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Dustin Pedroia could easily be mistaken for a mechanic, carpenter or plumber, most anything except a major leaguer. “I’m not the biggest guy in the world. I don’t have that many tools,” he said. “If you saw me walking down the street, you wouldn’t think I’m a baseball player.” Well, not unless he was carrying his AL MVP award.

Pedroia added to his ever-expanding trophy case Tuesday, becoming the first second baseman to earn the honor in nearly a half-century.

The Boston little man with the meaty swing easily beat out Minnesota slugger Justin Morneau, Red Sox teammate Kevin Youkilis and record-setting closer Francisco Rodriguez in a scattered ballot that saw five different players draw first place-votes.

Generously listed at 5-foot-9, Pedroia has quickly piled up a huge stack of hardware. Earlier this month, he won the Gold Glove. He was the 2007 AL Rookie of the Year and capped off that season with a World Series ring.

“I had to overcome a lot of things to prove people wrong, and so far I’ve done that,” he said on a conference call from his home in Arizona. “I have to find a way to have that edge.”

Pedroia drew 16 of the 28 first-place votes cast by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and finished with 317 points. He was even left off one ballot, while Morneau and Youkilis were listed on every one.

“You look around the league, there are a ton of great players,” Pedroia said.

Pedroia led the AL in hits, runs and doubles in helping the Red Sox win the wild-card berth. He batted .326 with 17 home runs and 83 RBIs and also stole 20 bases.

Pedroia became a fan favorite at Fenway Park with his scrappy approach. In a lineup depleted by injuries to David Ortiz, Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew and the midseason trade of Manny Ramirez, Pedroia took his hearty hacks wherever needed — while he usually batted second, he also hit leadoff and cleanup.

Nellie Fox was the previous second baseman to become AL MVP, in 1959 with the White Sox. No position has produced fewer MVPs overall — just 10 overall since the AL and NL awards were first presented in 1931.

Pedroia was the fourth second baseman to win the AL MVP award, along with Fox, Joe Gordon (1942) and Charlie Gehringer (1937). Six second basemen have won the NL honor, with Jeff Kent, Ryne Sandberg and Joe Morgan doing it most recently.

Pedroia and his wife originally planned to leave early this week for a vacation in Mexico. But with the MVP vote looming, a Red Sox official suggested he delay the trip by a day or two, just in case.

“I really didn’t know what to expect,” Pedroia said. “I wasn’t nervous or overly excited.”

Pedroia certainly didn’t plan on this. He made just $457,000 last season and didn’t have an MVP bonus provision in his contract.

Pedroia was driving to his daily workout when he got the phone call telling him he’d won. Right away, the calls and text messages from teammates began pouring in.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said.

Pedroia became the 10th Red Sox player to take the award and first since Mo Vaughn in 1995. He also is just the third player to become MVP the season after earning the Rookie of the Year award, joining Cal Ripken Jr. and Ryan Howard.

Morneau got seven first-place votes and had 257 points, and Youkilis and Twins catcher Joe Mauer each got a pair of first-place votes. Rodriguez drew the other first-place nod and came in sixth.

Morneau, the 2006 AL MVP winner, hit .300 with 23 home runs and 129 RBIs in helping the Twins reach a one-game playoff for the AL Central, which they lost to Chicago.

Youkilis (.312, 29, 115) was third with 201 points and Mauer (.328, 9, 85) was next with 188 points.

White Sox star Carlos Quentin, who was leading the AL with 36 home runs when he broke his right wrist in an act of frustration, was fifth with 160 points. Rodriguez, who went 62-for-69 in save chances and recently filed for free agency, drew 143 points.

Texas slugger Josh Hamilton, who made a remarkable recovery from drug addiction to resume his career, was seventh and followed by last year’s winner, Yankees star Alex Rodriguez.

Tampa Bay first baseman Carlos Pena came in ninth, the top vote-getter from the AL champions. The Rays beat Boston in Game 7 of the ALCS.

Morneau earned $75,000 for his MVP finish and Mauer, Youkilis and Pena got $25,000 each.

The AL MVP was the last of the major BBWAA awards presented this year. Albert Pujols won the NL MVP award Monday and last week Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum won Cy Youngs, Joe Maddon and Lou Piniella were picked as Managers of the Year and Evan Longoria and Geovanny Soto were the top rookies.

After facing scores of problems in securing an arms licence for a prohibited bore weapon, India cricket skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni finally seems to have won his way with the Jharkhand government relaxing the norms.

