Dusty Takes The Gold

I'm not the biggest fan of the Gold Glove Awards (and remember: they are NOT the "Golden Gloves"; that belongs to boxing), as they are really a glorified popularity contest. It's done by vote, and too many of the voters vote for guys based on past reputation.

Be that as it may, Dustin Pedroia won his first Gold Glove Award today at 2B, as the complete AL team for 2008 was just announced today. He's only the second Red Sox 2B to win it, the other was Doug Griffin back in 1972. Kevin Youkilis, who won at 1B last year, lost out to Carlos Pena, and that might be due to the fact he played many games at 3B substituting for the injured Mike Lowell.

Congratulations, Dustin. (BTW, that little clip featured here is from a great play that Dustin made on Miguel Tejada to keep Clay Buchholz' no-hitter going back in September 2007. Thought it was appropriate to feature it here.)

Here is the AL team:
C Joe Mauer MIN
1B Carlos Pena TB
2B Dustin Pedroia BOS
SS Michael Young TEX
3B Adrian Beltre SEA
OF Grady Sizemore CLE
OF Torii Hunter LAA
OF Ichiro Suzuki SEA
P Mike Mussina NYY

Here is the NL Team, which was announced yesterday:
C Yadier Molina STL
1B Adrian Gonzalez SD
2B Brandon Phillips CIN
SS Jimmy Rollins PHI
3B David Wright NYM
OF Carlos Beltran NYM
OF Nate McLouth PIT
OF Shane Victorino PHI
P Greg Maddux LAD