MAILBAG Comments, questions or obviously unfounded criticism? To e-mail Donovan, use the form below. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

In the postseason, the kid from Madras -- population a little more than 5,000 -- bumped Crisp from center field before Game 6 of the American League Championship Series and electrified the Boston attack. He hit .375 in six postseason starts and, in the World Series sweep over the Rockies, hit .438. His four-hit effort in Game 3 of the World Series, which included three doubles, was his official coming-out party. He was the first rookie in 61 years to have four hits in a Series game.

Crisp wasn't close to that -- he hit .268, with a .330 on-base percentage for the year, and only .182 in the postseason -- but he played one of the best center fields that has been seen in Boston in years. His long, running catch into the teeth of Fenway Park's center-field triangle that ended Game 7 of the ALCS against the Indians was just the most high-profile of many similar catches he made all year.

"That was a very, very tough play, and he made it look easy," Ellsbury says. "To me, you have to earn your position. Especially when you play for the Boston Red Sox. They're not going to say, 'Hey, you're the center fielder. Congratulations.' And to me, that's fine. That's what's going to make the team better. Competition. I think it'll be good, individually, for the both of us. And, in the end, I think it will make the team better.

"Whoever gets it is definitely deserving of it."

Ellsbury is doing all he can to show the Sox he wants to start. After consulting with the team, he spent much of the off season adding muscle with an eye toward maintaining his speed. He says he's more "explosive" now, and that the added strength will help him endure the rigors of a long season. It could help separate him from the light-hitting Crisp, too.

Ellsbury stuck to his weightlifting regimen throughout the off season despite all the added responsibilities that come with being a Series hero. Among those was a trip back to Madras in mid-November. The town held a parade and a rally in his honor. Officials presented him with the key to the city. The gym at Madras High, home of the White Buffaloes, was so full that people had to be turned away. Ellsbury talked, off the cuff, for 15 or 20 minutes.

"It was packed. All of the bleachers were full, the whole floor was full. It was pretty special for everybody in the town," Ellsbury says. "For people across the state of Oregon to come and spend that time with me and my family and my friends ... it was great."

The only time Ellsbury really broke his new exercise routine was for a four-or-five day vacation to the Hawaiian island of Lanai. "At first I was a little hesitant, 'cause my workouts were going so well. I was seeing improvements. I just didn't want to get away from that," he says. "But I did it. I'll definitely -- well, maybe -- I'll get a couple more [vacations] in next year."

Now, Ellsbury is trying to put together some decent spring at-bats while continuing his workouts. (That's what kept him in the clubhouse long after the game with the Pirates had ended.) If Crisp didn't note it last postseason, he knows it now: He's in for one heck of a fight.

"I don't like to fail," Ellsbury says, and then chuckles at the simplicity of it all. "I don't like losing at anything, whether it's cards or shooting hoops, playing horse in the back yard. I'm going to keep on going until I win.

"I just like to win. That pretty much sums it up."

And with that, he's finally off, but there can be no doubt that he'll be back to work soon enough.