Kevin Youkilis

It was definitely a big week for the league’s corner infielders. The names of Youkilis, Glaus, Konerko, Rolen, Kouzmanoff, and Cabrera were on the tops of all the statistics. The guardians of the baseline spoke with their bats and ruled the diamond.

After a dismal start to the 2010 MLB season, fortunes are starting to turn for the boys of summer in Beantown. With a come-from-behind win over the bottom-dwelling Orioles, the Red Sox have been able to rattle off four wins in their last five outings, quickly approaching the .500 mark for the young season.

So far, nothing has been easy for the Red Sox. Starting the season against the defending world champion New York Yankees, along with the difficult Tampa Bay Rays and a much improved Minnesota Twins, things have not gone the way Sox fans have come to expect.

With last night's thriller between the Red Sox and Yankees, and a day chalk full of baseball action, the 2010 MLB season is officially here. All over the country, baseball players are hoping for hall of fame years and fans are dreaming of runs into late October. The beauty of opening day is the equality it provides for players and fans alike, a calm before the storm of a long and arduous season. This calm, however, has officially been broken.

As incomprehensible as it may seem, the Red Sox apparently have Kevin Youkilis on the block, according to one major league source.

This source vehemently contends that the Red Sox would “love to dump Youk” and suggests such a move could be part of a deal sending Adrian Gonzalez to Boston.

During a recent "Saturday Night Live", comedian/host Zach Galifianakis did the mustache community proud by shaving his trademark bushy hobo beard down to a very handsome cookie duster.

Similarly, during last spring's World Baseball Classic, Kevin Youkilis abandoned his goatee and toyed around with a fu manchu that would make the likes of Luis Tiant and Hulk Hogan blush.

Unfortunately, the werewolf gene present in both "The Hangover" star and the Red Sox first baseman keeps them from donning just the lip sweater.

Why do so many writers in the baseball universe refer to Kevin Youkilis as over-rated or predict that his career will start to backslide?

Many of these pundits point to the fact he had a bad back throughout much of last year, and that back issues tend to linger and never go away—especially for a 31-year-old.  They assume that his back condition will be chronic, and with less time on the field he'll have fewer opportunities to produce runs.

The Lowell Spinners, Class-A Affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, will welcome Red Sox star and 2001 Spinner Kevin Youkilis back to Lowell for the Eighth Annual Lowell Spinners Alumni Dinner Tuesday, Dec. 29 at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in downtown Lowell to raise money for the Joann Weber Charitable Fund.

There are a number of trends in baseball that I'd love to see die; puka necklaces, the overuse of the phrase "going yard", and shaving cream pies come to mind. At the top of the list, however, is the goatee. Into the 1980s, the mustache dominated baseball facial hair. Amazing hair patterns graced the upper lips of players such as Rollie Fingers, Catfish Hunter, and Goose Gossage, just to name a few. Popularized by the likes of actors Burt Reynolds, Charles Bronson, and Chuck Norris, the "stache made players look heroic, if not a bit villainous.

The MLB All-Star Game is coming up fast and debates are already raging over who got snubbed and who shouldn't have made the teams.

I say, enough arguing, let's focus on the love. Let's take a look at the ladies that make you glad you brought your binoculars to the game.

Here are The Hottest Wives And Girlfriends of the MLB All-Star Game.

We're already almost halfway to the 2009 MLB All star game. I know, time flies huh?

About one quarter of the way into the season, a lot of players, young and old, are putting up some eye-popping numbers. There's little doubt that some of the current league leaders won't stay there, but I'd like to recognize some of the top performers this far into a young season.

For this piece I'm going to stick with position players.

American League

Catcher - Victor Martinez, Cleveland Indians