Here in New England, rain has been as absent in recent weeks as Eddie Murphy’s box-office clout (see: The Adventures of Pluto Nash — strike that — don’t!). Nonetheless, even though The Sporting News recently awarded Boston its award for Best Sports City 2002, and the Patriots are about to defend their Super Bowl title in a brand-new stadium, local sports zealots are slowly getting a case of the grumps. Yep, the bloom is off the rose, and while all things even remotely related to Boston sports were so plentiful and magical back in May, just three months later we find ourselves wondering what went so wrong. How did the Boston Red Sox go from 40-17 to a potential also-ran in the pennant race? How did the Patriots, despite significant improvements in their roster, go from top of the heap to being lightly regarded as a " fluke " by national prognosticators? How did the legendary Boston Celtics manage to go from the Eastern Conference Finals to a penny-pinching refuge for players in need of a change of scenery, all the while watching their main competition continue to improve? And how in the name of God’s green earth did the Boston Bruins manage to lose both of their marquee free agents and then do little or nothing to replace them? And let’s not even discuss the irrelevant New England Revolution soccer club, now 7-14-1 with four shutout losses at the gleaming palace they call home.

Look, we have to admit that we’ve still got it pretty good around here. After all, would you trade places with a Kansas City fan right now? A Philly fan? Nah. Still, it’s been a summer of discontent for the local sports outfits ever since the hoopsters and icemen reached the playoffs and the Sox got off to their unexpected hot start. And when we all were gazing down from the pinnacle of Boston sports last spring, little did we know, or prepare ourselves, for the fact that there was nowhere to go but down for our sky-high franchises. And now here we are in one place, that generation, lost in space; eight miles high, and falling fast....

Obviously, the beginning of the downward turn in our collective smiles came with the dismal fortunes of our local nine in recent weeks. Back when the Sox were at that lofty 40-17 level, pundits proclaimed that the team needed only to go .500 the rest of the way and it would approach 100 wins — surely good enough for the post-season tournament. Since then, however, they have gone 30-35 and are third in the wild-card race, never mind their seven-game deficit in the AL East standings. Local scribes and commentators alike have been profoundly perplexed; how can a team that includes seven All-Stars, two pitchers on track for 20 wins, a $115 million payroll, a new ownership, a competent coaching staff, and positive clubhouse chemistry be this mediocre? Okay, maybe 18 games over .500 is not mediocre, but after the season’s blitzkrieg start, Red Sox nation embraced this team and rightfully had lofty expectations. It’s not as if this was last year, when the squad was missing Nomar, Pedro, and Jason Varitek to injury for significant parts of the season yet still managed to hang in the race until September.

This year, there is no excuse. I’m sorry, but there isn’t — at least since Manny’s been back from his broken finger. The only significant loss to injury in the last eight weeks has been Dustin Hermanson, and he’s a marginal talent at best who’s only pitched one inning in four months. Easily canceling out the loss of Hermanson are the acquisitions of pitchers Bob Howry and Alan Embree along with slugger Cliff Floyd, additions that have improved the team’s depth considerably. Look at this starting lineup: Johnny Damon, Trot Nixon, Nomar, Manny, Floyd, Shea Hillenbrand, Varitek, Brian Daubach, and Rey Sanchez. Every one of those guys is batting .265 or better, and four of ’em are batting over .300.

Then it must be the pitching, right? Not so fast, bucko; the Sox still boast the second-best staff in the American League.

So, who is to blame for this team’s downward spiral? The easy answer is this: a lack of clutch hitting, as marked by the team’s lack of ability to come back, and its record of 11-19 in one-run games (and 1-4 in extra innings); the recent failure of guys like John Burkett and Frank Castillo in their starters’ roles; and a marked lack of leadership, not only from laid-back skipper Grady Little, but from the superstars who should be spurring on their teammates to greatness. Instead, complacency reigns, and everybody waits for someone else to get the big hit. Lately, it never happens. For that reason, along with the absolute absence of any sense of urgency displayed by even one of the Sox players, the team is headed for (if not already ensconced in) another late-season swoon, and frankly, for the fandom that adores them, the Boston Red Sox are managing to ruin our summer in a way no drought ever could.