Dhoni had applied for an arms licence for a prohibited bore weapon, issued by the government under special circumstances, in August this year. But in spite of being a celebrity, he was not issued the licence even three months on.

On the other hand, he had been asked by the Commissioner of Chhotanagpur region Sheel Kisku Rapaz to produce a character certificate.

In fact, a comment by Rapaz on the application of Dhoni had surprised everyone.

‘First get the clearance from Superintendent of Police (vigilance), SP (special branch) and SP (CID) and then process the file. Verification is must in the given scenario that the extremism and terrorism cases are rising,’ the commissioner had told Deputy Commissioner of Ranchi Rajiv Arun Ekka.

Reacting angrily to the officialese, a source close to Dhoni’s family had said: ‘Is Dhoni a small figure. It is ridiculous to verify Dhoni’s credentials and raise the issue of terrorism and extremism.’

Now, the authorities appear to have had second thoughts.

In a letter to commissioner Rapaz, Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Ekka said: ‘Dhoni is not a person of small stature and he does not need investigation into his character’.

Dhoni’s file has now moved forward and is expected to move to the state home department for final clearance, officials said.

After obtaining a prohibited bore licence, Dhoni plans to buy a 9 mm pistol. Dhoni already possesses a non-prohibitory bore licence which he was issued in 2006. As per law, a person can keep licences for three weapons.

If Sunday belonged to Amit Mishra, it was the turn of Gautam Gambhir to shine with the bat on Monday. Gambhir, who notched up 104 from 138 balls, his second century in 18 Tests, said aggression was the key to the team’s success in the second Test.

“The Australians are an aggressive team. Our strategy from the start of the match was to be aggressive and force them on the back foot.

It has worked well for us. I think the way we batted in the first innings set the tone,” said Gambhir.

With the Australians reeling at 141 for five, Gambhir thinks the team is in a position to force a result on Tuesday. “I was happy to get the century as it helped the cause of the team.

A 500-plus lead in the fourth innings is a really good target in Indian conditions. With Ishant and Harbhajan bowling so well, I think we have a good chance of wrapping up the match,” the Delhi opener added.

Gautam, who scored 67 in the first innings, said he was careful in the second knock and wanted to convert the start into a big innings. “I knew I was getting good starts and it had started to play on my mind and I kept reminding myself to remain calm.

Virender Sehwag’s presence at the other end also helped,” he said. Gambhir, who has done well for in ODIs and Twenty20, said he wanted to prove himself in the longer version.

It was this desire that helped him to stay focused. “One always wants to do well in Test cricket as players are still measured by Test cricket records.

I want to be a good Test cricketer rather than a good ODI and Twenty20 cricketer. This century will help me cement my place in the squad,” he said.

Gambhir also praised the bowlers in helping India to a position where a 1-0 lead looks inevitable. “In the first innings, Amit Mishra came to the party while in the second both Ishant and Harbhajan did well.

Bhajji especially put the Australians on the back foot when they were going great guns. Then Ishant provided us with crucial breakthroughs.

World number two Roger Federer has surpassed Pete Sampras to become the all-time leader in career prize money earnings in men’s tennis, the ATP said on Thursday.The five-times US Open champion took his career earnings to over $43.3 million at the Madrid Masters this week.

American Sampras earned $43,280,489 in a glittering career that included 14 grand slam titles. Federer is one behind that record too with 13.

“Obviously it’s nice to have records. I didn’t play tennis because of money, that was never my drive but I have been very successful,” Federer said after beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach the quarter-finals on Thursday.

India’s N. Ramachandran is all set to take over as the new chief of the World Squash Federation (WSF) at the conclusion of the WSF annual general meeting here Saturday.

Ramachandran, president of the Asian Squash Federation (ASF), is contesting for the post of WSF president against England’s Chris Stahl.

The Chennai-based Ramachandran, who is representing Asia has an overwhelming support from the most of the 50-odd delegates who will be voting the WSF elections Saturday.

Almost all of Asia is supporting Ramachancdran, who is the associate vice president of the Indian Olympic Association and vice president of the Tamil Nadu Olympic Association. He is also the secretary general of the Squash Rackets Federation of India.

Sources in the WSF told IANS Friday that there are indications that Ramachandran, who is a Director of India Cements, would be elected as WSF chief unopposed as Stahl is more interested in getting elected as one of the federation’s vice presidents.

‘We are supporting Ramachandran because he is from Asia and will support the sport in our region,’ Asim Suleiman, senior vice president of the Pakistan Squash Federation told IANS.

If Ramachandran is elected, he will replace Pakistan squash legend Jahangir Khan, who has now completed his third and final two-year term as the WSF president.

