Milwaukee Brewers “third baseman” Ryan Braun and Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia have been named 2007 Rookie of the Year for the NL and AL, respectively. Braun just beat Colorado’s Troy Tulowiztki in the NL, while Pedroia easily won in the AL.
You are so smart: In our polls, Braun nosed out Tulowitzki, 180-172, and Pedroia took 75% of the votes. Hooray for us, hooray for Braun and Pedroia, hooray for everything.
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Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox on beating the Colorado Rockies in four straight to win the World Series. It would have been nice to see the small-market team win, but oh well. Red Sox fans were going to be obnoxious all winter either way, so what’s the difference.
Bottom line, it’s done. Let the hot stove league begin…
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Somehow I’d missed this earlier. Colorado’s Todd Helton and Boston’s Kevin Youkilis have blogs that they’ve been updating throughout the postseason.
From a recent post by Helton:
I’m told that my teammates appreciate what I’ve contributed, and I hope so. I try not to be overbearing. I try to play as hard as I can, do my job. If it wasn’t for my teammates, I wouldn’t be here.
And an excerpt from Youkilis:
We have to play for each other. It’s a business, both in the media side or other sides, where people might write bad things about you. You know what? Just take …read more

Welcome to the moment network execs have been dreading. The Cleveland Indians need to win one of the next three games to face the Colorado Rockies in the World Series.
A nation yawns. Or it would, if it could summon the enthusiasm.
Thursday’s contest at Jacobs Field (first pitch, 5 p.m. PT) features a rematch of Game 1 starters and leading Cy Young candidates C.C. Sabathia and Josh Beckett. For Boston, the equation is simple: win or go home for the winter.
For the Indians, it’s more like win or go to Boston’s home for two more games. I’m thinking they’d prefer Door …read more

With just one previous big-league start under his belt, Boston Red Sox right-hander Clay Buchholz no-hit the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday night at Fenway. If I’m not mistaken, Wilson Alvarez was the last pitcher to throw a no-no in his second career start — on August 11, 1991, against — you guessed it, the Orioles.
Whatever the case, congrats to Buchholz…

Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t make this up. Boston Red Sox right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka is releasing a CD.
Wait, he sings?
Well, not quite. The CD, called Music from the Mound, “features a compilation of Matsuzaka’s favorite and inspirational songs from various American, English and Japanese recording artists.” One original song — “Gyro Ball” — includes guest performances by former members of the J. Geils Band and Extreme.
Yeah, if anything will give a CD credibility in the 21st century, it’s the folks who brought us “Freeze Frame” and “More Than Words.” Rock on…

As part of Darren Rowse’s latest group writing project, and because Roger Clemens is in the news again, here are five Clemens moments that we’ll never forget:

April 29, 1986: At age 23, Clemens strikes out 20 Seattle Mariners in a game at Fenway Park. The Boston Red Sox win the game, 3-1, and Clemens enters the history books. [More at Baseball Almanac]
October 10, 1990: Clemens is ejected in the second inning of ALCS Game 4 against the Oakland A’s, who complete the sweep of Boston en route to their third straight World Series. [More at ESPN.]
September 18, 1996: Ten years …read more

The thing about most “rookies” is that they aren’t being paid like all-stars or playing in an insane sports market. Sure, a guy like Alex Gordon faces a little pressure from hype, but he’s in Kansas City and there isn’t a contingent of foreign media following his every move.
Boston Red Sox right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka struggled again on Thursday night against the Mariners. The problem? According to manager Terry Francona, it’s a matter of command:
They didn’t knock him all over the ballpark. It goes down for me to command. When he commands, he will go very deep into a game. And …read more

Ian at Giving 110 Percent examines Boston right-hander Josh Beckett’s first start and finds reasons to be encouraged:
Beckett was using his curve much more often than he did last year. Some were very good, but he was having difficulty locating it. It almost seemed he was being stubborn with it in the same way he would be stubborn with his fastball last year. It’s like Francona and Farrell told him to throw more curves so he did even though he couldn’t locate it that well.
I don’t know enough about Beckett’s stuff to comment meaningfully on the specifics, but I will …read more

We noted a while back that Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has started blogging. Now one of my favorite baseball writers, SI.com’s Alex Belth, interviews Schilling about the experience.
Schilling talks about interacting with baseball fans:
Fans in Boston want to know why I threw a slider 2-0, or they want to know the difference between my fastball and my change-up. They are smart as hell, and for me that’s fun.
Schilling also points out what I think is going to be huge down the line — the way his blogging allows him to remove any filters between himself and the public:
I …read more