Cole Hamels was not a surprising name to see on this list considering he threw more innings than any other pitcher in 2008, at one point even complaining of discomfort in his left arm during the Phillies championship run. He’s already had one injury scare this spring, and he still hasn’t gotten his velocity up to his 2008 standard. Time will tell how the rest of the season will fare for Hamels and the rest of the budding aces on this list.

Two points here, both of them so obvious that perhaps you don’t need me to make them. …

One, 30 or 40 or 25 at-bats isn’t really any opportunity at all. Even a good hitter might easily go 8-for-40 (.200) and (by Gonzalez’ logic) lose his job.

Two, Bonifacio’s career averages in the majors against lefties and righties aren’t all that interesting, because he’s not spent a great deal of time in the majors. What are interesting are minor-league splits: .265/.325/.333 against lefties, .310/.364/.402 against righties.

What do those numbers tell us? They tell me that if Bonifacio plays fantastic defense at third base, he might be good enough to be in the lineup against right-handed pitching. Not good enough to lead off, mind you. But good enough to play. They also tell me that he shouldn’t play against lefties, ever.

Bonifacio answered with a 4 hit, 4 run day, which included an inside-the-park home run and 3 steals. Interestingly enough, three of Bonifacio’s hits were against… you guessed it: left-handed pitchers. As for the “fantastic defense” Rob mentioned? Emilio added insult to injury by committing an error in the 6th inning that set the table for Adam Dunn’s 3-run homer.

Tough day for the ESPN columnist. With a 162-game season, he’ll have plenty of time to redeem himself, and Emilio has more than enough time to come back down to earth. I’d expect earth to be somewhere around a .260 batting average and maybe one more round-tripper in 2009.

Fantasy Spin: As spot on as Rob may be with his analysis, it is apparent that Fredi Gonzalez has a different criteria for his leadoff bat. While Bonifacio won’t match his spectacular day at the plate anytime soon, as long as the 23 year-old stays atop the Marlins lineup, you can bet on him scoring runs and stealing a ton of bags (when he actually does reach base, of course). Eventually, I expect Cameron Maybin to hit his way up in the lineup and take the leadoff spot from Bonifacio or whoever else Gonzalez decides to plug into that role.

At this year’s International High School Power Showcase, a home run derby at the Tropicana Dome in Tampa in January, Harper bashed a mammoth 502-foot home run. Officials said it would have traveled out of the old Yankee Stadium. Maybe even have hit the elevated train.

Last year, Harper batted .590 with 11 home runs and 67 RBIs in 38 games for Las Vegas High School.

Scary, considering he still has three more years of high school ball to play.

Below is a clip from the previously mentioned showcase. It starts slow, but picks up with the home run derby at the 2:45 mark:

Of course, there are a number obstacles that stand in his way of winning the MVP.  Albert Pujols.  Ryan Howard.  The fact that he was a mid-season acquisition.  The widely held belief that starting pitchers don’t merit MVP consideration because they only play every fifth day.

The best way to measure someone’s value is to take that individual out of the equation. Without C.C. Sabathia, the Brewers would have played their last game of the season on Sunday and gone home for a long winter.  Instead, they will face the Phillies in the NLDS on Wednesday.  Without Albert Pujols, the St. Louis Cardinals finish in 4th place in the NL Central—oh wait.  With the NL Wildcard as tight as it could possibly be, C.C. Sabathia pitched three games in the final nine days of the season—that’s three straight starts on only three days rest.  And he did it without a let down in performance.  Over that remarkable span, Sabathia posted a 0.83 ERA and collected two very important wins—the last being a complete game shutout.  Down the stretch, every single win was imperative and he was always up to task.

Next in line is Ryan Howard.  Howard had an incredible second half, yes, but when he was almost completely irrelevant in the early part of the season, the Phillies were still winning ballgames.  Why? Because Philadelphia have two other MVP caliber hitters in their lineup in Utley and Rollins, and Pat Burrell who had the best season of his career.  As tremendous a year Howard had at the plate, he actually hurt the Phillies in the field, making 19 errors, the most by any first baseman in baseball.  With his poor glove work, Howard is no more valuable than a designated hitter, and no DH has ever won an MVP award.

Ever since Sabathia came to the Brewers at mid-season, he has never shied away from throwing as many pitches as it took to get the W for the Brew Crew.  He only started 17 games in the National League, yet he still managed to lead the league with seven complete games.  His 10 complete games (between the AL and NL) during the regular season are the most by any pitcher this century.