But Jahangir, a record 10-time British Open champion, said that he would continue working with a new set of officials in a bid to help squash earn a place in the 2016 Olympic Games.

‘For squash it is very important that it gets to the Olympic Games and I will provide all my support to the campaign in the coming months,’ he told IANS.

Ramachandran said that he would do his best to convince Olympic bosses that squash deserves to be in the 2016 Games. ‘We will leave no stone unturned in our bid to get squash included in the Olympics,’ he stressed.

A preliminary hearing on a drunken-driving charge for Tennessee defensive end Jevon Kearse has been continued until Jan. 6.

The hearing had been scheduled for Tuesday, but Kearse’s attorney Roger May said neither he nor the district attorney general’s office had seen video of the June 22 arrest. Kearse was arrested by Vanderbilt University police and charged with driving under the influence and refusing a breath test.

The district attorney general’s office has a procedure for requesting videos from Metro Nashville police but not with Vanderbilt’s police.

Kearse was stopped around 4:42 a.m. that day by police who noticed a sport-utility vehicle weave across a road.

Off-spinner Nathan McCullum picked up six wickets as New Zealand A restricted India A to 248 in their first innings on the first day of the four-day match at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here Sunday.

In reply, the Kiwis were 36 without loss at stumps with Aaron Redmond on 31 and BJ Watling on two.

India would have drawn some consolation had Sudeep Tyagi, fielding at deep midoff, held on to Redmond’s catch off leg-spinner Amit Mishra in the eighth over.

Earlier, the Indian batsmen were guilty of throwing away their wickets when well set.

The pitch held no terrors and McCullum’s success was as much due to his persistence as the indiscretion on part of the Indian batsmen. The 28-year old sent down 30.4 overs unchanged.

McCullum, who is still to play for New Zealand despite nine first-class seasons, never really dominated the batsmen, but profited by the penchant of the Indians to go for big shots. At best, he was restrictive, bowling faster through the air with a flatter trajectory while tossing up the odd ball.

After deciding to take the first strike, India opener Salhi Kukreja was out cheaply in the fifth over. Murali Vijay (45) and Shikhar Dhawan (27) then put on 71 runs for the second wicket.

Murali, who has been scoring consistently since his first-class debut two seasons ago, batted with application and got on top of the bowling with some good shots on either side of the wicket.

However, just as the partnership looked to blossom, McCullum struck twice, removing Vijay, who edged to the lone slip and Dhawan, caught at mid-off attempting an ambitious over-the-top drive.

Thereafter, skipper Suresh Raina (21), Jaydev Shah (38) and Yusuf Pathan (44) came up with useful contributions, but then, gifted away their wickets. Raina was bowled by debutant Trent Boult playing the wrong line while Shah and Pathan holed out in the deep.

Pathan sparkled briefly with typical big hits and put on 54 runs for the sixth wicket with Wriddhiman Saha (25) who played a rather dour innings before McCullum removed him soon after tea.

With wickets falling at regular intervals, it was left to Amit Sharma to boost the total with some lusty blows at the end of the innings that was halted briefly due to bad light.

In gloomy conditions, the Kiwis kept a double-spin attack and BJ Watling, with his leg-breaks, picked up two wickets to hasten the end of Indian innings.

A new website offers football fans a chance to play tournaments and a chance to join foreign clubs right here in Delhi

Football enthusiast Debasish Roy, 40, has been trying to find avenues for talented footballers to play for a while now. One fine day, while leafing through the morning newspaper he came up with the solution; to create a common platform where football lovers, either players, coaches or managers could get together and play football tournaments. After investing Rs eight lakh and many sleepless nights, he set up magicoffootball.com, a one stop shop for aspiring footballers, coaches, referees, managers and sponsors to come together to play the game. “I was manager for two football clubs, Media Soccer in Delhi and Tarun Sangha in Kolkata. I wondered how to tap potential players, who lacked in confidence and I wanted to get in touch with sponsors as well,” says Roy, who describes his site as the “Facebook of football”. Roy, however, has never played football beyond the walls of his school campus. He also runs a consultancy, Royal Solutions, from his Dwarka home.

