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Even Drew can celebrate when his team is up by two

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BOSTON -- I did my part.

I said hello to J.D. Drew, and although he didn’t immediately fall to the ground and curl up into the fetal position, he didn’t do anything to hurt the Angels in Game 1.

Before Game 2, I sought him out again, figuring it’d be fun if together we made fun of the Dodgers, forgetting for a moment that Drew lacks a pulse.

“That’s me,” he said, while mocking himself, the same old easy-going, lifeless talent that frustrated so many in L.A.

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They don’t like him here, either, fans and bloggers calling him “Nancy Drew,” his season-long stats worse than his hollow performance with the Dodgers. So much potential, yet so many pitches taken.

He doesn’t get in trouble, but he lacks obvious passion, which invites criticism when falling so short of expectations.

But then last season many of you were rhythmically chanting his name, only to scream both “foul” and “thank heavens” when he opted out of the last three years of his contract, swearing there was no way he’d get more than $33 million over three years.

Hardy har har. How does it feel watching Drew get the last laugh in prime time, $70 million for five years in a Boston uniform, and now in a storybook position to play against his brother, Stephen, in the World Series should the Red Sox and Diamondbacks advance.

“I’ve contemplated that,” Drew said, which qualifies as an emotional outburst on his part.

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FIRST INNING, the bases loaded and Drew singled up the middle for a 2-0 Boston lead.

He has that kind of talent, hitting almost .400 over the last 18 games, but most of the season he was nursing an injury or failing to make any kind of impression. De ja blue.

The other night the Red Sox had to wait two hours for a Yankees loss to clinch a title and start the party. Drew had already gone home, in the minds of some proving himself once again the loner.

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But his wife was eight months pregnant, his 19-month-old son, Jack David, two months removed from a development displacement of the hips, which required seven hours of surgery and a cast from chest to toes. Sometimes there’s a good reason why he’s in his own world.

“I’ve always been pretty much a family man and blessed with the ability to play baseball,” Drew said. “But even though you don’t see it, it really is an internal battle with me. I’m as hard on myself as anybody, but I don’t blow up or show it. It’s the way I was raised; I just play the game.”

We continue to disagree, the game now as much about entertainment and personality as playing it in this TV age. And sometimes a player has to seize the moment.

A harmless ground out in the fourth, another with two on in the fifth and one more to start off the eighth. Drew has been known to wilt under pressure.

Manny Ramirez is a different story. He’s done this before against the Angels, as an Indian at the time. Always with a flare.

As a result, the Angels lost, and Ramirez jumped into the arms of his teammates. On his way to the dugout, Drew grabbed his teammate’s hands and started dancing with Ramirez.

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I have no idea where the fat lady is these days -- although I would presume Nebraska -- but when Drew starts dancing, you’ve got to think it’s over.

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AFTER WATCHING third baseman Mike Lowell, who becomes a free agent after this season, leave two runners on in the seventh and then make an error in the eighth, I’m convinced Dodger GM Ned Colletti now will try to sign him.

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JOHN HENRY beat out the Boston Parking Lot Attendant when it came to buying the Red Sox, and recently he purchased McCourt’s 13,000-square-foot home and its accompanying 5,000-square-foot guest house here in Brookline for $16 million, with the intention of tearing it all down.

Would you want to live in a home decorated by Frank’s Old Lady? You saw the washed-out colors they picked out for the new seats in Dodger Stadium.

The joke here is the McCourt mansion, with 11 bathrooms, has more bathrooms than Fenway Park, and it does raise an interesting question: Why would anyone need 11 bathrooms?

Henry said he told the Screaming Meanie before buying the house, which initially had been listed at $22 million, of his intentions to demolish it. She then let him have it.

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HENRY WANTED to know why I’ve been so tough on the Parking Lot Attendant, an odd question, because he has met him.

I mentioned McCourt’s very first news conference when told everyone, “Dodgers fans are the best fans in all of sports,” which makes one wonder what he would have told Boston fans had he been successful in buying the Red Sox.

“But how’s he doing now?” Henry asked. I imagine pretty well, sitting at home with his feet up and cheering for the Red Sox to beat the Los Angeles Angels.

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WHEN LAVA MAN finished a disappointing sixth in the Pacific Classic, a woman approached the horse’s trainer, Doug O’Neill, and his friend, Mark Verge, and asked O’Neill what he had to say. O’Neill told the woman he had just told Lava Man that the horse had won the race.

She returned later, a little befuddled by the answer, surprised that O’Neill wasn’t more upset. But O’Neill was just trying to keep things in perspective, the baseball cap on his head autographed by “Miranda” his reminder.

Miranda is one of the youngsters on the pediatric cancer ward at Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA and O’Neill has been one of her visitors. Losing a horse race, O’Neill reasoned, was nothing compared with what Miranda deals with on a daily basis.

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Jockey Aaron Gryder, hearing the story about Miranda and the autographed baseball cap, then urged big-time Orange County horse owner Michael Bello to take an interest in the kids’ cancer ward. He did, writing a $25,000 check to Mattel’s on Friday.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at

t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.

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