Meanwhile, the Patriots continue to work out the kinks during training camp and ignore the national publications that continue to denigrate their recent success. Most gambling Web sites and casinos offer up at least six or seven teams with better odds of winning Super Bowl XXXVII than New England. I can understand the Rams’ getting the best odds, and maybe Pittsburgh and Philly, but Denver? San Francisco? Indianapolis? What have any of those teams done recently? Nothing riles a team’s fans more than their heroes getting no respect, and that’s what seems to be happening across the board nationally; this is contributing to local sports fans’ increasing ire. Yes, the schedule is tougher for the World Champs, but I cannot believe that a team that has improved itself significantly in its receiving corps, has no significant injuries, and is still salary-cap comfy can be held in such low regard. Were the Patriots lucky last year? Maybe a little, but certainly not a fluke, not when you win in Pittsburgh and dominate the Rams back-to-back. And as far as their upcoming fortunes are concerned, Coach Bill Belichick doing his best Harry Callahan will have a say in this. So whaddaya say this year, boys? Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya, pun-, er, guys?

Meanwhile, down on Causeway Street, the two resident teams heading in opposite directions are still posing some cause for concern. With the Celtics, it’s not so much what they have done — picking up Vin Baker and Shammond Williams while shuttling Kenny Anderson, Vitaly Potapenko, and Joseph Forte — it’s what they haven’t: re-signing Rodney Rogers and Erick Strickland or significantly improving, as have the Eastern Conference champion, New Jersey Nets. While the Celts can only hope that Baker rejuvenates himself in Celtic Green — and that’s a huge if — the Nets managed to address their weaknesses — namely Keith Van Horn and Todd McCulloch — and shipped them out, securing Dikembe Mutombo, Chris Childs, and Rogers in their stead. Those are great additions to a team that already had Kenyon Martin and Jason Kidd on a squad that rallied to win three straight from Boston in the conference finals.

Since that disappointing May 31st evening when the Green lost game six at home to the Nets, the Red Sox have managed only a 34-37 record, and the Boston Bruins have done even less, if that’s possible.

Since we last saw the Bruins after their dismal first-round six-game ouster at the hands of the Canadiens, the team has managed to offer up only meek goodbyes to unrestricted free agents Billy Guerin and Byron Dafoe — arguably the team’s two regular-season MVPs — and picking up the following replacement parts: goalie Steve Shields (a 64-83-29 lifetime record); wingers Michael Grosek (15 NHL games last year with the putrid Rangers, 48 more with their minor-league club) and Darren Van Oene (105 points, 515 penalty minutes in 269 minor-league games); center Chris Paradise (who at age 25 just graduated from college); and homegrown defenseman Bryan Berard, who suffered a severe eye injury two years ago and consequently missed a whole season. The team did re-sign one of its top scorers, Glen Murray, but oft-injured defenseman Kyle McLaren already sees the dark road ahead and wants to be traded.

Sure, the team still has the nucleus of the number-one seeded team in the East last spring, but they have not realistically replaced Guerin, a 41-goal scorer, nor Dafoe in my opinion. Joe Thornton and Sergei Samsonov are still around and still improving, but both contracts are up at the end of this season, and that, my friends, could get ugly with a capital ug. The team has done little to placate or even give hope to the hungry fans of the Black and Gold (who are probably at this moment debating whether to shell out hard-earned cash for FleetCenter action this fall), and though this roster as it stands may be good enough to make the playoffs, it probably isn’t solid enough to advance beyond the first round again.

There you have it. Many Sox fans gnashing their teeth at this juncture may even be harboring a secret hope that the players will go out on strike, thereby putting the restless fan base out of its misery for a while. The Patriots by virtue of their absence will then take over the town’s loyalty, and by next spring will be number-one in the region’s collective heart. The Celtics and Bruins have a lot of questions swirling around their upcoming seasons, and unbridled optimism cannot possibly be the bedrock of the two teams’ marketing campaigns.

With the smug Red Sox leading the way, content to wait for an easier schedule next month while underachieving at a rate not seen in these parts since last September, they are the poster boys of the darkening skies gathering over our local franchises. Perhaps it’s high time to have the Sox welcome the Patriots back to Fenway Park, and have them again emerge from behind the American flag draping the Green Monster (as they did on Opening Day). This time, though, it would be more appropriate for the Super Bowl champs to deliver not a ceremonial first pitch, but a good ass-kicking instead.

Sporting Eye runs Mondays and Fridays on BostonPhoenix.com; Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com