While it’s difficult to present a major award to a player who only played half a season in the NL, never mind the historic pitcher-bias when it comes to the MVP award, Sabathia’s presence has meant more to his team than any other NL team that is still in contention for the crown.  Manny Ramirez’s monster second half is a close second, but he wasn’t enough of a difference maker to overcome the fact that he had only been with his club for half a season.

Just think we were one questionable “error-call” away from adding a no-hitter to C.C. Sabathia’s already impressive resume.  A game where not only was he dominant with his pitching, but he also made the biggest “wow play” of the year—when he caught line drive off the bat of Nate McLouth with his bare left hand and still had the awareness to double off the runner at first.  Wow.

The Sabathia trade may have been one of the most impactful deadline trades in baseball history.  He’s already primed to sign a record-breaking contract this off-season, but if the Brewers can make a splash in the playoffs behind their big south paw, Sabathia may also get a statue in his honor in Brew Town—captioned, of course, as “2008 National League MVP.”

As a player, he set the table for Ted Williams, batting leadoff during the Hall of Famer’s prime. He was on the bench as a coach when Carlton Fisk willed a foul-destined monster-shot to stay fair during the World Series in 1975. He was on the same bench when “he who shall not be named” delivered the stomach turning blow from the Yankees in 1978. He managed Mo Vaughn in Pawtucket; he mentored Nomar to stardom during his early years. He was in the Yankee Stadium dugout when Aaron Boone took Wakefield deep in extra frames as the Yankees paraded to their 39th pennant. A nation shared his joy when Boston ended its World Series draught during the storybook season of 2004.

Through all the tears of bliss and sorrow, few were more touching than seeing number 6 raised to the right field facade a day after his 89th birthday. It’s hard to imagine that the Sox actually had to “break” the rules to allow Pesky to join the likes of fellow greats Bobby Doerr, Joe Cronin, Carl Yastrzemski, Carlton Fisk, and good friend, Ted Williams. Heck, the right field foul poll was unofficially named after Pesky before Fisk was even born!

The rules say that a player must play at least 10 years in a Red Sox uniform to be honored with a retired number, and it seems nearly unfathomable that Pesky only played seven and a half years with the club. If he didn’t serve the US for three years during WWII, he most certainly would have reached this benchmark.

In his playing days he was well-known as an overly enthusiastic spark plug. A spray hitter, he was no stranger to 200-hit seasons, racking up three straight to begin his career. His childlike enthusiasm has stayed with him over the years, as well as his ability to spray to all parts of the park—still pining to hit fungoes, when most are pining for rocking chairs.

“When I lose my enthusiasm, I will say the heck with it and get out of the way,” said Pesky in a 1990 interview with the Boston Globe. “But right now I don’t feel that way.”

At 89 years-old Pesky still hasn’t lost his spark. For the Red Sox organization, fans, and baseball fans, we are damn lucky. It’s been 60 years, and we haven’t been able to get rid of Pesky. Now, we never will. Now, he will live on the facade beside his former manager, Cronin, double play counterpart Doerr, Fisk and Yaz whom he managed, and good friend Teddy Ballgame—forever.

I have created a new blog that is 100% focused on Boston sports, titled “Oh, Boston You’re My Home.” And yes, we do love the Standells here in Boston. The site will serve as a mini-portfolio to show off my knowledge and passion for Boston sports for a contest hosted by the biggest name in Boston sports media, WEEI.

WEEI is looking for the “Next Great Sports Blogger” in Boston. For those that aren’t familiar with the Boston sports scene, WEEI is the sports scene. WEEI-AM is the constant chatter in the background that can almost always be heard anywhere in or around Boston. Regardless of where you try to hide in the Boston area, you’ll almost always hear the voices of Glen Ordway, Michael Holley, Mike Adams, and the rest of the WEEI personalities blaring from someone’s radio.

In a town where everyone knows everything, WEEI provides a forum for sports fans to call in and spout off about who needs to be fired, who needs to be traded, and the most entertaining of all—who needs to be traded for (I can’t tell you how many trade scenarios I’ve heard for Albert Pujols over the past five years).

Just recently, WEEI expanded their sports radio enterprise onto the web with the brand new WEEI.com (Honestly, I can’t believe they didn’t do it sooner). By enlisting the talent they already had at the station, and picking up some great writers from other various media entities, WEEI has put together an impressive cast of contributors for their new Web site. Now they are seeking out part time writers from the amateur ranks to join the WEEI team as weekly blog contributors–that’s where the contest comes into play.

