Call this the weekend from someplace south of the earth’s border. You know, H-E-Double-Hockey Sticks.
How much more wrong could there be in the last four days? The Red Sox, after looking like they were ready to make their break from the rest of the American League East after winning four of six against the Yankees went so far south they were attacked by kangaroos. The Patriots, who were fending off preseason predictions of being undefeated again, are instead trying to figure out what to do without Tom Brady’s security blanket — that would be Julian Edelman — for the season.
And the Celtics are currently being held up by the Cleveland Cavaliers after agreeing, in what would appear to be the best of faith, to that trade last week in which Kyrie Irving comes to Boston in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder and the Brooklyn Nets’ top draft choice.
Talk about the bottom falling all at once. I won’t go as far as to say it’s the worst three days in the history of Boston sports, but taken as a series of events, it’s pretty bad. Time will tell what the lingering effects of this will be.
In the case of the Red Sox, this was bound to happen. Over the course of 162 games, you have streaks and you have slumps. The good teams, and good players, can maximize the former while minimizing the latter. But they are going to happen.
The Red Sox have been sizzling hot all through August. And it’s almost always a case of “what comes up, must come down” with this organization. Losing four in a row makes this a worse case than usual, but it does happen and they can just as easily turn around again.
Of course in 2011 they did not, and you just have to hope history’s not about to repeat itself.
The one exasperating thing about this losing streak is Sunday, when the Red Sox got the first two runners on base in a 2-1 game in the seventh inning, both via the walk, and couldn’t get the tying run home. The team cannot bunt, advance runners, or anything, and that’s a direct reflection on manager John Farrell. That late in the ballgame, your first objective is to tie the game. This is Baseball 101, and this team’s ineptitude in this area is inexcusable.
Moving along to the Patriots, someday the National Football League is going to understand how destructive its game is, and that forcing teams play games that don’t count, and risking them to serious injury in the process, is almost criminal.
There’s no problem with teams buddying up for practices, the way the Patriots did this summer with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans. And it’s true that players can get injured in practices too.
But create game conditions and you ramp up the adrenaline. You create one more opportunity for players to suffer devastating injuries, and for what? The games don’t count. What does a guy such as Julian Edelman even need to play a preseason game for? Or Tom Brady? It isn’t as if either one of them are fighting for spots on the team. Their positions are secure.
But there they are, on the field in a meaningless game, just begging to get hurt.
And in this case, Edelman did.
He will be missed, too. I know there’s been a bit of whistling past the graveyard since it was reported Saturday that Edelman is out for the season. People who minimize his absence are simply wrong. Danny Amendola, the most likely player to fill Edelman’s sport, has panned out as a clutch receiver … but only in certain situations. Play him all the time and his durability comes into question.
If the Patriots needed a big third-down play, Edelman usually got it for them. Guys like him can be the difference between 16-0 (which was probably a pipe dream) and 11-5.
During the regular season, it probably won’t matter. The rest of the AFC East is terrible, and It’s quite possible East or West Lynn Pop Warner’s A Squads could compete with it.
But unless they find someone equally reliable, and with Edelman’s durability, the Patriots may be in trouble in the playoffs.
This brings us to the Celtics. And the big question here is where were the Cavaliers on Thomas? He hurt his hip in the playoff series between the two teams, and it hasn’t been a great, big secret that there was uncertainty over whether he’ be ready to start the season.
Besides, the big prize in that trade wasn’t so much Thomas. It was the draft pick, which undoubtedly was thrown in to compensate for IT’s lack of readiness.
So why, now, are the Cavaliers making noise about revisiting the trade? Tough luck, guys. You agreed to it. You knew Thomas was injured. Crying about it now smacks of a late-game attempt to hold the Celtics up for more.
I hope whatever attempt the Cavaliers are making to either void this trade or ask for more out of the Celtics is summarily defeated.
