily uncovered. 

Factor in that the pressure cooker that is playing in Boston, and personalities undoubtedly can get suppressed.

"A night like tonight," Red Sox utilityman Bill Hall said, "helps everybody go back to the person they are, and that's great ballplayers."

Then there is the other changed element that people will point to when trying to identify a difference in this clubhouse compared to years past, that of altered roles for some players who had established themselves both as everyday leaders and contributors. Tim Wakefield is in the bullpen. Mike Lowell and David Ortiz have become a platoon. And Jason Varitek, the captain, is now a backup.

The individual frustration will continue be hard for any of these veterans to hide, a notion that we were reminded of with Lowell's comments following the Red Sox' Monday night win. "I understand the situation," he said. "It does seem at times where you think you're on a tryout basis, just because I think we're feeling things out as a team. If I can make that decision as hard as possible, it means I'm doing something good."

But, at least according to Lowell himself, the awkwardness of sporadic playing time hasn't affected the clubhouse vibe which goes a long way in defining the team's success.

"I don't really buy into that," Lowell said of the notion that the Red Sox have a chemistry problem. "I think most guys are good guys, but, again, one guy can tear down a clubhouse." And, is that one "guy" present? "No, absolutely not," he continued. "If he was, everybody would know about it."