Foregone Conclusion: Take your pick, because the 2011 MVP will be a Redsock

Face it. Yankees need not apply. The Gammonites have ruled, just as they decide last August that Josh Hamilton was rightful MVP, Robbie Cano be damned. And the reason? The Yankees had several candidates; you couldn't give it to a player on a lineup full of stars.

Of course, that's the difficult aspect of this year's choice: Which Redsock should it be?

Dustin, (the pick of Sports Illustrated.) Gonzo, (chosen by Cybermetrics.) or Jacoby, (choice of MTV.) It has to be one of them. The Redsocks have baseball's best team. Therefore, someone from Boston must win it.

In 1978, Boston's Jim Rice won it, because of the consensus belief that no pitcher -- such as the Yankees' Ron Guidry -- should win such an honor. Of course, that rule didn't apply in 1986, when Boston's Roger Clemens won it.

In 2008, Dustin Pedroia won it because of the consensus belief that a championship team should be represented with the MVP. But then in 2009, when the Yankees won it, the rule no longer applied. They were a team full of stars. So they were passed over.

So which will it be this year? Gonzo, Dusty or Jacoby?

This is getting to be like those "Player of the Game" phone in contests, which are held in the sixth inning, before anything has happened. Oh, well. At least we know who'll lose. The Yankees, of course.