E-Mail This Article to a Friend While the Pats and Sox ride high, the city’s former golden boys fade to black BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

Just in time for Derby Day, we’re back in the saddle after a week of R&R in South Florida. While enjoying the 80-degree temps and the sandy beaches, we managed to visit Pro Player Stadium and take in the sights and sounds of the (it pains me even to say this with a straight face) two-time world champion Florida Marlins. But we’ll tell you about that excursion on Monday.

While in the Sunshine State, I had little contact with the sports world of New England — no NESN, no local highlights, not even a computer — so my only source of insight into the developments of the past 10 days was the nightly one-hour SportsCenter on ESPN.

Not much to go on, I admit.

Still, from what I could pick up, it appears that there are two legitimate sports franchises up here, and two that are looking in from the outside. There are two New England teams that at present leave their fans with a spring in their collective step, and two more that instigate hand-wringing. Two premier teams; two bah-humbugs. Two thoroughbreds; two nags.

And that’s not such a bad thing. After all, if you’re in, say, Buffalo, you’ve got only two bad teams period to care about, and even a full four-team metropolis like Atlanta finds itself with more problematic squads than full-fledged winners.

But it wasn’t that long ago that spoiled-rotten New Englanders had four significant success stories playing professionally in their region. Then, in heartbreaking fashion, two of those teams dropped below the Mendoza line in terms of local interest, and they’ll need to work very, very hard to reach relevancy again anytime soon.

Let’s deal with the sad sacks first. The Celtics had come off two overachieving playoff appearances entering this season, but the first sign of trouble came nearly a year ago to the day, when the organization announced the hiring of Danny Ainge as its de facto general manager. (Wonder what the titular GM, Chris Wallace, did all season long to earn his hefty salary?) The announcement wasn’t necessarily bad, but the timing — hours before the team’s game-three playoff match-up with New Jersey — left a bit to be desired. Given that the C’s trailed in the series 2-0 and had lost five straight post-season games to the Nets, the idea of interrupting the team’s pre-game focus with such a monumental announcement was at least a wee bit mystifying.

But then Ainge did his retooling, and by this season’s end, not only was the head coach gone, but so were 10 of the 12 players from the 2002 opening-night roster. Sure, the team returned to the playoffs, but with a putrid 36-46 record, and a squad embroiled in dissension and eager to get out of there pronto. And so they did, dropping four straight games to top-seeded Indiana in grand fashion: the margins of victory by the Pacers were 16, 13, 18, and 15 — with the final game a disgusting 90-75 mail-it-inner at home to close out the series. Days later the interim coach was gone, and the team’s best consistent player — Mark Blount — was also eager to close out his second Celtics stint and pursue free agency.

What good was it for Boston even to make the playoffs? ’Twasn’t. The Celtics have three first-round picks, but none is in a position of real opportunity (15, 24, and 25), and the last thing the team needs right now is more youth and inexperience. Despite the team’s hiring of Doc Rivers on Thursday as its next head coach, the best thing that could happen to the Boston Celtics right now would be if the league shut down for a while.

That unfortunately won’t happen in the NBA, but it’s very likely it will in the NHL. That’s why it could be a long, even-more-bitter wait for the fans of the Boston Bruins hockey club, who again allowed themselves to be ushered out of the post-season in ignominious fashion. It wasn’t that long ago that the B’s established a professional-sports record of 29 straight playoff appearances; now local hockey fans are happy even to reach the post-season, although — and this is getting dangerously close to the Red Sox’ trademark — lately there is only disappointment on the horizon when the team reaches the NHL’s 16-team tournament.

