Like a good neighbor... Mikey Lowell is there.
Just when you thought the Red Sox were going to hang a “for sale” sign around Scenic Lowell’s neck — just so other MLB teams understood that they could, in fact, have him for a price — they went and D-listed him.
Is he really injured? Is he actually still in the country? Is he tied and gagged, floating weightless through the stars on John Henry’s luxury spacecraft? We don’t know. But Mikey’s absence allows Daisuke Matsuzaka (speaking of guys I wouldn’t mind being tied up and thrown onto a spaceship) to slip back into the fold, and he’ll be working his magic tonight, trying to stave off a three-game sweep at the hands of the Rockies.
I will say this: Lowell’s been a stand-up guy through this whole circus, even as he’s become a man without a home, relegated to benchwarmer status and not getting the critical at-bats he needs to try to catch on with another team. A lesser man might rage against the Yawkey Way machine, or at the very least leave a few voicemails for Theo telling him to eat his balls. Mikey, however, seems to be hanging tough. And even though it’s increasingly likely that at any moment he might just vanish through the screen door like a ghost in the mist, he remains tear-inducingly upbeat about his chances of contributing to the 2010 Red Sox, telling the Globe, “If we made the post-season, one at-bat could be the difference.”
Good man, that Lowell. And no matter how his Red Sox career shakes out, I can only hope that the producers of Modern Family have the good sense to give Mike a role as Phil’s older, slightly edgier brother.
Game starts at 8:40. Enjoy.
