J.D. Drew: MVP.

At this time last year, that's a sentence I thought I'd never utter.

Congratulations to all seven Red Sox players who made the 2008 All-Star team - either by fan vote or player vote:

Kevin Youkilis - 1B
Dustin Pedroia - 2B
Manny Ramirez - OF
J.D. Drew - OF
Jason Varitek - C
David Ortiz - DH
Jonathan Papelbon - RP

With those (heartfelt) congrats out of the way, I can now get to the serious business. Namely:

(1) Chuckling at the fact that there are only three Yankees on the roster in their own stadium (and, more importantly, that Girardi's begging didn't land Mike Mussina a roster spot). This is petty and juvenile and slightly ridiculous of me, but I cannot help it. It's funny. Also: four Texas Rangers on the roster! And, again, only three Yankees! Still funny!

(2) Pissing off all of my readers who are Varitek fans... because I flat out don't believe he has played All-Star caliber baseball this year. He is a fantastic leader, a great game caller, and a pretty amazing dude. He's been an integral part of the Sox championships, and absolutely deserves the "C" on his chest. But so long as All-Star Team selection is still (wrongly) used by HOF voters when deciding whether to put a player in Cooperstown, a .218/.300/.358 stat line should not earn you a spot in the ASG. That's a .658 OPS! No, just... no.

If, however, the All-Star selections were treated by voters (and sportswriters and commentators) like the popularity contest/career reward they actually are, I would have absolutely no problem with the public and the players voting Wally, Raymond, the Phanatic and Mr. Met onto the All-Star Team. Sadly, with the likes of Joe Morgan and Tim McCarver around, I have a feeling it will be awhile before that happens.

Baseball's biggest popularity contest is right around the corner. No, not the ESPYs (although those are fast approaching on the July calendar as well)... the All-Star Game. You might also know it as the annual arbitrary recognition of the player at each position who can shoehorn the most votes out of the general public based on no stated criteria, and featuring a selection process influenced by blatant campaigning from the ballclubs. It's the Homecoming Court for ballplayers, except largely chosen by "the fans" - people bored and/or inebriated enough to bother filling out the ballot... always an accurate barometer for sorting baseball's wheat from the chaff.

Today marks the final day that Joe Q. Public can vote for the 2008 MLB All-Star Game roster. And despite the fact that All-Star selection process is often nothing short of a dog and pony show, there are still plenty of good reasons to get involved and vote - ranging from the logical to the juvenile. There's something for everyone!

So here they are, the Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Vote For The All-Stars:

1. Counteract The Masses
There are plenty of folks out there who believe that All-Star appearances bear some kind of statistical relevancy to a ballplayer's legacy, and help conclusively prove any given player's dominating skill at his position. Even with an ASG selection system based on popularity (and one that mandates every club must have someone on the team, no matter how mediocre), pundits and fans alike continue to cite All-Star appearances as a criteria for Cooperstown. So long as those people exist, it is the right - nay, the duty - of every logical and right-thinking baseball fan to vote based on actual skill and merit to counteract the drunken frat boy ballots.

2. Rage Against the Machine
If helping the All-Star voting process to become more legitimate doesn't motivate fans to vote, how about the complete opposite reasoning? Voting nonsensically to exploit the ridiculousness of the whole thing. See how many different alternate personas you can create, each with their own hotmail or gmail account. Foil the sponsors dastardly plans to fool voters into forgetting to check the "do not contact me over email" box on the balloting form, and load them up with useless email addresses. Vote to get Julio Lugo the starting shortstop roster slot. You know, general insanity like that.

3. Relive Your Childhood
Remember what it was like to snag a ballot at the ballpark, and punch out the little circles next to the names of your favorite players? If you were lucky, you'd get a nice usher who would slip you several ballots, and you could go town - punching out a whole bunch of ballots, and making it rain with paper chads. The 2008 version of that unforunately involves clicking buttons on a computer keyboard... but you could always concoct your own homemade ballot out of notebook paper, complete with hanging chads.

4. Or Just Act Like A Child
Go all out with the ridiculousness, and vote based on whatever random criteria you please. Vote for the All-Stink Team. Vote for the roster of guys all born in the state of Florida. Vote for the players with the cutest smiles. Vote for guys whose names all start with the letter "C"... Coco Crisp is finally a shoo-in!

5. Blatant Homerism
If the other four reasons aren't compelling, why not vote based on the simplest reason of all: blatant homerism. If I'm going to be forced to watch two teams of ballplayers duke it out in a largely meaningless exhibition game, with a roster selected based on popularity and not particularly based on merit, I'd much rather watch the guys from the Red Sox. Plus, if there's any chance I could somehow, in some small way, contribute to denying players I dislike (or players from teams I dislike) a spot on the All-Star roster, that's just an added (alebeit admittedly juvenile) bonus. Is it too late to band together and keep A-Rod off the roster?

The ESPYs are yet another in a long line of award shows, that seemed to be created in attempt to Hollywood-ize every industry possible... or at least those industries that people will tune in to watch awards shows for on television.

But just because they're meaningless doesn't mean they're not fun to win. And the Red Sox are nominated in a bunch of the categories for the 2008 ESPY Awards later this month. As I posted before, David Ortiz will also be one of the presenters.

