And there was much rejoicing!

Dustin Pedroia today at his MVP presser / Photo by Ross D. Franklin/AP

And why not?  Dustin Pedroia helped take the team to Game 7 of the ALCS this year, won a Gold Glove, a Silver Slugger and now the MVP!  In spite of just about every writer in the free world wanting to put him in a neat little box labeled “Scrappy”, he’s proven that he’s a hardcore dirt dog who plays his ass off and does it well.

“I really didn’t know what to expect,” Pedroia said. “I was just excited . . . having my name in with all those players. You look around the league, there are a ton of great players. When you have your name come up in that category, you get excited and honored. For me to be in that category was an extreme honor for myself.”

And he has quite a way with words. 🙂

Kevin Youkilis came in third (behind Justin Morneau) in the voting.  Not too damn shabby, huh?  I’m really not looking for too many changes to be made to this team for 2009.  There are a few places we could use some fresh blood…like our pitching…but I’d be really happy if they left the infield intact, thanks.

I’m also happy because the team still has Brad Mills and DeMarlo Hale sticking around since the Seattle Mariners chose Oakland A’s bench coach Don Wakamatsu as their new manager.  Sure, it’s a totally selfish happiness because, obviously, both of them wanted the position or else they wouldn’t have interviewed for it…but I don’t care.  Selfish I’ll be.  There are times when I like change and times when I want to ignore change – this is one of the times that I want as much to stay status quo as possible.  So far, so good.