K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

Ha. Ha. Jed Lowrie has mono. When you're fourteen contracting mono makes you kind of cool but when you only look fourteen I can't think of anything more embarrassing to be diagnosed with. Even Francona made fun of him "I don't think we want him kissing anybody, but we'll keep an eye on him and just kind of monitor him."

Don't You Forget About Me.

Jed Lowrie is up in Portland tonight for the Sea Dogs Hot Stove Dinner. While there he spoke with WCHS about his wrist and the team for next season.

Regarding the wrist: He's done everything he was supposed to do for its rehabilitation and is hoping that it works.

Regarding the state of the team: Having good players makes the team better and increases competition amongst the players. And they all want to win.

Nothing too interesting.

This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things.

I really don't know what to say boyos. I go away on a nice little (well-deserved, I think) vacation and at the request of my traveling companion "Give the baseball a rest" and everything goes to hell.

It's raining. My traveling companion is asleep. I'm flipping through the channels and stop on Fox to see a terrible play out in left and think: What the hell was that? Then they zoom in (and play it over and over again from various angles) and Youkilis is gamely trying to play out there. Again: What the hell?

So, Smoltz was DFA'd. Lowrie is now on the DL. They've picked up Chris Woodward. Apparently last night's game was fifteen innings long. And most annoyingly, they've lost the first two games of the series to the Yankees. Blah.

Jed.

Hey! I remember you, I think.

Is it terrible that while watching this video what I really wanted was for them to zoom out a little bit so that I could see this fabulous bruise on his knee?

Shows What I Know.

Seemingly mere moments after I decided to declare that the surgery to remove Jed Lowrie's styloid process was the least likely avenue for the club to pursue, they go ahead and remove his styloid process. I suppose that's what I get for offering medical opinions that I am unqualified to give. In an effort to heed the clear warning to keep my trap shut, I will resist saying that six weeks until he is able to swing a bat seems extremely optimistic.

Ouch.

(Ignore the arrow. At the top of the other bone is a broken styloid process.)

So the word on Jed Lowrie's wrist is that he's fractured the styloid process of his left ulna. It's likely that this is the same bone he broke last season (nondisplaced fractures of the wrist are almost always of the ulnar styloid.)

The styloid process is a little spike of bone attached to the head of the ulna. You can feel it if you feel up your wrist. The bump on your wrist is the head of the ulna, if you start at the top of the ulnar head and move laterally toward the outside of the wrist and dig in a little, there's a little triangle of bone-that's the ulnar styloid process. It's function is to have a place for the ulnar collateral ligament to attach. If it's broken(besides being painful), the wrist becomes unstable.

There are three options for him:

The first would be to get cortisone shots to reduce inflammation, rest it, and hope that the bone reknits itself. If he goes with that plan, they'd be looking at three to six weeks in a splint.

The second option would be a closed reduction of the fracture. In that case, they'd wire or screw the process back onto the ulnar head. Recovery from that would take at least a couple of months. His wrist would look like this:

The last, and least likely option, would be to open his wrist up and take out the bone the completely. The problem, if they were to pursue that option, would be finding a new home for the connective tissuses that relie on that structure. If they did that, he'd be done for the year. In addition, you couldn't be absolutely certain that the wrist would still function in a way that would allow him to play baseball. Of course, it might go the other way and stucturally changing his wrist might improve his ability to play the game ala Rookie of the Year.

Not having seen his x-rays, I'd guess that if they think he can be healed by rest, they bone isn't displaced enough to warrant the surgery.

Multi-Sport Athletes.

Last year Mike Lowell ran away from the competition and took home the Comcast Sportsnet Golden Paddle Award in somewhat of a landslide. But it's a new year and Mikey couldn't participate because of the wonky hip. Who would be willing to take on Dustin Pedroia in this year's tournament? Who would do it for Mikey? Stepping into the void and attempting to fill the shoes of Mr. Lowell was Jed Lowrie. Sadly, besides having an alternately psychotic/goofy grin, Jed Lowrie must really suck at Ping Pong. He fell to Pedroia in what seemed to be a close game.

The event loses some of it's charm without the wit of Mike Lowell but it's still amusing viewing.

Jed Lowrie: Fan of Children.

Jed Lowrie either likes children a lot or, like lots of us, is driven nuts by his family. Granted, two incidences don't make a pattern but it seems like each time he heads home to Oregon from his off-season pad in Arizona he makes certain to spend time away from the clan in the local school system. The upcoming holiday won't be any different. On December 23 Jed will be helping to coach a baseball skills clinic at North Salem High School. The clinic covers hitting, agility, pitching, catching, and infield work. Presumably, the last topic will be his area of expertize.

Bits and Pieces: Twinies.

Two little pieces of news on look-alikes Jason Bay and Jed Lowrie today.

Jed Lowrie has (presumably) returned home to Oregon for the holiday. While there, he stopped by his old middle school to participate in an assembly in his honor.

The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (who knew that such a place existed?) gives out the Tip O'Neil Award to the best Canadian player in professional baseball and among those being considered? Jason Bay. Bay took home the award twice before in 2004 and 2005. The public is encouraged to vote (they didn't make it very easy though.) The award will be announced on December 12.

A Moveable Feast.

A heads up: The date of the Lowell Spinners dinner has been changed to January 12, 2009.

They also mentioned that the recipient of this year's Dick Bernandino Alumni Award will be Jed Lowrie. Jed was a decent shortstop but this part of the announcement:

"Overall, Lowrie hit .258 with two home runs and 46 RBI, playing stellar defense and filling the void created by Julio Lugo."

seems a little harsh on poor Julio.

Anyway, congratulations to Jed.

A Man Named Jed.

Jed Lowrie is a thoughtful kid, as is evidenced here.

But I have to question his sanity. You see, he's planning on driving all the way to Arizona. It's not entirely clear if he's going from Boston to Arizona or from Boston to Oregon (to pick up his Dad) to Arizona. Either way it's a lot of driving. What's more, he seems to be a very slow driver-only having made it as far as New Jersey so far.

I suppose I understand the need for the car: it might be too hot in Arizona to walk places and there might not be places in Buckeye, Arizona to walk, and he is still too young to rent a car. But I'm pretty sure I'd be certifiable by the end of that drive.

The Boys of the Pacific Northwest.

(or the story of Red Sox rookies whose names start with the letter J--except for Justin Masterson who doesn't count)

1. Jed Lowrie has done such a fabulous job filling in for Julio Lugo--another J--that people are taking notice.

2. Jacoby the thief. Jacoby Ellsbury steals bases in much the same way that he steals hearts-often and, seemingly, without effort. The first bit of Ellsbury-ana comes to us from the Projo. The second piece comes from The Register-Guard of Eugene, OR.

3. Jeff Bailey is just happy to help.

4. This post was originally titled "The Boys of Oregon" but that had to be scrapped once it was discovered that Kelso, Washington was, in fact, not in Oregon and, therefore, Jeff Bailey wasn't Oregonian. With the title change it seemed only fair to find something about Jon Lester. This was the best I could come up with. Who would have thought that Jon Lester's musical tastes were about as exciting as Jon Lester himself?

Happy Birthday Jed!

Since he's on the roster, I'll wish Jed Lowrie a happy birthday today. He arrived on the scene twenty-four years ago, screaming and unhappy, and today (with Youkilis having banged up his foot yesterday) he might end up playing third base at Yankee stadium-though if Youk needs time off they might go with Thurston.

Congratulations on your newly minted major league career and many happy and healthy returns of the day.