COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jason Garey scored twice and Guillermo Barros Schelotto had a goal and two assists to lead the Columbus Crew to a 4-0 victory over the New England Revolution, last night.

Andy Iro also scored for the Crew (13-6-4), who lead the Eastern Conference with MLS' best record.

New England (11-7-5) trails the Crew by five points.

Schelotto opend the scoring in the 40th minute, beating Revolution midfielder Chris Tierney to reach a stray ball near the New England penalty spot and sending a shot back across his body to beat goalkeeper Matt Reis for his sixth goal.

Five minutes later, Schelotto sent a bending free kick across the pitch that Iro headed into the back of the net for his first goal.

In the 67th minute, Schelotto chipped the ball over the last New England defender and onto Garey's chest and the forward then put the ball past the onrushing Reis for his second goal of the season.

Garey capped the scoring for Columbus in the 90th minute after being freed past the New England defense by Pat Noonan with a long, leading through ball.

"I think it's good for our confidence," Garey said of the lopsided win. "We came out hard.... New England didn't even have a chance to get into the game at all."

Prior to that goal, Schelotto had scored or assisted on 10 straight goals for Columbus, a streak spanning four games. His 18 assists this season places him in a tie for third place in MLS history, with seven games left.

Revolution coach Steve Nicol blamed his team's lackadaisical performance was due to its recent participation in the SuperLiga and the CONCACAF Champions League along with its regular MLS schedule.

"When you can't run, you can't compete," Nicol said. "And we can't run.... We traveled 20,000 miles...we played a game every four days. It's a practical impossibility."

Reis finished the game with nine saves on 27 shots from the Crew, and watched the ball carom off the goalframe twice.

Columbus goalkeeper William Hesmer was tested only once in the game.