Goin' Green

There are many things I like about Sport, among them the discovery of a talent I had no idea existed.

Now I don't want to exaggerate this. I don't want to go overboard. I don't want to get excessively hyperbolic. I want to frame this correctly.

So understand when I say that I have not enjoyed anything more during the first two months of the 2009 Red Sox season than watching Nick Green.

Yes, I think I know how many players on this team are better than Nick Green. That's not the point. It's just that what he's doing to help this team win ballgames is a) unexpected and b) very exciting to watch.

I understand he is what he is, a 30-year-old utility infielder who spent five years in the Atlanta system and who has banged around with Tampa Bay, Seattle, and the Yankees. Everybody in baseball knows who he is and what he has shown, so his talents can't be a secret. But after watching what he's been doing for the Red Sox, aren't you, like me, asking the following question?

How does a guy this good spend the entire 2008 season in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre?

The obvious answer is, "Because he wasn't exactly going to beat out Derek Jeter." But you know what I'm saying. A guy this good should not be spending his 29-year-old summer in Triple A.

Anyway, he's here now, and every night he's in the lineup I want 27 ground balls to short. Yes, I realize he's booted a few, but he'll catch most of them, and then the fun begins. The arm!

Omigod.

This past week he's made two sensational plays. There was the spin-o-rama against the Yankees last week and there was that play he made in the hole on Wednesday, when he knocked down the ball, jumped up and unleashed that laser, the ball reaching Kevin Youkilis at chest level.

He's been a consistently tough out all year at the plate, too.

It's just a complete feel-good story. He's got a major league job. The Red Sox are getting a major bang for their buck. And we get to enjoy the entire show.