Best Team
Boston Red Sox
New York Giants
Boston Celtics
Kansas Men's Basketball
Tennessee Women's Basketball
Detroit Red Wings

Best Moment
Central Washington Vs. Western Oregon Softball
Jon Lester's No-Hitter
Danica Patrick Wins

Best Coach-Manager
Terry Francona, Boston Red Sox
Tom Coughlin, New York Giants
Pat Summitt, Tennessee Women's Basketball
Doc Rivers, Boston Celtics

Best Championship Performance
Venus Williams, 2007 Wimbledon
Josh Beckett, 2007 Baseball Playoffs
Rafael Nadal, 2008 French Open
Tiger Woods, 2008 U.S. Open

Best Baseball Player
Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees
Josh Beckett, Boston Red Sox
Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia Phillies
Jake Peavy, San Diego Padres
C.C. Sabathia, Cleveland Indians

Hummer "Like Nothing Else Award"
Manny Ramirez
Sidney Crosby
Ashley Force
George Martin

Obviously the Hummer "Like Nothing Else" Award is clearly the most vaunted award of the bunch - how could you not be honored to be nominated in that category? The prestigious "we needed to name an award after our sponsor, so how about this one for general sports excellence in one particular situation judging based on random criteria?". Manny was nominated because of that single high-five double-play... George Martin, the former NFL player, walked over 3,200 miles and raised over $2 million dollars for the Ground Zero efforts in NYC. Those two achievements are totally compatible and definitely belong in the same category!

His teammates love him. The fans love him. The baseball writers love him. The other ballplayers love him. His hometown loves. These days, just about the only people who don't love Dustin Pedroia are fans of the opposing teams.

Yesterday, Dustin received the 2007 Players' Choice Rookie of the Year Award before the game, building on his ROTY streak -- this time, though, chosen by his fellow ballplayers.

Part of the perks of winning the Players' Choice Award is a $20,000 grant from the MLB Players Trust, to be given to the charity of Dustin's choice. His selection? His hometown Little League program back in Woodland, California. And the good people of Woodland couldn't let that kindness go unrecognized... they're renaming one of the little league fields in his honor. That's right: the lucky children of Woodland will play baseball on Dustin Pedroia Field. No word on whether the kids will also be given a complementary jar of Dustin Pedroia salsa.

Not everyone has a handle on Pedroia's personality, though - as the reporter writing this article has apparently never seen a Pedroia expletive-littered and brimstone-filled press conference, or read a Pedroia attitude and bluster laden interview. An excerpt:

In a Red Sox clubhouse known for its unique and mostly overpowering personalities, Pedroia's understated presence also provides a welcome balance. Ebullient (and brilliant) closer Jonathan Papelbon, for instance, has been known to line-dance after victories. David Ortiz dominates with his booming laughter. Curt Schilling is a weekly serial drama, some of his episodes as moving as a bloody sock, some of them really, truly, epic postseason tales. Then there are occasions like Tuesday night when Manny Ramirez sits alone and watches the Tennessee-Texas A&M NCAA women's game, while his teammates monitor the Yankees-Blue Jays game on the other two televisions.

Never fear- Clay Buchholz isn't retiring from baseball... but his jersey number was retired by Angelina College last night in Lufkin, Texas.

click on picture for full-size version

Clay pitched for the Roadrunners of Angelina College in 2004 and 2005 while wearing the number 11, and set several records along the way-- including season ERA (1.05) and season strikeouts (29). In addition, Buchholz hit .362 with six homers, 24 RBIs and 10 stolen bases as a sophomore.

During halftime of last night's basketball game at Angelina College, his former coach presented him with a framed commemorative #11 jersey and spoke about Clay's accomplishments as a Roadrunner and for the Red Sox.

With a full crowd of former teammates, fans, college instructors and coaches on hand, Buchholz thanked all those who, he said, "gave him a chance."

"There were teachers and coaches here who just kept pushing me to do the best I could do in the classroom and on the field," Buchholz said. "They never allowed me to believe anything else except that I could become successful.

"I'm very grateful for what they did for me here.

Dustin Pedroia was in New York yesterday evening at the NY Baseball Writers Association Awards dinner, to finally claim the 2007 AL Rookie of the Year trophy he won awhile back. Others in attendance include Denny McLain, Ryan Braun, Bob Melvin, Jake Peavy, Jimmy Rollins, Johnny Damon, Joe Girardi, Joba Chamberlain, Omar Minaya, Brian Cashman, Bobby Murcer, Alex Rodriguez, Yogi Berra, Craig Biggio, Goose Gossage, Billy Wagner, Jeff Wilpon, Dick Williams, Willie Randolph, Dustin Pedroia, C.C. Sabathia and Luis Tiant. Jonathan Papelbon was not on hand to pick up his Deliveryman of the Year award- but the NY crowd continued the tradition of booing him anyway (he was booed at last year's ceremony) when his highlight film was shown on the screen.

My first baseball boyfriend, Craig Biggio, was on hand and presented Dustin with his award. Gorden Edes refers to Biggio as "another hard-nosed little guy"-- but there's little... and then there's Dusty P little. Craig is 5'11"- which probably makes him a good 4+ inches taller than Dustin. At least no one recycled the tired (and not at all accurate) comparisons to David Eckstein. Craig had some great things to say about Dustin:

What is there not to like about the guy? His last name ends in a vowel, and Tommy Lasorda always said you always had to love a guy whose name ended in a vowel. He was obviously the cream of the crop. The thing that epitomizes him the most, is that every time I flipped on SportsCenter, the man's uniform is dirty. From what everybody tells me, he plays the game right, runs through first base every time, doesn't dog it...

