DHL Dan CCLXII - High Hopes

In this week's Picked Up Pieces column, Shank's feel good team this week is... the New England Patriots?

Despite back-to-back 4-13 seasons, the Patriots are somehow the feel-good team of New England, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces on the road to Cooperstown …

⋅ The Patriots are coming off back-to-back 4-13 seasons. They’re working with their third head coach in three seasons and have a second-year quarterback with only 13 NFL games under his belt. They haven’t won a playoff game since Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and Ernie Adams copped Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta 6½ years ago.

And yet, they are the feel-good team of our traditionally cynical sports region.

True fact.

The Bruins are a mess and Spoked-B fans are calling for the heads of Cam Neely and Don Sweeney.

The Celtics won a championship a little more than a year ago, but Jayson Tatum is out for the year, two starters have been traded, another pair of regulars left via free agency, and the team is expected to sink to the middle of the Eastern Conference. The NBA’s dreaded “second apron” collective bargaining penalties have done more damage to the Green franchise than anything since John Y. Brown. Now Marcus Smart is a Laker. Mercy!

The interesting-but-annoying Red Sox gave us a nice summer lift with a Tomato-Can-infused 10-game winning streak, but they started their post-All-Star break by losing 4 of 6 to real teams, and now face the trade deadline. The Sox have not played winning baseball after the deadline since 2018. What other team can lose in extra innings without letting the opponent put a ball in play?

Shank sure loved the Red Sox... for an entire week!

DHL Dan CCLXI - Hope Springs Eternal

In this week's Picked up Pieces column, Shank reflects on the recent ten game winning streak by the Red Sox:

The Red Sox’ long winning streak could be a clear indication that this season will indeed be memorable, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while remembering the words of Crash Davis, who said, “A player on a streak has to respect the streak. You know why? Because they don’t happen very often.”

⋅ The Red Sox’ 10-game winning streak leading into the All-Star break is a thing of beauty that should be embraced, celebrated, and respected. Streaks like this don’t happen very often.

The streak ended Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field when the Sox were stuffed by the Chicago Cubs, 4-1. But the good news is that, Sox winning streaks of 10 or more games have unfolded during some of the team’s most successful and memorable seasons.

The 2018 Sox, managed by Alex Cora, won 10 straight en route to 119 wins and the franchise’s most recent world championship. That’s when general manager Dave Dombrowski had an unlimited budget, building a team that won 108 regular-season games, then went 11-3 in the postseason, wiping out the Dodgers in a five-game World Series. It might be the greatest Red Sox team of all time.

DHL Dan CCLX - The Trump Bump?

In this week's picked up Pieces column, Shank can't help but notice a possible cause and effect:

After a visit to the White House, the Red Sox have been in command, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while taking the temperature of your white-hot Boston Red Sox . . .

Is this it? Are the Red Sox finally ready to take flight? After winning six straight against tomato cans Washington and Colorado, the Sox just won three consecutive one-run games against the estimable Tampa Rays, winning Saturday in a 2-hour-8-minute, 100-pitch, 1-0 classic delivered by All-Star ace Garret Crochet.

I know this much. The Red Sox haven’t lost since a bunch of players visited with President Trump in the Oval Office a week ago Thursday. The Sox go into Sunday’s series finale with nine straight wins — their longest streak in four years — winners of 11 of 12 and are a season-high seven games over .500. They are 23-11 since June 3.

So. Much. Winning.

DHL Dan CCLIX - Talent Needed

Shank's weekly column longs for the return of Red Auerbach and his renowed trading prowess:

Longing for good old days of Celtics trades for championship-caliber talent, not payroll flexibility, and other thoughts

Picked-up pieces while cursing the first person who uttered “payroll flexibility” …

Remember way back in June 1983 when Red Auerbach traded lumbering center Rick Robey to the Phoenix Suns for controversial guard Dennis Johnson? That was in the good old days when Red’s cigar was just a cigar and an NBA trade was just a trade — a debatable swap of talents.

I miss those days. Sure, there were often forgettable draft picks tossed into the deals, and occasionally some petty cash changed hands, but for the most part it was talent for talent and fans enjoyed making a case that the Celtics had maybe given up too much or (more likely with Red) won the deal and acquired a better player who’d help win another banner. Hello, DJ.

We loved it. Through the years, the Celtics traded Paul Westphal for Charlie Scott, Cedric Maxwell for Bill Walton, and let’s not forget Red’s Mormon grandson, Danny Ainge, swapping Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, and two future first-rounders for some guy named Kevin Garnett in 2007. A horse for five ponies and two picks. It was beautiful. It was sports. It was fun.