The Red Sox are merely observers but playoff baseball this week will take on a decidedly Boston feel to it, if you let your mind wander a bit.
Wander, that is, to the past decade, which had several players in the Red Sox' organization who will be part of the 2010 postseason.
First consider the starting pitchers over the next two days.
Derek Lowe, a former 21-game winner and 42-save man with Boston, will pitch Game 1 for Atlanta in one of the National League Division Series on Thursday night. One-time Sox farmhand and Yankees legend Carl Pavano goes opposite the Pinstripers in the previous game on the Thursday slate.
Bronson Arroyo, who won 24 games in two years as a starter with Boston, gets the nod for Cincinnati on Friday at Philadelphia.
Shortstops on three of the four National League teams played the position for the Sox consecutively from 2004 to 2006. Orlando Cabrera, a world champion in his short stint with Boston, patrols short for the Reds. Edgar Renteria, your punching bag in 2005, splits time at the position for San Francisco. And Alex Gonzalez, two times a member of the Red Sox in 2006 and 2009, is the Braves' man now.
If and when Renteria gets in there and needs to turn a double play, chances are he is shoveling the ball to second baseman Freddy Sanchez, who broke in with the Sox in 2003.
Two former Boston relievers, Ramon Ramirez and Javier Lopez, are in the Giants' pen.
Billy Wagner, the Sox' setup man for a few months last year, closes out games for Atlanta. Takashi Saito was left off the Braves' postseason roster due to shoulder woes, but Eric Hinske, a member of the 2007 World Series team in Boston, is a key bench player for Atlanta manager Bobby Cox.
Philadelphia has lefty reliever J.C. Romero, a member of the Red Sox' pen early in 2007.
Carlos Pena, Rocco Baldelli and Kelly Shoppach are the one-time Bostonians playing for Tampa Bay, although Baldelli will be replaced by Willy Aybar due to lingering muscle issues. David Murphy, a first-round pick for Boston in 2003, is a reserve outfielder for Texas.
The one team without a single Red Sox connection? The New York Yankees, of course.