"That's awesome, man,'' he said to Biggio. "I've loved watching you play forever.''

Unlike Papelbon, Dustin wasn't booed by the New Yorkers. Per Edes' report:

"Thank you guys for not booing me,'' said Pedroia to the assemblage of roughly 1,000 fans, the vast majority of whom were Yankee fans. Pedroia had mentioned earlier in the day that he expected to be booed, the way Jonathan Papelbon had been at last year's event.

Pedroia thanked his wife, Kelli, and his parents, Guy and Debbie, who were sitting together at a table at the New York Hilton, along with one of Pedroia's agents, Bobby Witt, the former big leaguer from Canton, Mass., who remarked on how apt it was for Biggio to be the one giving the award to Pedroia, who takes a similar approach to the game.

Jacoby Ellsbury is among the finalists for the Harry Glickman professional athlete of the year award at the Oregon Sports Awards, to be given out next Sunday the 27th. The other finalists include Oregon athletes Derek Anderson (Cleveland Browns), Randy Couture (Ultimate Fighting), T.J. Houshmandzadeh (Cincinnati Bengals) and Brandon Roy (Portland Trail Blazers). The ceremony, to be held at the Tiger Woods Center on the Nike campus in Beaverton, OR, will also be broadcast on Comcast SportsNet Northwest on Sunday night.

And in other awards news, Josh Beckett was on hand in Houston this past Saturday to give away the Josh Beckett Awards at the RBI Foundation dinner. For the second year, Josh handed over the awards in his name to the best high school baseball and softball players from the Houston area. Sorry, Josh - you're still a Houstonian no matter how much you try to deny it. No pictures from the dinner this year, but here's a shot of Josh from last year's dinner.

I think he pulled out the formal hemp necklaces for that dinner outfit.

Dustin Pedroia, Mike Lowell, Jon Lester, Terry Francona, John Farrell, Dave Magadan and Indians GM Mark Shapiro were all on-hand for last night's Boston Baseball Writers' Association Awards dinner- to answer some questions, take some pictures, pick up an award or two and eat some dinner. Yay- an excuse to post pictures!

No shows?
Kevin Youkilis (presumably: trying to invent a better name for his sports energy drink)
Josh Beckett (presumably: killing deer and/or other random small animals)
Jonathan Papelbon (presumably: ??? who the hell could guess).

More pictures of the guys after the jump...

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Mike Lowell is officially one of the Good Guys.

On Friday it was announced that in addition to picking up the Thomas A. Yawkey Award from the Boston Baseball Writers for being the Most Valuable Player on the team, Lowell has also been voted the winner of the Tommy McCarthy Good Guy Award for 2007.

No official list has been released of confirmed attendees for the Boston Baseball Writers Association Awards dinner next week, but Lowell, Beckett, Papelbon, Lester, Youkilis, Ellsbury and Buchholz all picked up awards -- so it's likely most of those guys will be there. Also, Papelbon and Pedroia are scheduled to be at the New York Baseball Writers Awards the following week as well.

Let's update that Red Sox trophy cabinet for '07, shall we? In addition to the World Series and American League trophies, these Sox also snagged awards:

World Series MVP - Mike Lowell, 3B
ALCS MVP - Josh Beckett, SP
Gold Glove - Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Silver Slugger - David Ortiz, DH
Delivery Man - Jonathan Papelbon, RP
AL Rookie of the Year - Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Edgar Martinez Outstanding DH Award - David Ortiz, DH
Baseball America Manager of the Year - Terry Francona

2007 All-Star Team
Josh Beckett, SP
Mike Lowell, 3B
Hideki Okajima, RP
David Ortiz, DH
Jonathan Papelbon, RP
Manny Ramirez, LF

The Sporting News Awards
Rookie of the Year: Dustin Pedroia, 2B
All-Star: David Ortiz, DH

This Year In Baseball Awards
Starting Pitcher of the Year - Josh Beckett
SetUp Man of the Year - Hideki Okajima
Closer of the Year - Jonathan Papelbon
Performance of the Year - Clay Buchholz, no-hitter
Postseason Moment of the Year - J.D. Drew, grand slam ALCS game 6

Topps Rookie All-Star Team
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Hideki Okajima, RP

Boston Baseball Writers Association of America Awards
Thomas A. Yawkey Award (MVP) - Mike Lowell, 3B
Pitcher of the Year - Josh Beckett, SP
Fireman of the Year - Jonathan Papelbon, RP
Tony Conigliaro Award - Jon Lester, SP
Jackie Jensen Award - Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Tommy McCarthy Good Guy Award - Mike Lowell, 3B
Minor League Player of the Year - Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Minor League Player of the Year - Clay Buchholz, SP

Player of the Month
April: Hideki Okajima, Rookie of the Month
May: Dustin Pedroia, Rookie of the Month
September: David Ortiz, Player of the Month
September: Jacoby Ellsbury, Rookie of the Month

Player of the Week
May 14-May 20: Daisuke Matsuzaka
May 28-Jun 3: Dustin Pedroia
Jul 23-Jul 29: Manny Ramirez
Aug 20-Aug 26: David Ortiz and Mike Lowell
Aug 27-Sep 2: Clay Buchholz

The ballots for Cooperstown are due in soon, and there are all kinds of very serious sportswriters writing very seriously about who should (and should not) make it in. But for my money, the sportswriter whose opinion I most want to hear is Jon Heyman. And by that, I mean that I cannot wait to see the logical backflips he does to justify the thought processes behind his HOF ballot. Even though Keith Law and Rob Neyer still don't get votes, guys like Heyman inexplicably do- and his reasons for his HOF votes are doozies.

