Today has been a long pita.

Sox MVP for April...hmmmmm...first thoughts, maybe Casey for stepping in so well? Manny for carrying the offense on many occasions?

I can't wait for some baseball tonight.

I'm tempted to pick Kevin Youkilis - his bat has been phenomenal, his defense continues to be outstanding, and he's handled the 1B-3B revolving door like a champ.

I'll second your nomination Texy of Youk.

I'd like to say Youk because he's been excellent but I can't ignore the numbers. Manny. Easily.

.340 something BA, .400+ OBP, 6 HR.

Just Manny being MVP.

Youk is a great choice, too. He's done great across the diamond.

I think the Sox' MVP for April is Ortiz, not because he put up great numbers, or even average numbers, but because when he is in the lineup, the whole team seems to play better. He was out of the lineup for 2/3 of the Tampa sweep, where they only managed to score 1 run.
He is the heart and soul of the team, and can lift the team up, even when when he isn't hitting.

Manny: because he is both beastly and huggable.

And Pedroia has been a bit of a slugger as well. I'm falling more and more for that little scrapper with each at bat.

I say tie.

Youuuukkk all the way - hitting in the mid 300s and broke a record for games played w/o an error (plus he helped fetch Jed's first hit ball!)

Manny-can't ignore those numbers.

Youk is right behind him. Great job working both corners and the bat.

I'm gonna go with Pedroia, just because of the difference between last April and this one. It really is striking... he's come SUCH a long way in the past year, slump or no slump.

Manny's way up there too, obviously.

Since I hate Kevin Youkilis with the fury of a thousand suns I'll pick Manny.

(Don't ask me to explain the Youkilis hate. Seriously)

OK Trish, I'll bite...

Random thoughts...

Barry Zito (SF Giants) is going to the pen. That's an expensive reliever.

Have you Bostonians seen this?

NO BITING. I am entitled to my irrational hatred.

A little Alice in Chains to start the game. Can't go wrong there. Is this the game thread for tonight?

Ian, I was about to ask the exact same thing - you beat me to the punch there!

MVP-wise, I can totally see both Youk and Manny - both of them make a lot of sense. (I wouldn't count Dustin out, especially with that bat, though...)

7:15 start time

Trish, fair enough ;-)

(waving...) Hi all. My pick is Manny, for a host of reasons that others have already discussed. They all boil down to him being made of awesome.

If this is the game thread...first, I'm amazed and delighted that this game wasn't rained out, given the way the radar looked all day. I'll be here on and off tonight and probably the rest of the week. Real life has been biting me for a couple of days and I'm behind on necessary chores. But at least I'm here, sort of.

It's been nice here in CT since about 4:00 or so. Little bit chilly for this time of year though.

We got all the rain here in PA - sorry that we had to pass it on to you!

wth were Manuel and Youk doing in the dugout

Nice to see Mike back, isn't it?

Tis always a nice thing to see Michael Jordan.

Oh you meant Mike Lowell. Yeah that's pretty schweet too

Game thread's up

Also, Pawtucket up 3-0 through three. They loaded the bases on three straight singles in the first and ended up getting three runs in on a wild pitch, a double play and another single. The next two innings they went one-two-three.

Steph, you took the words right out of my mouth. When I heard the starting lineup I thought how nice it is to hear Mike's name again.

We're chilly here too. We got the rain a couple of days ago and are now under a frost advisory.

I wrote a post just yesterday about how Youk could be MVP. Not joking.

So, yeah. I second (third? fourth?) Youk.

After tonight's game? Easily Youk.

I can safely say that I would probably vote Youk anyway, but he totally deserves it. Great numbers, effortless (and mid-game) switches between first and third, a shiny brand new record, and the most impressive facial hair in the league. :)

I have to say Youk. Seriously, not just because I adore him. Look what he's done, both offensively and defensively. He's putting up numbers at the plate and he has made EVERY play, at first OR third.

(Yes, Trish, I adore Youk. As a player. As a man. Deal with it.)

:D

Y'all have some great reasons for your sound choices. Couldn't agree more!

But... I'm gonna throw a wrench into the discussion cause, with the last two outings, Buchholz has demonstrated real development on the hill.

Don't get me started on Buchholz, starr4... I LOVE that guy.

Every single time he's been on the mound, he's shown visible improvements. You can SEE the development start-by-start--he sees what he does wrong each time, and fixes it by the next, or at least improves on it.

I've been so impressed.

Of course he could put his uniform on backwards and I'd still think he was the most wonderful thing on the planet, so...