This year it was bound to be different. Sure, the team had a solidly consistent year (especially after the holiday season), and even put up a most impressive 41-19-15-7 overall record (and the division crown), thereby gaining another high seed (second). But this time there was no way that the hated Canadiens could knock them off in the first round, as they did two seasons ago when Boston was the conference’s top seed. Impossible. Not with all the late-season additions the front office made, not with Boston’s size advantage over the smaller Habs, and certainly not with the mercurial goaltending heretofore presented by rookie Andrew Raycroft. And when Alexei Kovalev lunkheadedly took out teammate Sheldon Souray in double-OT in game four, springing Glen Murray for a game-winning goal, the Bruins had a 3-1 series lead heading back to Boston. It just wouldn’t — couldn’t — happen this time; not even this Bruins team could lose three straight (and two at home) to this demoralized Montreal squad.

And yet they did. After the passion-filled series opener dominated and won by Mike Sullivan’s lads, 3-0, the Bruins never again played consistently with the same sense of urgency or heart. Somehow, with all the cards stacked in its favor, Boston scored just three goals in the remaining three games while surrendering a whopping 12, and the seventh-seeded Canadiens moved on to the second round — where they were plucked in four straight by the top-seeded Tampa Bay Lightning. So Boston hockey fans had another long off-season to contemplate how they got taken in by this squad and became convinced that this year would be different — only to see the team’s third straight first-round exit, its 12th straight season without even a conference-finals berth, and a 32nd consecutive season without a Stanley Cup.

Even if there were hope for a reasonably quick resolution to the NHL’s impending labor shutdown, the Bruins would still have reason to greet the upcoming season with pessimism. Contract-wise, only four of the Bruins who skated in the playoffs are signed through next season (PJ Axelsson, Patrice Bergeron, Nick Boynton, and Marty Lapointe). While a few more are restricted free agents whom the team is expected to keep, it’s likely the last skate in Boston for key contributors Murray, Brian Rolston, Sean O’Donnell, and Travis Green. Furthermore, the team may be forced to overpay for restricted free-agent types like Sergei Samsonov, Joe Thornton, and the Capitals gang, Sergei Gonchar and Michael Nylander.

But while the two FleetCenter teams wallow in their gloomy outlooks, the two outdoor teams continue to flourish. The Patriots have not played a game in three months, yet they continue to make news off the field with their acquisition of premier running back Corey Dillon via trade, coupled with a most impressive draft. Already the Patriots seem like a better team than the one that just captured the Super Bowl, and the aura surrounding head coach Bill Belichick continues to indicate that he’s somehow smarter than everyone else in the NFL.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox keep rolling along, having won 13 of their last 16 and six in a row en route to the top of the AL East. As we write this, it’s still April, but it’s still clear that the problems of last spring — the bullpen — have been rectified in a significant way, and the reliever corps is now undoubtedly the team’s strongest suit. That’s not to say that the starters are schnooks; it just means that the bullpen members are pitching lights-out ball on a consistent basis, and as a result lead the majors with a 1.90 ERA (and are on a streak of 32-plus innings of shutout relief entering the weekend). Overall the team’s staff 2.95 ERA is better by nearly half a run than that of the second-best-pitching team (Florida) in Major League Baseball. The offense has yet to explode as it did on countless occasions last season, but it always seems to produce just enough to garner a win, and will likely heat up as the season progresses. Given the fact that the team has jumped out to a 15-6 record without the services of Nomar "The Artful Dodger" Garciaparra, Trot "My Achin’ Back" Nixon, and (until Thursday) fifth starter Byung-Hyun Kim, the optimism surrounding and within the team is sky-high, with any mention of past playoff failures but a distant memory. Even better for Red Sox Nation are the struggles of the Pinstripers to the south, who are 11-11 and dead last in hitting (.240) in the American League. With only three Yankees hitting above .255 (and none above .300), and superstars Derek Jeter (.165), Alex Rodriguez (.253), Jason Giambi (.234), and Bernie Williams (.176) in grand funks while collectively collecting $65.3 million this season, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner is likely wondering what happened to his $184 million squad of 17 All-Stars.

Yep, it’s springtime in New England, and for local fans, all is right in the world on Kentucky Derby weekend. That is, unless you’re a fan of the Bruins or Celtics, in which case the term "May Day" has a completely different connotation.

Giddyap!

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