Don't even bother reading what Heyman wrote, though - because the guys at Fire Joe Morgan (who know more about baseball than I could ever hope to cram into my head) have got you covered... twice over: Part One and Part Two. And just because I can't help myself, here are pull quotes of a few of my favorite lines:

You know who a computer would probably pick? All of his computer friends. Hope you like a Hall of Fame full of Commodore 64's, ENIACs and vacuum tubes, you number-loving asshole.

I don't understand why Dawson supporters always cite his "ravaged knees" as a like thing that makes his numbers be better than they are. "He had bad knees! He gets bonus points!" You wouldn't say about Tony Gwynn: "The guy hit .320 every year -- and he was fat!"

[W]inning the Hearts of New Yorkers is not, the last time I checked, a fucking qualification for anything, least of all the Baseball Hall of Fame. You know who else has won the hearts of New Yorkers? Darryl Strawberry, Lenny Dykstra, Turk Wendell, and Luis Sojo.

It is your challenge- nay, your duty - to get yourself on over to ESPN post haste and vote Josh Beckett onto the All-SportsNation Team for 2007.

You can vote for FIVE different athletes on your ballot - and there is no registration required, so get on over there and vote for Josh. He's only got 5.2% of the vote as of the time of this posting- we can do so much better than that. Especially since A-Rod has 13.1% -- we cannot let that stand!

Vote early, vote often!

Josh Beckett took Starter of the Year.
Jonathan Papelbon took Closer of the Year.
Clay Buchholz took Performance of the Year.
Hideki Okajima took SetUp Man of the Year.
Even Manny Ramirez's camera-damaging blast took Blooper of the Year.

Now, on the final day of the This Year In Baseball Awards, the Sox are closing out what they started on the first day of the Awards -- J.D. Drew's grand slam in Game 6 of the ALCS won the Postseason Moment of the Year.

In fact, four different Sox moments took all four top spots - JD's slam at 20.2% narrowly beat out Jonathan Papelbon final out of Game 4 of the World Series (19.5%), Papelbon's pickoff of Matt Holliday in Game 2 of the World Series (13%) and Manny Ramirez's walkoff homerun in Game 2 of the ALDS (which got my vote-- that was unreal).

Clay Buchholz was not going to sit back and watch idly as first Josh Beckett and then Jonathan Papelbon won This Year In Baseball Awards. After hearing Josh's bragging about being "the only Texan to win" and Jonathan crowing he was "the youngest winner", Clay had enough... and went and won himself the 2007 Performance of the Year Award for his no-hitter.

With a runaway 35.4% of the vote, Clay easily beat second place vote-getter Justin Verlander (21%) and third place Mark Buehrle (11.5%). All three of the top finishers were no-hitters.

Anything Josh can do, Jonathan can do... better? Yesterday, Josh notched up the 2007 Starter of the Year Award from the annual This Year In Baseball Awards- and today, it's Jonathan's turn. Say hello to your 2007 Closer of the Year.

Jonathan snagged an overwhelming 38.1% of the public vote, outdistancing the other nine candidates for the award- including second place vote-getter Bobby Jenks (26%). Third place honors went to J.J. Putz, and Takashi Saito came in fourth.

Anyone else bet that Josh got a text message earlier this morning saying something like, "GOT ONE, TOO, OLD MAN"?

They've only announced one of the This Year In Baseball Awards so far, and already it's clear that the public knows a good pitcher when they see it. Congratulations to Josh Beckett- the 2007 Starting Pitcher of the Year. Out of a field of 10 candidates, Josh snagged an overwhelming 35.5% of the vote- the next closest was Jake Peavy, at 19.4%. Yankees fans managed to somehow get Wang up to 3rd, over C.C. Sabathia at 4th.

When reached for comment, Josh said, "[insert reference to executing pitches here]" and "[insert reference to owing it all to his teammates here]" and "[insert random cussword here]".

While we wait out Day One Billion (give or take a few) in the Santana sweepstakes (Herald is reporting that the Twins want the Santana deal done today)...

Congratulations are in order for David Ortiz, Terry Francona and Josh Beckett, as Sox personnel continue to fill up the club's trophy cabinet.

David Ortiz was unanimously selected by major league baseball as the winner of the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award- for the fifth year in a row. Chicago's Jim Thome finished second, while Toronto's Frank Thomas and Cleveland's Travis Hafner finished tied for third. Big Papi's fifth consecutive win ties him with Edgar Martinez himself for that distinction. MLB has given away the DH Award since 1973.

Terry Francona snagged the Baseball America Manager of the Year Award for 2007, and will pick up the prestigious award in person at a banquet in Nashville later this evening.

"You know what? I'm really honored," Francona said. "But when the manager gets an award, I think it's a reflection of ownership getting some awesome players -- providing us with the means to get some awesome players, a front office that does a great job, coaches that work about 18 hours a day, and fabulous players. When that happens, a manager gets rewarded. But I'm honored though."