The site has been operational for the past four months and a runaway success as far as Roy is concerned. There have been 35 tournaments organised across the world through his site (eight in Europe, 11 in Indo-China, two in Russia, seven in Latin America) and seven in Delhi alone with names like Aloo Baingan tournament, Paharganj Petrifiers and Auto Riders. Anyone with a love for football or an interest in the game can use this website. “All you have to do is log on as a member and click on the ‘Join the tournament’ tab and select your profession (player, sponsor, manager, physiotherapist, ball boy) from the list. You can give a name to the tournament, select the venue, time and any special requirements if need be. Any random person can log in and choose to join the tournament, says Roy. Since the site is still barely six months old the tournaments are organized between three-four teams with six players on either side, for 30 minutes vis-a-vis the usual format of 11 players and 90 minutes. “This is not a professional league. You cannot expect 30-something executives to be fit enough to last a 90 minute game,” laughs Roy, who is now holding talks with schools in the city for similar tournaments.

The website has already registered decent success. Holding true to the site’s promise that you can ‘Work or play with a foreign football club within a year of registration’, two school boys from Kerala , Baby John, 14, and Ramesh Babu, 13, were picked by two football clubs from Chelsea and Aberdeen, the UK, to play. Even Abhijoy Basu, 37, an Asian Football Confederation certified coach,who was struggling to find new projects, says the site helped him. “I registered three months back. Within a week, I got an assignment to coach some businessmen in Noida for a fee,” says Basu, who works part time in a government job. With Roy currently running into losses, he hopes to start transactions on the site in the next three years. “People can sell various football related equipment on the site and I will charge them two per cent of the sales proceeds,” he claims. Move over cricket, football is here.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal Saturday flagged off country’s toughest cycling marathon, the Hercules Mountain Biking Himachal 2008, from here.

More than 80 riders, including 27 foreigners, will cover 680 km in 10 days.

The average riding altitude will be 2,000 metres, with the highest point at Jalori pass (3,223 m) and lowest at Pandoh (750 m).

‘This time teams from the army, the air force and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police are also participating in solo men, solo women, teams and masters category,’ Mohit Sood, president of the Himalyan Adventure Sports and Tourism Promotion Association, told IANS.

The marathon will conclude at Manali Oct 6.

Travis Buck hit an RBI single in the 11th inning and the Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers 4-3 Monday night to move into second in the AL West.

The Rangers, who lost their fifth straight game, forced extra innings when Hank Blalock led off the ninth with a homer.

Oakland’s victory ensures both teams will finish with losing records. The A’s (75-81), who will play 161 games because a rainout at Baltimore will not be made up, took over second for the first time since July 25 after winning their fourth straight game and eighth of nine.

The Los Angeles Angels clinched the division title Sept. 10.

Cliff Pennington led off the Oakland 11th with a double off Luis Mendoza (3-8) and scored on Buck’s one-out single, beating the throw home by right fielder Nelson Cruz.

Blalock’s ninth homer came off Brad Ziegler, who entered with a microscopic 0.78 ERA in his first 45 appearances. Pinch-hitter Frank Catalanotto’s two-out triple into the right-field corner chased the right-hander, but pinch-hitter Gerald Laird lined out to third on the first pitch from Alan Embree (2-4).

Santiago Casilla worked the 11th for his second save, despite allowing a leadoff single to Blalock.

The Rangers (75-82) have had only one winning record since 1999, when they won their third AL West title in four seasons.

Ryan Sweeney had a two-out single in the third, then scored when Jack Cust’s liner slipped under the glove of sliding left fielder Marlon Byrd for a double to put Oakland up 3-2.

Cust struck out twice to add to his AL-record total, reaching 190 and pulling within nine of the major league record set last season by Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard. Cust surpassed Rob Deer’s 186 Ks on Friday.

The second strikeout for Cust was Oakland’s 1,182nd this season, breaking the team record set in 1997.

Rangers rookie Chris Davis reached in the second on an error by left fielder Aaron Cunningham, who dropped a flyball near the foul line after a long run to get it.

But Cunningham made up for that miscue. He threw Davis out at the plate, with a perfect throw to Kurt Suzuki, who made the tag and held on through a hard collision that left the catcher sprawled on the ground for several minutes. Blalock had scored ahead of Davis on German Duran’s single, tying it at 2.

Cust drew a leadoff walk in the second and scored on a single by Pennington — a ball that All-Star center fielder Josh Hamilton overran for an error that also let another run score.

Duran had a leadoff double in the first and scored on a sacrifice fly by Milton Bradley.

Notes:@ Before Ziegler’s rare meltdown, Joey Devine pitched a scoreless eighth for 23rd consecutive appearance (22 2-3 innings) without allowing an earned run. His ERA is 0.60. … Rangers SS Michael Young was back in the lineup after missing the last two games because of a fractured right ring finger. He has never been out of the lineup three consecutive games.