Good Man.

(AP Photo)

Congrats to Wakey on receiving the Roberto Clemente Award. He's a good egg.

Programming Alert.

The last time I watched NESN was on October 4th. (NESN totally shouldn't feel bad though, I'm just not very good at watching television; I often forget to tune into shows that I enjoy watching, so there should be very little hope that I might turn on their off-season dreck. The tour of Mike Lowell's house? Didn't see it. Didn't even know that it was on.) Normally, I wouldn't bother with the channel until February but tomorrow night at 7:30 they're airing a Jason Varitek retrospective. (Preview here) If I had a DVR, I might remember to set it.

Rejoice and Be Glad.

AP Photo

This is the day Dustin Pedroia has his cast removed. Do you suppose he camped out in front of the doctor's office last night in order to be there when they opened for business?

Also, please forgive me my blasphemy.

One of Those Rectangle States.

It seems that This Year in Baseball, like the rest of us (note: sarcasm) MLB didn't bother to pay any attention to the Colorado Rockies. I imagine that a lot of hard work went into design of the voting form for this year's This Year in Baseball Awards; each nominee gets a neat little interactive baseball card with their picture on it but clearly unable to pick Carlos Gonzalez out of a lineup (it's either that or they figured that no one would notice) they just left his nomination for hitter of the year blank. He's like the shadow guy on Facebook. (They did put his picture up for the other two nominations he got.)

As for Boston nominees, they've got Beltre, Lester and Buchholz, Papelbon and Bard, Francona (the only who might deserve some consideration), and Nava and Darnell McDonald's Boston debuts.

Gate Crashing.

Is there anything like post season baseball? Tremendous stuff. Just because my boys didn't get an invitation to the party doesn't mean I'm going to sit home and pout.

For the past week or so, the Twins fan I know (Why yes, I do know a Twins fan. He's from South Dakota.) has been insisting that I've been underestimating Minnesota. According to him, they're really good this year; Liriano is better than Sabathia and Pavano is just as good or alternately, they have the best rotation in baseball. Being a fan can make you say some odd things.

To be honest though, I haven't paid much attention to the Twins since May. At all. A week ago I couldn't have told you who they had playing first in Morneau's absence. I could name their outfield starters but who was playing right or center or left? The rotation beyond Liriano and Pavano? Yeah, I didn't know. So I was willing to except that maybe my Twins fan was right, maybe they were a good team.

For six innings I followed along, happily being proven wrong (Yay! First baseman Michael Cuddyer!) but then it all fell apart. Being a temporary Twins fan [Aside: It was much easier to become a Twins fan than it was to become a Rangers fan. I still contend that they're bad at baseball.] and believing those ridiculous things that I'd been told about the team, well it was disappointing.

Also, congratulations to Roy Halladay. I always liked him. It is too bad that he has to play for those ridiculous people in Philadelphia, though. Cheering along with them really took me out of it.

On Mike Lowell.

Rueters Pictures

This article is a couple of days old but whatever, I've been busy. There are so many things to like from the outset: Mike Lowell? Check. Gordon Edes? Check. Naturally, I can't leave well enough alone and must complain: Holy purple prose, Gordo. The pitch from Dr. Papa Lowell was "strong and true"? I like Mike Lowell as much as the next person but my goodness.

Mike Lowell might not understand exactly how he became so popular but I do. It's that lovely smile. It's such an easy smile, with intelligence and good-humor behind it. And really you can't help but grin stupidly back at him.

And so he'll go back to Miami with his adorable wife (also lively and intelligent, no dead-eyed bimbo for Mike Lowell) and his, undoubtedly, perfect children to live a perfect Ozzie and Harriet type life. Lucky bastard. Best of luck to him.

The Truth Will Out.

It turns out that the reason the Beltres are looking to sell their California home has nothing to do with disenchantment for the area. It seems that Mrs. Beltre is about to welcome a new peanut into the world and clearly, what they needed was more space.

Adios Adrian. It was a lot of fun.