If this sparks your interest like it did mine, here are the details.

Otherwise, I again invite you to check out my BostonYoureMyHome.Wordpress.com. It will be a work in progress between now and the contest deadline on September 30.

Through his battle with cancer (and with high walk totals), the Red Sox stuck with Jon Lester, despite lucrative trade opportunities. The Red Sox are one of the few organizations that even when they do something that’s widely unpopular with the fan base, like let Pedro Martinez walk after 2004, they have earned the benefit of the doubt because odds are, they just know what they are doing. In the off-season the Sox had the opportunity to receive the most dominant starting pitcher of the young century (Johan Santana), if they would just include Jon Lester in a prospect package to the Twins. Despite the banter heard from WEEI callers strongly preferring to hang onto Jacoby Ellsbury and sending Jon Lester packing, the Red Sox brass firmly resisted the urge. They had seen enough from their young southpaw to know that he was special.

“His breaking ball and changeup improved dramatically in the postseason,” said Peter Gammons, speaking of the 2007 postseason where Lester was the game winner in the World Series clinching game. “After the Cleveland series, the Indians front office, coaches, and player personnel people had a meeting and it was unanimously agreed that after Josh Beckett, the best pitcher on the Red Sox was Lester. That doesn’t include Papelbon, different category.”

The truth is we had never seen Lester at full strength until this season. Even during his eye-opening 2006 rookie campaign cancer had penetrated his body, affecting his velocity and perhaps his spotty command. We never saw the high 90s heat that we heard he was throwing down on the farm. In 2007, he was still recovering, and his velocity still wasn’t where it was before. He has literally been getting better and stronger with every start he makes.

His winning battle with lymphoma may be just a testament to how much passion and fight the kid has in heart. You can see it in his eyes when Lester finds himself in a big spot. When he’s in a jam, he has the ability to buckle down and induce that necessary double play or get a much needed pair of strikeouts. When he hears the “strike three” call from the umpire, his intensity is obvious, as Lester is no stranger to a victorious grunt or fist pump.

His accomplishments speak for themselves. Game-winner of the World Series clinching Game four. A no-hitter against the Royals. AL Pitcher of the Month in July. 23-6 career record.

Back to the initial point. Jon Lester has molded himself into the guy you want to have the ball in Game 7. He’s a guy who wants the ball for nine innings. The Atlanta Braves always had incredible pitching in the 1990s, with Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine. They made the playoffs for 14 out of 15 seasons, but only won the crown once. Nobody could question the talent the ability of their pitching staff—all three are Hall of Famers. But only Glavine has a winning record in the World Series. None of them earned the reputation as a big game pitcher–a “stopper.”

Josh Beckett has earned his reputation as the go to guy when his team needs to pull out a win.  Lester showed traces of that same pit bull mentality in 2007.  In 2008, he’ll have another shot at earning the same reputation as his veteran teammate.

Who would you rather have on the mound in an elimination game, Beckett or Lester?

An estimated crowd of 8,629 piled into Veteran’s Field last Saturday night for the 46th Cape League All-Star Game. Of the nearly 9,000 fans in attendance, there were probably at least 50 Major League scouts. The entire section of the stands behind home plate was roped off with signage saying “Scouts Only.” If you walked by that section at any point in the game, you would see at least a dozen radar guns pointed toward the mound, clocking the pitches from the fresh meat on the hill.

In typical Cape League fashion, the early portion of the game was dominated by great pitching. The East offense was dominated by the first four pitchers that toed the rubber, going hitless until the 5th inning. Then in the 6th, the offense for the West exploded for five runs off of Martin Viramontes (Orleans Cardinals, Loyola Marymount), as he could only record one out.

Viramontes’ struggles set the plate for the most inspiring pitching performance of the night. With just one out, and the West All-Stars rounding the bases as if it were a merry-go-round, Chris Manno (Harwich Mariners), a 6 foot 3 lefty from Duke, was asked to warm up as quickly as possible and enter the game an inning before he was scheduled. I watched him warm up in the bullpen. Clearly he had never warmed up with this particular bullpen catcher before that night, as Manno directed him through his typical routine, which appeared to be very precise and specific to him.