The Boston chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America announced more of their awards on Friday- the full slate of which will be awarded at their annual dinner on January 17th at the Westin Waterfront in Boston. Jon Lester was previously announced as the winner of the Tony C Award (a national award), Josh Beckett has been elected the Pitcher of the Year and Jonathan Papelbon is the club's Fireman of the Year -- and now several more Sox players have picked up awards from the BBWAA as well.

Kevin Youkilis will be honored with the 2007 Jackie Jensen Award- which is given to a major league player for "spirit and determination." The honor is named for the late Red Sox outfielder who played in the 1950s.

Co-winners of the 2007 Minor League Players of the Year are Clay Buchholz and Jacoby Ellsbury. And Manager of the Year goes to Terry Francona. Lester, Beckett, Papelbon, Youkilis, Buchholz, Ellsbury and Francona will all attend the BBWAA dinner to formally accept their awards.

So let's update that Red Sox trophy cabinet for '07, shall we? In addition to the World Series and American League trophies, these Sox players also snagged awards:

World Series MVP - Mike Lowell, 3B
ALCS MVP - Josh Beckett, SP
Gold Glove - Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Silver Slugger - David Ortiz, DH
Delivery Man - Jonathan Papelbon, RP
AL Rookie of the Year - Dustin Pedroia, 2B

2007 All-Star Team
Josh Beckett, SP
Mike Lowell, 3B
Hideki Okajima, RP
David Ortiz, DH
Jonathan Papelbon, RP
Manny Ramirez, LF

The Sporting News Awards
Rookie of the Year: Dustin Pedroia, 2B
All-Star: David Ortiz, DH

Topps Rookie All-Star Team
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
Hideki Okajima, RP

Boston Baseball Writers Association of America Awards
Thomas A. Yawkey Award (MVP) - Mike Lowell, 3B
Pitcher of the Year - Josh Beckett, SP
Fireman of the Year - Jonathan Papelbon, RP
Tony Conigliaro Award - Jon Lester, SP
Jackie Jensen Award - Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Minor League Player of the Year - Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Minor League Player of the Year - Clay Buchholz, SP

Player of the Month
April: Hideki Okajima, Rookie of the Month
May: Dustin Pedroia, Rookie of the Month
September: David Ortiz, Player of the Month
September: Jacoby Ellsbury, Rookie of the Month

Player of the Week
May 14-May 20: Daisuke Matsuzaka
May 28-Jun 3: Dustin Pedroia
Jul 23-Jul 29: Manny Ramirez
Aug 20-Aug 26: David Ortiz and Mike Lowell
Aug 27-Sep 2: Clay Buchholz

Congratulations go out to Jon Lester, who was honored by Major League Baseball with the Tony Conigliaro Award for 2007- which is given away every year to a ballplayer who has "overcome adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination and courage." I'd definitely say battling back from cancer to become a World Series clinch-winning pitcher in the space of just one year definitely qualifies.

Mike Lowell also won the Tony C Award back in 1999, which is a national award given away by MLB since 1990. Other notable winners? Jim Abbott, Bo Jackson, Bret Saberhagen.

"I didn't really realize the names that were on (the plaque) until the other day when (Red Sox media relations director) John Blake sent me an e-mail that I had received the award," Lester said. "Bo Jackson, Jim Abbott and obviously Mike Lowell, names like that. Obviously Jim Abbott had a lot to overcome when he was pitching. So it just fits. It's a good honor."

Jon spoke about the constant media focus on his cancer diagnosis and recovery- and his hope that someday that might not be the first thing people ask him about:

"I think I'm always going to have that title behind my name. It's going to be a question that comes up regardless, but hopefully, I can just go back to being me and being a normal pitcher and go out and pitch every five days and not have to worry about that, and get questions about my pitching ability rather than what happened last offseason. I know it's going to be a question, but hopefully, it will get few and far between."

His plans for the offseason?

"Eat -- a lot," said Lester, who is now at roughly 215 pounds. "That's kind of my main objective -- to eat a lot and gain some weight."

"It was just a constant, uphill battle to get that weight back, and like I said, the confidence in my body and my mechanics to feel comfortable out on the mound," said Lester. "I've always been able to throw my fastball by guys and do that, and now, this year, I couldn't do that because I didn't have that little extra at the end, and it showed because I wasn't striking guys out. [It was] more contact and pitching to bats. Hopefully next year I'll have that little extra like I did in September and October and be able to pitch a little bit better and go to my strengths more."

Jon has been in Boston this week with several other members of the pitching staff, in town from Atlanta, where he recently bought a new home. Lester was born and raised in Washington state, but has been down around Atlanta to go hunting with buddies, and really took to the area. J.D. Drew and Jason Varitek must be so proud to have another guy with Georgia ties on the Sox roster.

Here is some video of Jon with the plaque yesterday at Fenway Park- speaking about the award and his season this year:

Dustin Pedroia was named the American League Rookie of the Year. Hideki Okajima was voted in to the All-Star game in July. Dustin was named Rookie of the Year by The Sporting News. And Dustin and Hideki were each named a Rookie of the Month (Hideki in April, Dustin in May). But the rookie phenoms aren't done collecting accolades yet - today, each of them was named to the 49th annual Topps Major League Rookie All-Star Team.

