Bridgeview, IL (Sports Network) - Polish striker Tomasz Frankowski scored two goals, Mexican midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco scored a goal and an assist and American forward Chad Barrett scored a goal and an assist - all in the first 45 minutes - to lead the Chicago Fire to a dominating 4-0 win over Eastern Conference rivals the New England Revolution in Major League Soccer action on Thursday night.

"I spoke with Chad Barrett before the game and he told me that every year there is a big rivalry with New England and this battle we won," Frankowski said.

It was a much different display by both teams compared to their season opening fixtures this past weekend.

On First Kick weekend, the only offense the Fire could come up with at Real Salt Lake was an injury time goal by Blanco to earn a 1-1 draw while the Revs dominated back-to-back defending MLS Champions Houston, 3-0, at Gillette Stadium.

In Thursday's match, the Fire jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute after Barrett one-timed a Justin Mapp pass home from about 10 yards out. Mapp controlled the ball on the left wing after taking a pass from Blanco in the midfield. He drove toward the goal and crossed to Barrett in the penalty area to create the chance.

"The guys were into it tonight and got a great first goal," Chicago coach Denis Hamlett said. "I think that was a great start to the evening, and our guys came ready to play."

The Fire, who were already up a goal, went up a man as well just three minutes later when Revs' midfielder Jeff Larentowicz was given a questionable straight red card for a studs up tackle in the midfield. Revs captain Shalrie Joseph was also booked on the play for arguing with referee Baldomero Toledo following the play.

From that point on, everything seemed to go the Fire's way.

"It was a bad start, absolutely, but the sending off completely spoiled the game," Revs coach Steve Nicol said.

"Obviously playing a man up is huge and we kept the ball moving," said Fire 'keeper Jon Busch, who made five saves to earn his first clean sheet of the season. "It was definitely an advantage for us."

In the 22nd minute the home side doubled its lead when Blanco played a ball to Barrett breaking in the box. Barrett hustled to the endline, muscled around reigning MLS defender of the year Michael Parkhurst and fired on goal. The ball hit a defender and bounced around in the six-yard box before Frankowski fired home for his first MLS goal.

"We've seen all preseason his (Frankowski) ability running in the box," Hamlett said. "You saw it tonight. He gets half a chance on goal and he's pretty good as far as finishing."

Mapp was taken down by Sainey Nyassi in the penalty area 15 minutes later to earn a penalty kick that Blanco fired home for his second goal of the season before Frankowski added another goal in the 39th to close out the scoring.

"It was definitely a learning game for us, a learning half, and I think in the second half we did all right," New England 'keeper Matt Reis said. "We created a chance or two down a man and we limited their chances. Obviously they weren't throwing everything forward because they had a comfortable lead but under the circumstances we did well in the second half."

The Fire (1-0-1) will look to build on their impressive effort when they travel to San Jose to take on the Earthquakes on April 12 in their next league fixture while the Revolution (1-1-0) will look to rebound at Kansas City on Wednesday.

"Hopefully that game Wednesday will come real quick because we still have a lot to prove," Parkhurst said.