When Manno was finally loose, he was called upon with the bases loaded, and two outs to get out of the jam, with the meat of the order coming up. He answered with back-to-back strikeouts to the number two and three hitters, Jimmy Cesario (Falmouth Commodores, Houston) and Marc Krauss (Bourne Braves, Ohio). Manno came back out for the 7th inning and sat down the four, five and six hitters in order to complete his perfect 1 2/3 inning, and holding the deficit to 6-1 in favor of the West.

The bottom of the 8th inning was an event in itself. The East All-Stars came to the plate looking to erase the 5-run lead built by the West—a very tall task in a Cape League game. The game had been flying to this point, but this inning saw two interruptions. The first came at 9:11 p.m. when the PA announcer interrupted the game to observe the 9/11 tragedy, which was a very nice gesture. Then, the game resumed, but perhaps not without rattling the concentration of Seth Blair (Cotuit Kettleers, Arizona State), who was on the mound for the West. He proceeded to give up three runs to make it a 6-4 ball game.

Then, at precisely 9:33, Blair was interrupted yet again. This time it was in the middle of a Grant Green (Chatham A’s, USC) at bat, when three streakers emerged from the right field foul territory, ran through the bullpen (where Ben Tootle was currently warming up), and across the outfield making a swift exit, hopping over the centerfield fence. It’s tough to say how this would affect a player’s mental concentration, but if it did in fact have an effect, it was positive for Grant Green as he reentered the batters box after being keeled over in laughter. Green, with a runner on 3rd, proceeded to hit the first pitch he saw deep to center and out of the park, over the same fence that was just scaled by streakers in the prior seconds. The game was tied 6-6.

Then Mark Fleury, Harwich’s catcher from UNC, gave the East All-Stars the lead with a 2-run shot to cap the score at 8-6, capping the come from behind victory, that was closed out by Brad Boxberger (Chatham A’s, USC) in the 9th.

Grant Green took home the MVP honors with his game-tying 2-run homer in the 8th inning. Here’s a look at all of the notable performances from the game:

Grant Green (USC) 1-4, HR, 2 RBI
Mark Fleury (UNC) 1-2, HR, 2 RBI
AJ Pollack (Notre Dame) 2-3, HR
Rich Poythress (Georgia) 1-2, HR
Tim Wheeler (Loyola Marymount) 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI
Ben Paulsen (Clemson) 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI

Chris Manno (Duke) 1.2 IP, 0 H, 4 K
Bryce Stowell (UC Irvine) 1 IP, 0 H, 3 K
Sammy Solis (San Diego) 1 IP, 0 H, 2 K
Brandon Workman (Texas) 1 IP, 0 H, 2 K
Adam Wilk (Long Beach State) 1 IP, 1 H, 3 K
Andrew Carraway (Virginia) 1 IP, 0 H, 1 K
Nick McCully (Coastal Caronlina) 1 IP, 0 H, 1 K
Dallas Keuchel (Arkansas) 1 IP, 0 H, 1 K
Brad Boxberger (USC) 1 IP, 0 H, 1 K, SV
Russell Brewer (Vanderbuilt) 1 IP, 0 H, 0 K
Buddy Baumann (Missouri State) 1 IP, 0 H, 0 K, WIN

The Class of 2008:
East
Connor Powers (Brewster), Mississippi State
Joseph Sanders (Harwich), Auburn
Angelo Songco (Orleans), Loyola Marymount

West
DeAngelo Mack (Yarmouth-Dennis), South Carolina
Chris Dominguez (Hyannis), Louisville
Kyle Roller (Bourne), East Carolina

Before the eyes of dozens of Major League scouts and over 8,000 other spectators, this year’s crop did not disappoint. Lefties had a distinct advantage at Veterans Field with a 314 porch down the line in right, but for Angelo Songco, it wouldn’t have mattered if it was 350. He was absolutely punishing the ball en route to his victory over DeAngelo Mack in the finals. Both sluggers hit their share of bombs, and a number of their homers cleared the 25 foot high hill that rests beyond the right field fence, landing on the crowded street above.

Although he just missed the finals, Connor Powers also made quite an impression at Veteran’s Field. Hitting from the right side of the plate, He showed serious power to all fields, including one tape measure blast to right center that made it all the way to the street, well over 400 feet away (and nearly clocking me in the back of the head).

Songco won the crown in convincing fashion, hitting the most home runs in the first round, with eight long balls, and then easily winning in the finals with five homers, while still having five outs to spare.