October should be diamond-devoted

Football, football and more football. That’s all we hear about in the fall.

But I’m here to talk a little baseball; I’ll try to mix it up a little bit. It’s the World Series, baby. Obviously football season is great, but watching Tom Brady bag the MVP, Super Bowl and all the girls is starting to get a little old.

I mean, could God create a more dominant human being? He gave him the looks to go along with mad game – on and off the field. Here’s what Brady thinks when he looks in the mirror:

“Think reading defenses is tough, try GQ shoots. I wonder if the public thinks I’m a metro . at least my hair is perfect. How did men survive without designer jeans? Leinart, please, if I lived in SoCal I would have bagged Paris years ago . Oh wait, I just remembered that I did!”

Sorry, little side tangent. I’ll try to stay focused. Is there anything better than October baseball? There’s just magic about the World Series. Who would have thought that the Colorado Rockies could rattle off 22 wins in 23 games? But I honestly don’t care about the Rockies. I’m here to talk about the Red Sox.

Ever since this team got me out of a crazy double-or-nothing that would have lost me a lot of money back in 2004 when they were playing the Yankees, I have been hooked. Have you watched this team? Just riveting baseball! I’m here to tell you about two players on this team whom I love – repeat – love. Both are straight gamers, players who show up when it matters most. Watch Josh Beckett and Dustin Pedroia play in this series, and I promise you’ll feel me.

Let’s start with Beckett. Can you say, ‘Cy Young, ALCS and World Series MVP’? I’ll say it right now: Beckett has the opportunity to be the best Texas-born pitcher ever! I’ll say it again: ever. A couple other names include famous Texas natives such as Roger Clemens and Nolan Ryan.

I’ll sum up Beckett for everyone. In game five, with the series on the line and his team down 3-1, the Cleveland Indians rolled out Beckett’s ex-girlfriend, Danielle Peck, to sing the national anthem, hoping it’ll throw him off, rattle him. Nope. Beckett dealt for eight innings, struck out 11 and totally swung the momentum in the series back to his team.

Let’s say the scenario of the breakup was mutual. You know how faithful those baseball players are, but I’ll give Beckett the benefit of the doubt.

Here’s a quote from Beckett regarding Peck singing the anthem: “It doesn’t bother me at all. Thanks for flying one of my friends to the game so she could watch it for free.”

I’ll just go out on a limb and say they “hung out” after the game, and he didn’t have to shell out any change. Good move, C-town.

If you ever wondered what happened to that over-achieving guy in sports, you’re preaching to the choir. They are just rare, and sometimes seem to not even exist anymore. The sad part is that two of them happen to play professional sports in Boston.

Let’s hit on my boy Dustin Pedroia. He’s from a little town up in Northern California known as Woodland. Most people from Woodland turn into farmers or felons, not Major League superstars.

ESPN.com lists Pedroia at 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds. But Pedroia prides himself on being 5-nothing and a buck-nothing. This guy just rakes.

He went 5-for-9 in games six and seven. This is the type of guy you want on your team.

I remember in high school how people said he was too small, and then all he did was win the section MVP. Then he goes to Arizona State, and people were like, “He’s not a PAC-10 guy.” He wins PAC-10 Freshman of the Year, parlaying that into three straight All-American seasons.

Pedroia gave up his scholarship his sophomore year so his team could lock up the top junior college pitcher.

Arizona State made the College World Series that year. Talk about a team player.

Are you following me here?

Then the Red Sox drafted Pedroia in the second round of the 2004 draft. The first day he arrived in Class A Augusta, the manager was shocked and called Boston’s general manager, Theo Epstein. He was astounded at what he saw.

“You sent me the wrong guy,” Epstein recalls saying. He really thought it was a mistake. Five hours later, after Pedroia went 3-for-4 and hit a ball off the wall, he called back and said, “We love the guy.”

I love this guy.

Red Sox in six. Take a guess which players I’m picking for my co-MVPs.