Father Knows Best.

Proviso: I don't pretend to be proficient in Spanish translation. If I was being generous, I might consider myself competent. In other words, I could be completely wrong about this. Fair warning. I really just wanted to put the picture up--I can see Mikey in Dr. Papa Lowell.

Primera Hora, a Puerto Rican tabloid-like newspaper (think NY Post), interviewed Mike Lowell's dad about the possibility of Mike playing for team Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic. If you'll recall, before becoming a dentist Dr. Lowell was a pitcher of some renown for the Puerto Rican national team in the 1960s and 1970s.

Says Dr. Papa Lowell of seeing his son play:

"Yo espero poder viajar a Puerto Rico en marzo. Esa es una de las ilusiones mas grandes que tengo, poder ver a mi hijo jugar por Puerto Rico y que viva lo que yo tambien vivi. Todo va a depender de lo que diga Boston, pero el se esta preparando como si fuera a jugar."

Roughly:

"I hope to be able to travel to Puerto Rico in March. One of my biggest dreams is to see my son play for Puerto Rico like I did. It all depends on what Boston says, but he is preparing as if he was going to play."

Also, Dr. Papa Lowell has a different take on Mike's level of recuperation than Theo's cagey response to questions of Lowell's health at the BBWA dinner. Essentially, Theo said Mike was pretty much coming along nicely but there had been some setbacks and that he probably would be game ready by the start of the season. Says Dr. Papa Lowell:

"Si por Mike fuera, ya estuviera corriendo, recogiendo roletas y bateando. El esta bien ansioso por recuperarse porque de verdad que quiere jugar, pero Boston lo lleva bien suave."

Roughly:

"If Mike were to go, he's already running, fielding and batting. He's eager to be better, because honestly, he wants to play but Boston is taking a cautious approach to his rehab."

I'm torn about Mike Lowell playing in the WBC. Part of me hopes that they let him play because it's his Dad's dream but if he rushes back he might re-injure himself and that would not be a good thing-not for Mike and not for the team.

[Aside: There are a lot of accent marks that I left out of the Spanish bits. Try as I might, I can't get them to go in properly. Sra. Fox would be very disappointed in me.]