The Oakland A's Road Trip

Shank joins the Red Sox on their annual trip to Oakland to play the Athletics. So far he wrote two columns while in Oakland, the first noting the number of former Red Sox on the A's roster, and what a lovable dump their ballpark is.

The second column, a game recap of the Saturday game, naturally comes after a 3 - 0 Red Sox loss. It seems to be a general rule of Shank's only to write about the Red Sox after a loss:

OAKLAND, Calif. — They started the season in New York, still shamed by 2012, promoting Jackie Bradley Jr. as the face of the franchise, admitting their phony sellout streak soon would end, and hoping to return to respectability. New manager John Farrell said he liked his team and Boston’s embattled ownership group promised “What’s Broken Can Be Fixed.’’

Sunday night the first-place Red Sox pause for the All-Star break. David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, and Clay Buchholz will travel to New York for the Midsummer Classic, while their teammates go home for a well-deserved rest.

After stumbling through their worst season in 47 years, the 2013 Red Sox own the best record in the American League, and a significant lead (3½ games entering Sunday) in the ever-competitive AL East. The Sox have 58 wins, tops in franchise history at the All-Star break.

How did this happen?

Eventually there will come a day where the near-constant reminders by Shank of how awful the 2012 Boston Red Sox were will run its course and deprive him of his much needed cudgel to bash the Red Sox over and over and over. Today is not that day.