First awarded in 1959 by the Topps baseball card company, the Rookie All-Star Team is voted on by the MLB managers. The Sox rookies were the first to be named to the Team since Brian Daubach in 1999 -- and the Sox also had two players (Scott Hatteberg and Nomar Garciaparra) named to the team in 1997.

Interestingly, neither Dustin nor Hideki were unanimous selections- but the Red Sox were the only team to have more than one player make the roster. Five players earned unanimous votes - James Loney, Ryan Braun, Delmon Young, Chris Young and Hunter Pence. Here's the full breakdown:

1B James Loney, Dodgers (98 games, 15 HR, 67 RBI, .331) - unanimous
2B Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox (139, 8, 50, .317)
3B Ryan Braun, Brewers (113, 34, 97, .324) - unanimous
SS Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies (155, 24, 99, .291)
OF Delmon Young, Rays (162, 13, 93, .288) - unanimous
OF Chris Young, Diamondbacks (148, 32, 68, .237) - unanimous
OF Hunter Pence, Astros (108, 17, 69, .322) - unanimous
C Carlos Ruiz, Phillies (115, 6, 54, .259)
RHP Brian Bannister, Royals (165 IP, 12-9, 3.87, 77 K, 44 BB)
LHP Hideki Okajima, Red Sox (69 IP, 3-2, 2.22, 63 K, 17 BB)

Much like the legions of Red Sox fans invaded Coors Field at the end of October, all of the artifacts from those World Series games have taken over Cooperstown. A new exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame honoring the Red Sox-Rockies faceoff, entitled "Autumn Glory: A Postseason Celebration", contains a whole treasure trove of game-used items from the Sox (and a few from the Rox as well).

At the entrance to the exhibit, a huge photograph of Series MVP Mike Lowell greets visitors, with a giant banner arching above that reads: RED SOX ROCK 'NATION,' ROLL ROCKIES. In addition to items from 2007 Series, the exhibit also features Curt Schilling's bloody sock from 2004 - to tie together the two championships won by the Sox in the 21st century.

Below and after the jump are photos of a whole bunch of the items featured in the exhibit, courtesy of the Hall of Fame.

Jersey worn by team captain Jason Varitek during Games 3 & 4

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So who exactly were the two genius minds who completely left Josh Beckett off their Cy Young ballots? Surprise, surprise- one of them is a Yankees writer from New York, and the other is from the venerable USA Today.

In one corner, we have Mark Feinsand, who is in just his first year as the Yankees beat writer for the New York Daily News. This was also his first time voting for the awards. What a shocker, right? And in the other corner, we have Jorge Ortiz, the baseball writer for USA Today. Man, I was really hoping both of them would be New York guys so I could easily write them off.

Both of these guys voted Sabathia-Carmona-Lackey (in that order). Both left Beckett off of their ballots. And both now, after seeing post-season play, regret their votes.

"If they gave me a Cy Young ballot on Nov. 1, I would have voted Josh Beckett first and left the other two spots blank, because nobody would have been close," Feinsand said.

"You feel a little foolish after what happened in the postseason," Ortiz agreed.

"Look," Feinsand said. "I went to BU. I have a lot of friends in Boston. The last month of the season, one of my good friends up there tried to convince me to put Beckett on my ballot. I looked over the numbers carefully, and decided Sabathia, Carmona, and Lackey were more deserving. The ballot is supposed to be secret, but I told my friend I left Beckett off. So when the playoffs started and Beckett did what he did and Sabathia struggled, my friend called me up after every game and said, 'So how do you like your Cy Young candidate now?' "

Josh Beckett may not have added to his trophy cabinet today, but he's got plenty of toys to keep him busy...

I think we all know which toy pile is more impressive.

When reached for comment, Josh said*:

"What the hell? I didn't think I'd have to talk to reporters if I didn't win... why don't you go find someone who actually gives a shit? I got some beer that needs drinkin', some deer that need shootin', some rookie pitchers that need learnin', and two World Series rings that need polishin'. Give C.C. my regards, and tell him I'm sorry he didn't have a chance to actually show up at the ALCS- maybe next year."

I'll take this:

Over this:

Any day of the week. And twice on Sunday.

On a serious note: congratulations to C.C. He was phenomenal throughout the regular season, and is one of the big reasons why the Indians were so dominant. And on top of being an ace pitcher, he seems like a great guy as well- so it's hard to hate on him too much for winning the Cy Young he so definitely deserved. (but I'm still allowed to pout a little, OK?)

And Monday was the day of Dustin-y: Dustin Pedroia steamrolled over the competition (OK, there really was no competition) to pick up the 2007 Rookie of the Year Award. The voting wasn't even close: Dustin had 132 points, the second-place finisher Delmon Young had just 56 points. (and fellow Sox teammates Daisuke Matsuzaka (12 points) and Hideki Okajima (3) came in fourth and sixth place, respectively)

Dustin held two press conferences to discuss the win- one over the phone from his home in Chandler, AZ with the Baseball Writers of America who voted him the winner, and one later in the afternoon from the campus of Arizona State where he played college ball. And just like a Josh Beckett press conference has at least 3 cusswords, every Dustin Pedroia press conference has at least 3 references to people or things that suck or stink. I love this guy (even if I most decidedly do NOT love the fashion choices he made- the fugly cap he stole off Fidel Castro, and the fuglier shirt that is clearly a Big Papi reject that he shrunk in the dryer).

