Sure, Dustin Pedroia must be thrilled to take home the American League’s MVP award. Think of all the superstars he overcame to do this. He has once again proved so many wrong. Just as he did during Spring Training as he gets some payback to Gary Tanguay for comments he made in 2007.

I think individual awards are bogus, especially the Most Valuable Player award, which might be given to Dustin Pedroia today. Sure, the MVP trophy helps line the pockets of successful players, many of whom signed incentive-laden contracts that pay them handsomely for finishing in the top 10 in MVP balloting. But all you need to know about this BS-exercise is this: Albert Pujols won the National League MVP yesterday, and Pujols was the only player named on all 32 ballots. So MLB took 32 baseball "experts," and the only thing they could all agree on was that Albert Pujols was one of the 10 most valuable players in the NL last season.

Brilliant.

Pedroia might win today. Or maybe he’ll lose some votes to Kevin Youkilis, which might throw the MVP to Josh Hamilton or Justin Morneau or Francisco Rodriguez. Frankly, who cares? I couldn’t sit here and tell you that Pedroia was definitively more valuable than Youkilis this season. Why? Because no one can decide what "most valuable" means; everyone uses their own convenient definition, while excluding candidates who don’t fit those parameters.

I mean, Rob Neyer of ESPN.com picked Lance Berkman as National League MVP. And Jonah Keri, also of ESPN.com, picked Cliff Lee as American League MVP. Why? I don’t know, and frankly, I don’t care. They have their reasons, so that’s that. In baseball, reading why someone’s voting for such and such a person is the second-biggest waste of time. Writing about who you’d vote for is the biggest.

In the middle of the 7th inning, with the Red Sox trailing the Rays 7-0, my wife abandoned the vigil and went to bed. I told her I was staying up, because the Red Sox, while heartless and inert, had been a big part of my life for six-plus months. I owed it to this team (to myself) to watch it through to its morbid, inevitable finale, even though it felt like watching your friend go to the gallows.

But in the words of Gunny Sgt. Hartman, "Well, holy dog sh*t."

Four runs scored on two-out hits in the 7th?

Pedroia’s feisty at-bat, getting us off the snide?

A three-run homer from Big Papi, who’d been dead?

A two-run homer from J.D. Drew, who’d been dead?

Remember the Duke-Kentucky game when Laettner hit that game-winning turnaround from the foul line off that baseline baseball pass? Thomas Davis put his hands on his head and nearly wept in disbelief.

(What, you want my man card? Fine, take it, I nearly deuced through the floor when J.D. Drew went yard.)

And then, once I regained control of my bowels, Mark Kotsay finally gets one past B.J. Upton. At this stage, I’m saying, "OK, we came back, we showed we had some grit. If we have to lose 7-6, with Coco Crisp at the plate, I can’t complain."

Did anyone else know Dustin Pedroia has been on a tear?

The Sox second baseman has been given high praise this remarkable past seven days. Fans and media experts are pegging him as AL MVP, the best second baseman in Red Sox history, a jockey…all kinds of labels. No question that the Sox little big man has been hotter than you starring in a Showtime After Dark series opposite Jessica Alba, Kelly Kapowski, and, I dunno, a runner up for Miss Alaska.

Here is Dustin’s last 7 games:

 I will take the first step out on that limb there and say that if you did that for a season, you would win the MVP, and they would probably elect you President of Earth. What would a full season look like if someone could manage to do that (I think Steve Nebraska played by Brendan Fraser in the movie "The Scout").

Only 46 homers isn’t unreal, but 417 hits should get the job done. So can Pedey hit .374 this season. If he stays on this tear for the final 23 games he will. Again, unlikely, but every time you think or say this guy can’t do something, he pulls it off. His final season numbers at the last week’s performance would end up looking like this:

Jonathan Papelbon joins Gary Tanguay and Michael Felger on Mohegan Sun’s Sports Tonight at 6:30pm on September 2nd to talk about several topics, including his increased workload this season and what Dustin Pedroia’s reaction should have been to Ozzie Guillen after the White Sox manager referred to him as a "jockey".

Take your pick:

Scene 1

Situation A

Bottom of the 6th, Sox up 6-3, runners on second and third with two outs. David Ortiz at the plate or…

Situation B 

Bottom of the 6th, Sox up 6-3, bases loaded with two outs. Kevin Youkilis at the plate.

Scene 2

Situation A

Bottom of the 8th, Sox up 6-4, man on second with one out. David Ortiz at the plate or…

Situation B

Bottom of the 8th, Sox up 6-4, men on first and second, with one out. Kevin Youkilis at the plate.

Last night, Orioles manager Dave Trembley was presented with each these two scenarios, and both times, he went with B. Both times, he felt that pitching around David Ortiz, and to Kevin Youkilis, gave his team a better chance of winning. But here’s the question:

As a Red Sox fan…at this very point in time… during this very Red Sox season… who would you rather have out there? Forget the past for a second. Just consider these last five months. Aren’t the Sox a more dangerous team in Situation B? For right now, wouldn’t you rather have Youk up with the bases loaded and two outs, than runners at second and third for Ortiz?  

This isn’t going to be a "Papi’s Lost It" manifesto—but him and  are on a little bit of a cold streak.

Dustin Pedroia has been on fire lately, and last night became the first Red Sox player since Wade Boggs in 1989 to have back-to-back four hit games. How hot is the Boston second baseman? So hot that White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen intentionally walked Pedroia with a runner on third and two outs Saturday night.

