Fan dedicates MLB blog to D'backs regular guy Byrnes

	Eric Byrnes has a big fan in cyberspace. AP
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Eric Byrnes isn't offended. Really. He just found out that his biggest fan loves him because "it's not just the superstars that count."

That's what a woman named Kellia subtitled the blog she set up a year ago and dedicated to the Arizona Diamondbacks' center fielder. Byrnes was playing for Oakland at the time, and when Kellia decided she needed a new favorite player, she picked Byrnes. Even though, as she explained to the cyberspace universe, he's "not drop dead gorgeous."

"Well, my nose is crooked and my eyes squint when I smile," Byrnes said, squinting those eyes. "I'd have to agree with her -- I'm not the prettiest."

In the 14 months since MLB.com built its MLBlogs platform, nearly 1,000 people have launched blogs with that can't-miss URL. Tommy Lasorda has an MLBlog; Raymond, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' mascot, has one; and so does MC Hammer. And in that group, Kellia's blog -- which is a little about life, a little about baseball and mostly all about Eric Byrnes -- draws some of the highest traffic.

"It's still pretty awesome," Byrnes said, after first asking -- four times -- if Kellia's blog really existed.

Oh, it does. It's at byrnesblog.mlblogs.com, and Byrnes' mother would love it. This woman has built her mood definers on Byrnes' performance (a hit or a defensive gem = happiness, a multihit night with an RBI = true elation), and she isn't afraid to take on anyone who crosses her Byrnesie.

D'backs manager Bob Melvin is a villain these days. His decision to sit Byrnes against the Reds' Bronson Arroyo (off whom he'd hit three doubles in nine at-bats, Kellia points out) set her off on a "doubleheader" rant that the MLBlogosphere teasingly called her out on.

"It's nice to have that support," Byrnes said slowly, now starting to wonder a little bit about this.

But as far as anyone can tell, there's nothing shady about this blog. Kellia just happens to be a 50-year-old woman who grew up loving the Mets (Ron Swoboda was her first favorite player), went to law school and now works at a Bay Area radio station.

"A few [people] have called me obsessed, but I think most of them mean that in fun," Kellia said. "I am not obsessed. That guy who writes the Vote for Vernon Wells blog is obsessed."

MLB.com's Mark Newman, who monitors the MLBlogs community, backed her up. "It's definitely not a 'stalker' blog by an obsessed fan," he said, and for all intents and purposes, Kellia doesn't sound like the standard groupie.