And if there's a madlibs/fill-in-the-blank reporting template on Mike Lowell, there's an even more predictable one for Dustin- because every single Dustin Pedroia article must make mention of:

- his height
- the fact that his listed height is not accurate
- preconceived notions about his height
- how big his attitude is in comparison to his height
- David Eckstein
- "scrappy"
- "gritty"
- some variation on the "little guy, big heart" theme

His college coach is sitting just off-camera during the press conference, and mentions at one point a text message Dustin sent him back in April when Dustin was slumping- and how Dustin never lost confidence in his abilities. Here's the exact text of that message Dustin sent his coach, at 4:17 p.m. on April 19:

Book it

i am going to hit 300 even after the horrible start i'm having right now

you taught me how to deal with this

1 for my last 26 no biggie

an explosion is going to happen soon

Other highlights from the ASU press conference--

On gaining acceptance in Boston:

"It took some time. That first month was obviously tough. It helped out at the end- I got some big hits, and the fans kinda took note that you don't have to be the biggest guy to help your team win the World Series."

On the media constantly harping about his height:

"They do a lot. But I think it's to the point now where I don't think there's anything much more to say. Yeah, I'm... 5'7" or 5'8" or whatever the heck they list me at. And we won the World Series and I was a part of that, so there's nothin' else you can say."

On being underestimated:

"I've been the underdog my whole life. If I'm walking down the street, and (somebody tells you) I'm a baseball player, you'd probably start laughing. I got to try and prove everybody wrong every day. I still have to. I won Rookie of the Year, but guess what? Next year they're going to doubt me again because I had a bad April. I gotta hit higher than .182 next April."

But the funniest part was at the end, when the questions turn to Pac-10 rivals of his alma mater, Oregon State, USC and in-state hated rival Arizona.

On Jacoby Ellsbury- with a deadpan delivery:

"He gave us a boost [when he came up], we needed it. He was phenomenal. But I still let him know that when we played against Oregon State when I was here that he never even got on base."

On ASU's upcoming football game with Arizona and USC:

"What's UofA's record?" [4-6.] "Wow. They stink. I mean, I hope ASU's gonna win. Who do they play this next week? They play USC, right? Let's talk about USC first." [question: Does USC stink?] "No. No they do not stink."

On Tito Francona being an Arizona alum:

"When we went to UofA - [to his coach] you remember, they have (Francona's) jersey retired in a baseball (painted on the outfield wall) - we used to pepper balls off it. They had to end up repainting it after the series, I used to tell him." [question: you used to tell Francona?] "Oh, every day. The truth kind of hurts sometimes."

Here's the first video clip- I've broken up the complete, 11 minute conference into two clips (because no one should have to live with an edited, 5 minute chunk of video when there's 11 minutes of great footage):

I've got the second video clip, plus a whole bunch of pictures from the day, all after the jump...

Continue reading »

Baseball Musings ran the defensive numbers on the Probabilistic Model of Range* for all centerfielders over the 2007 season, breaking them out by individual and by team. And surprise, surprise- look what he found:

#1: Coco Crisp
#2: Ichiro Suzuki
#3: Felix Pie
#4: Curtis Granderson
...
#20: Torii Hunter
#31: Grady Sizemore

One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

* Basically, for each fieldable (non inside the park home runs) ball put in play, six parameters are used to determine how difficult it was to field the ball. A probability of turning the ball into an out is calculated, and those probabilities are summed. That gives us expected batted balls turned into outs. We turn that into a predicted DER (defensive efficiency record), compare that to the actual DER and calculate a ranking- the Probabilistic Model of Range.

The boys have been busy racking up post-season individual honors- here's a quick snapshot look at all the hardware the guys have taken home so far this season:

World Series MVP - Mike Lowell, 3B
ALCS MVP - Josh Beckett, SP
Gold Glove - Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Silver Slugger - David Ortiz, DH
Delivery Man - Jonathan Papelbon, RP

The Sporting News Awards
Rookie of the Year: Dustin Pedroia
All-Star: David Ortiz, DH

Player of the Month
April: Hideki Okajima, Rookie of the Month
May: Dustin Pedroia, Rookie of the Month
September: David Ortiz, Player of the Month
September: Jacoby Ellsbury, Rookie of the Month

Player of the Week
May 14-May 20: Daisuke Matsuzaka
May 28-Jun 3: Dustin Pedroia
Jul 23-Jul 29: Manny Ramirez
Aug 20-Aug 26: David Ortiz and Mike Lowell
Aug 27-Sep 2: Clay Buchholz

And here is the release schedule for the remaining postseason awards:

Nov 12: Rookie of the Year, AL & NL
Nov 13: Cy Young, AL
Nov 14: Manager of the Year, AL & NL
Nov 15: Cy Young, NL
Nov 19: Most Valuable Player, AL
Nov 20: Most Valuable Player, NL
December: This Year In Baseball Awards

Don't forget: you can still vote for all the TYIB Awards through December 5th, and there are Sox up for honors in every category but one, including:

Starter- Josh Beckett
Performance- Clay Buchholz's No-Hitter
Manager- Terry Francona
Closer- Jonathan Papelbon
Rookie- Daisuke Matsuzaka, Dustin Pedroia
Setup- Hideki Okajima
Play- Dustin Pedroia preserves the no-hitter
Defense- Mike Lowell
Hitter- David Ortiz
Blooper- Red Sox camera struck by ball
Postseason Moment- ??