Guillen later explained his maneuver, dropping a hilarious backhanded compliment:

"I never thought I would walk a jockey," he said.

From most managers that’d be an insult. From Guillen, it’s practically endearing.

Shaky, shaky, shaky! What else can I say about the status of our beloved Boston Red Sox right now? Over their last 10 games, they have gone 3-7 with each and every loss being devastating to their once cushy lead atop the American League East.

Their last two losses against the New York Yankees were right out of a Hollywood screenplay. Watching Saturday’s ninth-inning squander with the bases juiced was detrimental to my health, and last night’s abysmal performance by the bullpen was a heinous crime.

Now, as we sit at our desks with a steaming cup of coffee or a keg full of water like myself, I can’t help but wonder about the future of this team. Will it be feast or famine? Currently, the Sox are five games behind the Tampa Bay Rays, yes folks, I said five!

On a bright note, second baseman and newly anointed All-Star starter Dustin Pedroia was 6-for-18 (.333) with two RBIs and three runs scored. He has gotten his average up to .312 on the season and is more than on pace to shatter last year’s numbers.

Third baseman Mike Lowell was 4-for-14 (.286) with one dinger, seven RBIs and one run scored. He now leads the team with 54 RBIs on the year.

First baseman and All-Star starter Kevin Youkilis was 6-for-14 (.429) with two RBIs and two runs scored. It’s becoming more and more apparent how important “Youk” is to this team. I mean, he has a .382 OBP and an awesome .916 OPS on the season.

After the weekend series with the Houston Astros, I can’t help but feel disappointment running through my veins like a riptide. How the heck did the Red Sox just drop two out of three games to the Astros, a team that sports a highly subpar 39-43 record on the year?

Well, the past is the past, and now we must focus on the Tampa Bay Rays, even with Boston’s bullpen resembling a derailed train headed for a destination unknown.

Albeit severely limited, there were some bright spots for the Sox over the weekend.

It didn’t take long for starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka to return to his usual dominant form. In five innings of work Friday night, the valuable import blanked the Astros in the run department while conceding two hits with four whiffs and his standard three free passes. He was routinely throwing in the low to mid-90s, and appeared to be healthy once again.

Third baseman Mike Lowell continued his solid campaign on the season. Against Houston, the 34-year-old veteran went 6-for-13 (.462) with one long ball, five RBIs and two runs scored. On the year, he’s mashing at a nice .296 clip with 12 home runs, 46 RBIs, 37 runs scored and a nasty .877 OPS in 243 at-bats.

Second baseman Dustin Pedroia tore the cover off the ball during the three-game set. The gritty 5-foot-9, 180-pound "Dirt Dog" went 9-for-14 (.643) with one home run, three RBIs, five runs scored and one swipe. On the season, he’s now hitting .304 (finally) with eight home runs, 37 RBIs, 53 runs scored and nine stolen bases in 339 at-bats. He’s back!

I guess one out of two isn’t bad, especially when you consider that the St. Louis Cardinals undoubtedly still harbor hard feelings over their demise in the 2004 World Series.

Well, starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka reared his tainted arm in horrendous fashion Saturday. I mean, the guy just got off the 15-day disabled list with a mild rotator cuff strain, so expecting anything less than a walkfest would have been stupid. However, he reported no soreness after he tossed one disastrous inning, which led to seven earned runs on six hits with three walks. Needless to say, Matsuzaka is now 8-1.

Starting pitcher Jon Lester threw well once again in Sunday’s extended 5-3 victory. In 7 1/3 innings of work, the southpaw conceded two earned runs on nine hits with three whiffs and one walk. His season ERA now stands at a nasty 3.13.

Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia was 6-for-13 (.462) in the series with two runs scored and a stolen base. He has finally gotten his average to a respectable level (.282) on the season.

Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis was 4-for-13 (.308) in the series with two long balls, three RBIs and three runs scored. Plus, as we all know, he won the game Sunday for the Sox in the bottom of the 13th with a two-run blast off St. Louis relief pitcher Mike Parisi.

Making waste out of one of the National League’s best teams was as easy as taking hacks during batting practice for the Red Sox. Although they surrendered the first game of the series mainly because of starting pitcher Bartolo Colon (back) and his back stiffness, the Sox came back with a masterpiece that was conducted by Jon Lester, which was followed by another nice showing from starting pitcher Justin Masterson.

On the season, Lester is 6-3 with 62 strikeouts, 38 walks and a sweet 3.18 ERA in 96 1/3 innings. Over his last three starts, he has gone 3-0 with 13 whiffs, two walks and a 1.33 ERA in 20 1/3 innings. During Tuesday’s start against the Phillies, Lester threw a seven-inning shutout gem enroute to his sixth win of the season.

In Game 3 against the Phillies, Masterson allowed two earned runs on four hits in five innings of work for his fourth victory of the year, which pushed his record to a surprising 4-1 on the season.

Sox outfielder J.D. Drew continued his streak of nastiness by going 5-for-12 (.417) with two home runs, five RBIs and three runs scored. On the season, the once hated overpriced stiff is hitting a nasty .327, which places him fourth amongst American League hitters. In addition, he has a disgustingly awesome 1.033 OPS thus far, which truly signifies the impact he has had at the plate.