Our Little MVP

Boston Red Sox's Dustin Pedroia watches his two-run single during the sixth inning of Boston's 7-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles in a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston, Monday, Sept. 1, 2008. Pedroia's single was his 184th hit of the season, a record for Red Sox second baseman, breaking Del Pratt's mark from 1922.
(AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

He's only the best hitter in baseball: Number one in the AL in batting average, hits, runs scored, and multihit games, third in doubles and hardest to strike out, fifth in total bases. One of the smallest guys in the league, too, with tiny hands. Hats off to Pedroia the Destroia.

Lynn Item: Red Sox second baseman Pedroia is simply first-rate

BOSTON -- It seems every time Dustin Pedroia is in the vicinity of the baseball, the chants begin: 'M-V-P, M-V-P.'

And why not? His name litters each game's box score as much as it does the list of American League offensive leaders: batting average, number one at .326 entering last night's game against the Orioles; hits (first, 183); multihit games (first, 53); runs scored (first, 106); doubles (third, 42); total bases (fifth, 274); hardest to strike out (third-best, every 13.1 plate appearances).