Sometimes, 20 wins are simply 20 wins.

In some baseball seasons, particularly in the ones that haven't seen it in a while, 20 wins correctly reflect the body of work, April to September.

After a year of quiet introspection, the 20-game winner returned to baseball on Friday, and brought with it evidence that it was neither fluke nor fancy.

In his second season in Boston, Josh Beckett generally avoided career-long tendencies toward blistering and overthrowing. He took nearly two runs off his 2006 ERA as a result, and nearly halved his walks, and stopped grooving those hard but untidy fastballs, and became the reasonable answer to two questions that gripped Red Sox Nation:

How'd we miss the playoffs last year?

How do we get back this year?

Pitching. And pitching.

In a season in which Beckett went out 9-0, in a season in which he'll go out 7-1 (pending one more start), the Red Sox improved their team ERA over last season by a run.

Beckett did something for that. He got better. And he won

An American League scout was lining up the rookies of the year in both leagues this week, running his finger down a list that included an oversized shortstop, an undersized second baseman, an outfielder with a funky arm slot, a third baseman limited at third base but remarkable at the plate, and he laughed.

"They're not the real graceful, athletic guys," he said, "but they're very productive players. They're not pretty. But, I'll tell you what, a lot of [scouts] had their opinions change this year."

Scouts call it great makeup. This particular scout, on the topic of rookies with such makeup, stopped specifically at Troy Tulowitzki, Dustin Pedroia, Hunter Pence and Ryan Braun, the aforementioned players who'd purportedly been flawed.

"They get the job done," he said. "They've got all kinds of positive makeup things going for them."

NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies

Playing one of the game's most demanding positions in an unforgiving ballpark, Tulowitzki, 22, helps

Editor's note: This is the first story in a series that will publish each day this week. Tim Brown's picks for Rookies of the Year, Cy Young Awards and Most Valuable Players in each league will follow.

Whoever are the managers of the year – and I'm about to tell you – Bud Black deserves special commendation for his effort to keep Milton Bradley from beating the bejeezes out of umpire Mike Winters, which, alas, concluded with Bradley blowing an ACL and potentially ruining the Padres' season.

I'm not sure there is a paragraph in the Connie Mack manual that covers pass-blocking for backpedaling umpires (and I am sure Black had a handful of jersey there). But that was pretty good for a former finesse pitcher whose previous experience with immovable objects was brushing past Bartolo Colon in an Angel Stadium hallway.

Just goes to show you, sometimes the best-laid plans end up with your left fielder on the DL and your offense in the dumper, which captures the life of the bigleague manager.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Dino Ebel, whose name rhymes with "See No Evil," waves his arms and hurries down the third-base line, imparting audacity and urgency to the men who hurtle by.

Ebel, the Los Angeles Angels' third-base coach, has a policy about advancing 180 feet when 90 might otherwise do, one that is encouraged by his bosses, that is stocked by an organizational philosophy, and that also looks and sounds a lot like "See No Evil."

"It fits this club," he said. "We put it in play and make things happen."

He nodded toward the outfield at Angel Stadium, toward imaginary outfielders charging imaginary singles, just beyond baserunners demanding clear decisions, clean catches and precise throws.

"They have to make the play," he said.

The Angels became the third team to qualify for baseball's postseason and the second (behind the Cleveland Indians) to go as a division winner Sunday afternoon, winning their 92nd game and falling all over each other on an infield made of grass and dirt, and on

ANAHEIM – The Seattle Mariners arrived Thursday to find there was little here for them.

Not in the season, not in the game, not even in the near-fight that kicked up in the sixth inning, when one of their September call-ups threw for a second time in three innings at Vladimir Guerrero's braided head, bringing both benches and bullpens to the mound.

But, it was what the Mariners had left – revenge for their catcher being hit in the back two innings before, irritation over Guerrero's ploddingly mirthful home run trot that immediately followed his first brush with Jorge Campillo's fastball, frustration perhaps that the Los Angeles Angels were an hour or so from clinching a tie for the American League West title.

Guerrero strode to the mound with his finger pointed squarely at Campillo, just some guy to Guerrero, in the same way the Mariners had become just some team to the Angels.

"That's very disturbing," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said after his 700th career win. "If it came from the

Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Troy Glaus will meet as early as today with Major League baseball officials regarding a report he received steroids and testosterone after baseball had adopted its current drug policy, two sources said Thursday.

Also, baseball officials are considering a plan to punish offenders based on the policy at the time of their transgressions, meaning Glaus – if found in violation of the 2004 version of the Joint Drug Agreement – could face a suspension of 10 games. The policy has since been toughened; first-time offenders are suspended for 50 games. However, the new plan might be met with resistance by the powerful players' union.

Glaus was sent shipments of steroids and testosterone by Signature Pharmacy in Orlando, Fla. from September 2003 to May 2004, according to SI.com. Baseball initiated survey testing for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003 and instituted testing with disciplinary measures in 2004, when Glaus played for the Anaheim Angels.

Other leaks

LOS ANGELES – What David Wells was doing here, exactly, all doughy and fearless and pitching the Los Angeles Dodgers back into something like playoff contention, having been dumped and delivered again into times of consequence, well, it can only be a baseball thing.

He is 44 years old with a spirit going on 19 and a body going on fumes.

But he was laughing and pushing back his cap, the one with PokerStars.com on the front, and saying he'd wake up Friday morning, cut out Thursday night's box score and place it alongside his first major-league start. That was a loss, but it was against the New York Yankees and his idol, Ron Guidry, and so it was more than special.

"That little piece of paper," he said, "means a lot to me."

His right fielder that night was Jesse Barfield and his designated-hitter was Cecil Fielder, 20 years and three months enough time for the big-league arrival and settling in of their sons.

It had taken most of Josh Barfield and Prince Fielder's lives for Wells to have

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Joe Borowski, first in the American League in saves, 144th in relief ERA, and often the last man standing for the Cleveland Indians, has adopted a philosophy that explains how a 5.50 ERA becomes 40 saves for one of the best teams in the game.

"I'm going to give some people some gray hair," he said. "Some people might start smoking. But, as long as I'm not the one getting nervous out there, we'll be OK."

It is coincidence that Borowski hails from Bayonne, N.J., home of the boxer Chuck Wepner, who re-carpeted the ring in his own blood, win or lose. They called him the Bayonne Bleeder.

Like Wepner, Borowski often leaves a pint or two for the groundskeepers, but in the major leagues trails only Arizona's Jose Valverde and Milwaukee's Francisco Cordero in saves. He's blown six and has lost five times, and wasn't even the Indians' choice as closer on the first day of spring training.

But, Keith Foulke retired, practically before the introductory physical was over, and while