Big congratulations go out to Big Papi, who collected yet another Silver Slugger Award today- the fourth in a row for him (tying him with Paul Molitor and Edgar Martinez for the most all-time awards for a DH). No DH had ever won the Silver Slugger three times in a row until Papi did it last year- and now he's rolled on to a fourth.

In addition to congrats on the Silver Slugger, I also want to throw a quick "Get Well" to Papi- he successfully underwent knee surgery this week, will start rehab immediately, and should be back and ready to go in spring training.

I also have to shout out my Philly boys Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins- Rollins won a Gold Glove earlier this week, and now added the Silver Slugger to his collection. (MVP! MVP!)

American League Silver Sluggers 2007
C: Jorge Posada, NYY
1B: Carlos Pena, TB
2B: Placido Polanco, DET
3B: Alex Rodriguez, NYY
SS: Derek Jeter, NYY
OF: Magglio Ordonez, DET
OF: Vlad Guerrero, LAA
OF: Ichiro Suzuki, SEA
DH: David Ortiz, BOS

National League Silver Sluggers 2007
C: Russell Martin, LAD
1B: Prince Fielder, MIL
2B: Chase Utley, PHI
3B: David Wright, NYM
SS: Jimmy Rollins, PHI
OF: Carlos Beltran, NYM
OF: Carlos Lee, HOU
OF: Matt Holliday, COL
P: Micah Owings, ARI

Congratulations to Kevin Youkilis, who just snagged his first ever Gold Glove- and it was well deserved. Youk didn't record a single error this season, in 1,080 total chances (that's 135 errorless games), and also nabbed 990 putouts. Youk is the first Sox player to snag one of these prestigious defensive awards since Jason Varitek in '05.

Youk is one of five first-time AL Gold Glove honorees this year- including Johan Santana, Placido Polanco, Adrian Beltre and Grady Sizemore. The AL list includes two Tigers, two Mariners, two Twins, and one player from each of the Red Sox, Indians and Angels. No Yankees made the list (Derek Jeter lost his slot to the Angels' Orlando Cabrera). The NL list includes two players from each of the Phillies, Braves and Mets, and one player from each of the Padres, Dodgers, Cubs and Diamondbacks.

Here's some interesting history on the awards, courtesy of the Phillies (congratulations also go out to Philly's Aaron Rowand, who snagged his first Gold Glove today):

The idea of awarding Gold Gloves to the game's top fielders hatched in 1956 when Elmer Blasco, the Rawlings Sporting Goods public relations/sales manager, discovered during a Spring Training survey that 83 percent of MLB regular players used Rawlings gloves or mitts.

He noted that Hillerich & Bradsby, the Major League's leading baseball bat supplier, awarded "Silver Bats" to the game's top hitters, so Blasco reasoned that Rawlings ought to sponsor some sort of fielding award.

After his idea was accepted by Rawlings' management, Blasco contacted the Brown Shoe Company of St. Louis and obtained a hide of gold lame-tanned leather used to make ladies formal slippers. A glove was crafted from the hide, laced and stamped as a regular fielder's glove, and attached to a metal fixture on a walnut base with an engraved plate. Thus was born the Gold Glove Award.

The Oct. 2, 1957, edition of The Sporting News featured a full-page announcement: "Recognizing the importance of superior individual fielding performance to the advancement of baseball as America's national game, Rawlings has established the annual Gold Glove Awards beginning with the '57 season."

A committee selected by The Sporting News voted from 1957-64; MLB managers and coaches took over the voting responsibility in 1965.

Hi. My name is Josh.

You might know me from such things as:

- kicking lots of ass
- being awesome
- winning 20 games this season
- insightful interviews
- kicking lots of ass
- humble modesty
- rocking your world
- extended vocabulary
- throwing fucking strikes
- shutting out the Angels in the postseason (!!!!!!)
- did I mention kicking lots of ass?

If you did not vote for me for the Cy Young, you are an idiot.

I mean, can C.C. do this?

I don't fucking think so.

Kisses,
Commander Kick Ass of the Fuck Yeah Brigade

As the days of this regular season dwindle away, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at what some of the experts predicted for this year's big awards.

On the NL side, neither Oswalt nor Zambrano are in any kind of contention for the Cy Young. And it's not Jose Reyes, but his teammate David Wright who is now being bandied about as a possible NL MVP.

Looking at the AL, not a single person mentioned Beckett or Sabathia (the two frontrunners) for Cy Young- but the A-Rod predictions are looking solid. Alex Gordon fizzled as a ROTY candidate, but Delmon Young put on a great showing.

We're officially past the halfway point of the baseball season. When October arrives, only one team will win it all, and the rest will be sent home sad (some sooner than others, REDS).

But this isn't October- it's July. And in July, like in Little League, everyone's (still) a winner. So just like Little League, I'm gonna give out awards to someone or something on every team. Everyone takes home a trophy!

Continue reading »

The Home Run Derby is just about to start, and love it or hate it, every single one of the 8 guys competing is a cutie. Of course, I have to back my own personal favorite Justin Morneau for the win -- but all of them are nice to look at.

I like David Wright's ideas for the Derby -- including more points for opposite field homers, and requiring a teammate to pitch to you.